Are you sure you want to exit? Your progress will be lost.
Who are you caring for?
Which best describes their mobility?
How well are they maintaining their hygiene?
How are they managing their medications?
Does their living environment pose any safety concerns?
Fall risks, spoiled food, or other threats to wellbeing
Are they experiencing any memory loss?
Which best describes your loved one's social life?
Acknowledgment of Disclosures and Authorization
By proceeding, I agree that I understand the following disclosures:
I. How We Work in Washington. Based on your preferences, we provide you with information about one or more of our contracted senior living providers ("Participating Communities") and provide your Senior Living Care Information to Participating Communities. The Participating Communities may contact you directly regarding their services. APFM does not endorse or recommend any provider. It is your sole responsibility to select the appropriate care for yourself or your loved one. We work with both you and the Participating Communities in your search. We do not permit our Advisors to have an ownership interest in Participating Communities.
II. How We Are Paid. We do not charge you any fee – we are paid by the Participating Communities. Some Participating Communities pay us a percentage of the first month's standard rate for the rent and care services you select. We invoice these fees after the senior moves in.
III. When We Tour. APFM tours certain Participating Communities in Washington (typically more in metropolitan areas than in rural areas.) During the 12 month period prior to December 31, 2017, we toured 86.2% of Participating Communities with capacity for 20 or more residents.
IV. No Obligation or Commitment. You have no obligation to use or to continue to use our services. Because you pay no fee to us, you will never need to ask for a refund.
V. Complaints. Please contact our Family Feedback Line at (866) 584-7340 or ConsumerFeedback@aplaceformom.com to report any complaint. Consumers have many avenues to address a dispute with any referral service company, including the right to file a complaint with the Attorney General's office at: Consumer Protection Division, 800 5th Avenue, Ste. 2000, Seattle, 98104 or 800-551-4636.
VI. No Waiver of Your Rights. APFM does not (and may not) require or even ask consumers seeking senior housing or care services in Washington State to sign waivers of liability for losses of personal property or injury or to sign waivers of any rights established under law.I agree that: A.I authorize A Place For Mom ("APFM") to collect certain personal and contact detail information, as well as relevant health care information about me or from me about the senior family member or relative I am assisting ("Senior Living Care Information"). B.APFM may provide information to me electronically. My electronic signature on agreements and documents has the same effect as if I signed them in ink. C.APFM may send all communications to me electronically via e-mail or by access to an APFM web site. D.If I want a paper copy, I can print a copy of the Disclosures or download the Disclosures for my records. E.This E-Sign Acknowledgement and Authorization applies to these Disclosures and all future Disclosures related to APFM's services, unless I revoke my authorization. You may revoke this authorization in writing at any time (except where we have already disclosed information before receiving your revocation.) This authorization will expire after one year. F.You consent to APFM's reaching out to you using a phone system than can auto-dial numbers (we miss rotary phones, too!), but this consent is not required to use our service.
✔
I acknowledge and authorize
✔
I consent to the collection of my consumer health data.*
✔
I consent to the sharing of my consumer health data with qualified home care agencies.*
*If I am consenting on behalf of someone else, I have the proper authorization to do so. By clicking Get My Results, you agree to our Privacy Policy. You also consent to receive calls and texts, which may be autodialed, from us and our customer communities. Your consent is not a condition to using our service. Please visit our Terms of Use. for information about our privacy practices.
Mostly Independent
Your loved one may not require home care or assisted living services at this time. However, continue to monitor their condition for changes and consider occasional in-home care services for help as needed.
Remember, this assessment is not a substitute for professional advice.
Share a few details and we will match you to trusted home care in your area:
Once you start to think about it there are lots of foods that are ordinarily soft
squash and rutabaga are often served mashed polenta with your favourite pasta sauce serve those mashed potatoes cold as potato salad refried beans hummus almost any soup can be whizzed with a stick blender and seems like normal food custards, both sweet and savoury pumpkin pie (without the crust) rice or tapioca pudding (cooked very soft or pureed if needed) yogurt oatmeal or cream of wheat with lots of brown sugar and a pat of butter those little cups of applesauce come in lots of different fruit combinations
I used to make all sorts of soups for my Husband. I would make them a bit thicker with added veggies like carrots, sweet potato rather than flour, pasta or rice. I would process them as much as I needed to. I would portion them into 2 cup Mason or Ball jars and pop them in the freezer. A few of the soups I made were: Loaded Baked Potato soup, Split Pea with ham, Stuffed pepper or a stuffed cabbage soup, Beef Barley, Tomato soup (I would roast pounds and pounds of tomatoes if I happened to see them at the close out corner of the store)
One of the other things that I made for him and he loved...he had always been a pizza guy would eat it anytime he could. I made the Cauliflower Pizza crust, pre baked all the toppings and he could eat that with no problem, later I did process it and while it did not look like pizza it did taste good.
Grits or cream of wheat with an egg cooked on top of it. I started adding the egg for an extra protein boost.
I also switched his dinner and breakfast. He was more alert in the morning and I started giving him his largest meal then so breakfast was often the soup or the girts with egg, lunch might be scrambled eggs or yogurt with fruit and dinner again yogurt or cream of wheat.
I would also make pudding, custard. He loved Key Lime pie so I would make the filling and pour it into little ramekins and bake that. I would get about 5 or 6 and he would have that mid afternoon sometimes.
As far as appetizing goes what you puree may not look great but the flavor is there. When I was a kid we took care of my Grandma and my Dad would process our dinner and put it on a plate for her just like our meal, a mound of beef or whatever (he would use the gravy to thin meats so that it could process), a spoon full of the veggie, a scoop of potato or whatever else there was. She was able to eat and identify what she was eating. Far different than tossing everything into the blender and having one pureed mixture on the plate.
CountryGal, you've received excellent suggestions, including those that touch on dysphagia. But there's a valuable medical step that probably should be taken first. Since you haven't mentioned it, I'm assume it hasn't been taken. I apologize if you already have this information, though.
I assume that a medical person advised you to prepare soft foods? If so, was a suggestion made for a videoscopic swallowing test? In my experience, this is done routinely when someone has difficulty swallowing, in order to determine what the cause is, and prescribe the appropriate diet.
It's not an invasive procedure, but needs to be conducted by a speech pathologist, using hospital or lab equipment. The patient is given various foods of various consistency, all of which are monitored remotely through a machine which allows the pathologist to determine which might be swallowed and which might be aspirated.
A modified diet is then prescribed; there are different levels. As someone wrote, there are mechanical soft and pureed categories. I received several page printouts with very specific guidelines on what can and can't be eaten. And it's quite surprising; foods that would seem to be appropriate aren't.
The diet will also address whether liquids need to be thickened; this is important, as in some cases straws cannot be used, and water or other fluids absolutely need to be thickened to avoid aspiration.
Ice cream is a good example; b/c it's soft, it would seem to fit into a dysphagia diet. Not so with all pureed foods. It melts too quickly, becomes liquid, and can be aspirated.
I tricked it by giving my father a few teaspoonfuls of ice cream at a time so he could eat it when it still had some solidity. As soon as it melted, it was ver boten. And obviously, any ice cream should not contain nuts, chocolate chunks, cherries, or other foods that require chewing.
And you're right; it's not very appetizing. I did some research, called food companies, and ordered brochures, some of which used techniques to present the food in a more appealing fashion. Still, my father wasn't particularly excited by pureed foods.
Thank you for your reply. Main issue with my mother is her dentures got taken out for cleaning per my request at her last hospital visit and then they were not able to put them back in. She doesn't want them back in and so I don't push the issue. I guess it's best though because of the need for good oral hygiene. Hospice encourages swabbing her mouth and if we did manage to get her teeth back in it would be a battle taking them back out then in. She has dementia also.
Here are some suggestions: Bread pudding, turkey meatloaf, eggs, omelets, casseroles, bananas, avocados, cottage cheese, smoothies, homemade cream of tomato soup, shepherd's pie, mashed sweet potatoes. Salmon pie without crust Look online for some recipes with these ingredients. Make sure water intake is good to prevent dehydration on a soft diet. Hope you find some good recipes for your mom.
Countrygal, there are many resources online if you google "pureed food for seniors+recipes". Will you be making the food or someone else? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUTOY-MQzU0
Puddings and jellos and squashes and soups with breads in them. Custards, and shakes and thick smoothies. And as the CountryGal says, almost anything can be made into puree, even my infamous Buffalo Hot Wing Pasta Sauce and noodles.
I make my 90 year old mom, chicken soup, and different beans. I add proteins (steak, pork etc) then purée them. I meal prep once a week for her, portion out lunch and dinner for the week. They are delicious, I add lots of produce to give her a balanced hearty meal. That’s how I got her to eat again.
Not everyone has the time, ability or inclination to prepare a modified diet 3 times a day forever, when you are dealing with the other challenges of full time caregiving it can often seem like one chore too many. We were fortunate that our meals on wheels provided frozen meals with several modified options that I was able to pull out on days when cooking seemed too much to ask, pricey but worth it. Some people will tell you that supplements like ensure and mass produced foods from companies like Hormel are horrible dietary choices but by this stage healthy diets are less important than calories, don't be afraid to rely on any convenience foods she finds palatable.
Thank you. I am an only child and I do get overwhelmed sometimes when it comes to cooking with all the other responsibilities. I do use Stouffers meals at times because the meats are soft plus she does seem to like them and ...yes for convenience. I've been feeling guilty about this and so much appreciate your words of reassurance.
BTW thanks to everyone who took the time to reply. So very much appreciated.
By proceeding, I agree that I understand the following disclosures:
I. How We Work in Washington.
Based on your preferences, we provide you with information about one or more of our contracted senior living providers ("Participating Communities") and provide your Senior Living Care Information to Participating Communities. The Participating Communities may contact you directly regarding their services.
APFM does not endorse or recommend any provider. It is your sole responsibility to select the appropriate care for yourself or your loved one. We work with both you and the Participating Communities in your search. We do not permit our Advisors to have an ownership interest in Participating Communities.
II. How We Are Paid.
We do not charge you any fee – we are paid by the Participating Communities. Some Participating Communities pay us a percentage of the first month's standard rate for the rent and care services you select. We invoice these fees after the senior moves in.
III. When We Tour.
APFM tours certain Participating Communities in Washington (typically more in metropolitan areas than in rural areas.) During the 12 month period prior to December 31, 2017, we toured 86.2% of Participating Communities with capacity for 20 or more residents.
IV. No Obligation or Commitment.
You have no obligation to use or to continue to use our services. Because you pay no fee to us, you will never need to ask for a refund.
V. Complaints.
Please contact our Family Feedback Line at (866) 584-7340 or ConsumerFeedback@aplaceformom.com to report any complaint. Consumers have many avenues to address a dispute with any referral service company, including the right to file a complaint with the Attorney General's office at: Consumer Protection Division, 800 5th Avenue, Ste. 2000, Seattle, 98104 or 800-551-4636.
VI. No Waiver of Your Rights.
APFM does not (and may not) require or even ask consumers seeking senior housing or care services in Washington State to sign waivers of liability for losses of personal property or injury or to sign waivers of any rights established under law.
I agree that:
A.
I authorize A Place For Mom ("APFM") to collect certain personal and contact detail information, as well as relevant health care information about me or from me about the senior family member or relative I am assisting ("Senior Living Care Information").
B.
APFM may provide information to me electronically. My electronic signature on agreements and documents has the same effect as if I signed them in ink.
C.
APFM may send all communications to me electronically via e-mail or by access to an APFM web site.
D.
If I want a paper copy, I can print a copy of the Disclosures or download the Disclosures for my records.
E.
This E-Sign Acknowledgement and Authorization applies to these Disclosures and all future Disclosures related to APFM's services, unless I revoke my authorization. You may revoke this authorization in writing at any time (except where we have already disclosed information before receiving your revocation.) This authorization will expire after one year.
F.
You consent to APFM's reaching out to you using a phone system than can auto-dial numbers (we miss rotary phones, too!), but this consent is not required to use our service.
squash and rutabaga are often served mashed
polenta with your favourite pasta sauce
serve those mashed potatoes cold as potato salad
refried beans
hummus
almost any soup can be whizzed with a stick blender and seems like normal food
custards, both sweet and savoury
pumpkin pie (without the crust)
rice or tapioca pudding (cooked very soft or pureed if needed)
yogurt
oatmeal or cream of wheat with lots of brown sugar and a pat of butter
those little cups of applesauce come in lots of different fruit combinations
I would make them a bit thicker with added veggies like carrots, sweet potato rather than flour, pasta or rice.
I would process them as much as I needed to. I would portion them into 2 cup Mason or Ball jars and pop them in the freezer.
A few of the soups I made were:
Loaded Baked Potato soup, Split Pea with ham, Stuffed pepper or a stuffed cabbage soup, Beef Barley, Tomato soup (I would roast pounds and pounds of tomatoes if I happened to see them at the close out corner of the store)
One of the other things that I made for him and he loved...he had always been a pizza guy would eat it anytime he could. I made the Cauliflower Pizza crust, pre baked all the toppings and he could eat that with no problem, later I did process it and while it did not look like pizza it did taste good.
Grits or cream of wheat with an egg cooked on top of it. I started adding the egg for an extra protein boost.
I also switched his dinner and breakfast. He was more alert in the morning and I started giving him his largest meal then so breakfast was often the soup or the girts with egg, lunch might be scrambled eggs or yogurt with fruit and dinner again yogurt or cream of wheat.
I would also make pudding, custard. He loved Key Lime pie so I would make the filling and pour it into little ramekins and bake that. I would get about 5 or 6 and he would have that mid afternoon sometimes.
As far as appetizing goes what you puree may not look great but the flavor is there. When I was a kid we took care of my Grandma and my Dad would process our dinner and put it on a plate for her just like our meal, a mound of beef or whatever (he would use the gravy to thin meats so that it could process), a spoon full of the veggie, a scoop of potato or whatever else there was. She was able to eat and identify what she was eating. Far different than tossing everything into the blender and having one pureed mixture on the plate.
I assume that a medical person advised you to prepare soft foods? If so, was a suggestion made for a videoscopic swallowing test? In my experience, this is done routinely when someone has difficulty swallowing, in order to determine what the cause is, and prescribe the appropriate diet.
It's not an invasive procedure, but needs to be conducted by a speech pathologist, using hospital or lab equipment. The patient is given various foods of various consistency, all of which are monitored remotely through a machine which allows the pathologist to determine which might be swallowed and which might be aspirated.
A modified diet is then prescribed; there are different levels. As someone wrote, there are mechanical soft and pureed categories. I received several page printouts with very specific guidelines on what can and can't be eaten. And it's quite surprising; foods that would seem to be appropriate aren't.
The diet will also address whether liquids need to be thickened; this is important, as in some cases straws cannot be used, and water or other fluids absolutely need to be thickened to avoid aspiration.
Ice cream is a good example; b/c it's soft, it would seem to fit into a dysphagia diet. Not so with all pureed foods. It melts too quickly, becomes liquid, and can be aspirated.
I tricked it by giving my father a few teaspoonfuls of ice cream at a time so he could eat it when it still had some solidity. As soon as it melted, it was ver boten. And obviously, any ice cream should not contain nuts, chocolate chunks, cherries, or other foods that require chewing.
And you're right; it's not very appetizing. I did some research, called food companies, and ordered brochures, some of which used techniques to present the food in a more appealing fashion. Still, my father wasn't particularly excited by pureed foods.
omelets, casseroles, bananas, avocados, cottage cheese, smoothies, homemade cream of tomato soup, shepherd's pie, mashed sweet potatoes. Salmon pie without crust Look online for some recipes with these ingredients. Make sure water intake is good to prevent dehydration on a soft diet. Hope you find some good recipes for your mom.
BTW thanks to everyone who took the time to reply. So very much appreciated.
See All Answers