My mom lives in a fairly upscale nursing home, at least good for Medicaid accepted ones. But the food is horrible. My mom has been to 4 nursing homes over rehab and long term and this is by far the worst. Some days she gets hamburgers for lunch and dinner several days in a row. Just yesterday I visited and the entire lunch was one piece of white bread, a plate of what looked like tomato soup with noodles thrown in it, it seriously looked half eaten there was barely anything there, and melon. Luckily I brought my mom pizza for lunch that day, but I really wish I took a picture of that meal. There was absolutely no protein and I don't see how that would fill anyone.
I keep my mom supplied with items to make sandwiches and meals as I can, but is there anything that can be done to improve the meal situation there? No protein is a common one and my mom has spoken to the dietitian several times. She is cognitively there and can voice her opinion just fine fortunately, but in this case nothing is working. I know nursing homes are notorious for bad food, but is there anything can I do or someone I can contact to help change the food?
I agree that you need to get more families involved in this problem to get any meaningful changes made to the menu. If you can, get other families to also document each meal a few times with both photographs as well as description of its components.
Food is expensive. Yet food waste is a huge problem in this country. Big grocery stores are trying to figure out how to save good food - produce and proteins especially - from the garbage. Perhaps the nursing home can make use of some of this food.
I believe this problem isn't for lack of resources but rather for lack of imagination and creativity. Good food doesn't have to be expensive. It's about caring enough to put in the time and energy to put together nutritious and appetizing meals.
I would definitely address with the administrator.
My aunts loved there food, too. Their nursing home was in another state.
Certainly not all care center food is bad. So sorry yours is!
Never mind the dietitian: where's the cook? Who's in charge of the actual catering service? I like MsMadge's idea of a collective voice, but I'd add - build a relationship with the person who plans and delivers the menu. It's quite possible that when you see what budget s/he is working with you'll have more sympathy with her/him; but also s/he might well respond to someone actually taking a constructive interest in the service. It's hard to take pride in your work if nobody ever says anything about it.
If you see no corrective action in the course of one week, call the Ombudsman andwrite to the Joint Commision on Nursing Home Accreditation.
My mom is in private pay memory care but at least three dinners a week have polish sausage as the protein which makes everyone sick