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Healthy Meals for Seniors Senior Care in Anchorage
4 min read

What’s the Easiest Way to Prepare Healthy Meals for Your Aging Loved-One?

  • Baykham Keodouangdy - Program Administrator
  • Author Baykham Keodouangdy - Program Administrator
  • Published August 19, 2017

Could a Slow Cooker Help You Keep Your Loved One Eating Healthier? YES!

A tool you might be overlooking when it comes to helping your loved-one eat a healthier diet is that old standby the slow cooker. It can be more helpful than you might think.

You Can Set it and Forget It

Senior Care Anchorage Slow Cooker Healthy Meals

Senior Care Anchorage : Use a Slow Cooker for Healthy Meals!

One of the best parts about a slow cooker is that you or your loved one can set it up, turn it on, and then just let it go until the food is cooked. This is a great option for your senior because the slow cooker doesn’t need to be watched or monitored throughout the day. It cooks a great meal on autopilot.

It’s Easy to Prep for Slow Cooker Meals

With a slow cooker, you can put together a “one pot” meal really easily. One way you can do this is to put meat into a large zippered bag and then include chopped vegetables, spices, and even a sauce or gravy. Zip the bag and then freeze or put the bag in the freezer. Be sure to label the bag with the contents. When it’s time to cook the meal, you can open the bag, pour the contents in, and turn on the slow cooker.

Cooking Whole Foods Is Easier

A huge objection to going with more of a “whole foods” approach to eating rather than using more processed foods, particularly for your senior, is that often that it can be so difficult to cook from scratch all the time. If you’re using a slow cooker, however, it takes most of the difficulty out of whole foods eating, especially if it’s new to you and your loved one.

Other People Can Help

Having a little bit of preparation in place and letting other people know what to do means that whether you’re getting help from in-home senior care providers or from other family members, dinner is still going to be delicious. Take an hour or two to put together some meals in zippered plastic bags for the week and then leave them in the refrigerator for your loved one’s helpers to take care of for you.

Whether you’re using a slow cooker to help keep the house cool or to give your loved one a way to eat a home-cooked meal without having to expend a lot of effort, it’s worth dusting yours off!

If you or an aging loved-one are considering in-home senior care in Anchorage for light meal preparation, call us! The friendly staff at Shine Bright Care are here to answer your questions. Call toll free  (888) 264-5998.

 

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Baykham Keodouangdy - Program Administrator
Baykham Keodouangdy - Program Administrator
Baykham Keodouangdy - Program Administrator In reflecting on this journey, my home care career, I cannot help but think of my parents. I assisted alongside my sister, to care for them during their last years. Both mother and father had suffered a stroke, heart attacks, diabetes, dementia, hypertension and many more complications that I cannot even imagine going through. Life as a caregiver was not easy but it was something that you just had to do, especially for your parents. Both my parents needed full-time 24-7 care, meaning they could not do anything for themselves. Every day my sister would care for them, whether it was assisting them to medical appointments, cooking and cleaning, bathing and showering, or transferring from wheelchair to bed. It was their complete care for all activities of daily living. I think of my parents often. My father passed in 2012 and my mother recently passed in 2015. I would give anything to have them back. That would be selfish to say, as it would have meant them suffering and not living a full life. I know they are in heaven smiling down. With the experience of caring for my parents, I was able to secure a job as a direct support professional. I was later offered a job as a case manager and excelled to become a team leader. Gradually I was promoted to being a care coordinator and from then on, I just knew this was meant for me. This is my calling; this is my life’s purpose. I went on to experience greater things in this field of Human Services. To care and help individuals and families find support and services needed to navigate the system to meet their needs, is such an honor and rewarding experience to be involved in. I look back, and a decade has passed since I started and it is now 2017. I would love to thank my parents for giving me the opportunity to have the experience of caring for them and go on to do something great with helping others find care and support in the community.
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