My husband is starting to ask for specific foods and have a craving for them.. Sometimes he will ask for days until I get it for him. This is very annoying since we are far from stores and he always ate what I gave him before. Now he only wants certain things at certain times.
It was kind of comical as I remember many years earlier when we had gone to Red Lobster(as I have always loved seafood)my husband ordered the only chicken dish they had on the menu at that time.
And like your husband once he had something in his mind that is all he would talk about and drive me kind of crazy.
Humor him when you can and don't worry about when you can't. He'll be ok.
It's quite common to get food cravings for elders with dementia and Alzheimer's, yes. Above is a link to an article on the subject.
Get a whiteboard and he can write down the items he wants.
When you go shopping you can ask him what one or two items he would like.
When you get to the store he can try looking for the items.
My Husband would always pick up bananas and put them in the cart. Didn't matter if we had bananas at home so when he wasn't looking I would replace the yellow ones he put in the cart with the greenest ones I cold find.
Since you are far from stores just remind him that shopping is done on Wednesday. You can circle or highlight Wednesday on the calendar so it reminds him.
**If he is beyond writing items on a whiteboard or trying to locate an item in the store there are other ways that you can get him to "wait" for shopping day.
By the way if the food cravings are for odd foods or ones he did not like before you might want to mention it to his doctor SOME cravings are indicators of deficiencies in the diet and they may want to check levels for vitamins and minerals.
I sure do.
That doesn't mean when I have a taste for Trader Joe Old Fashioned Potato Chips that everyone runs out and gets them.
I do my best to meet his cravings because it is one way I keep the home peaceful. Honestly, I no longer care whether he eats healthfully, I just care that he eats something. And since I am no longer fixing meals to please him, I finally get to make what I want to eat.
At a certain stage in someone's life I feel like they should be able to eat whatever they enjoy eating, it's pretty much all they have left.
But please don't feel the need to up out ASAP and get it for him. Just jot it down and before your next shopping trip ask him if he still wants this or that. Then get it for him, because the craving may have passed
See All Answers