What Are the Best Ways to Make Meal Preparation Easier for Your Parents to Manage?

When you live hours away or have a full-time job, meal preparation is difficult. You have to hope your parents are eating well and having enough to eat. There are other options. You don’t have to worry that they’re not eating or rush to their home after work to cook meals for them. Here are options that work well for family caregivers.

Caregiver in Saratoga Springs UT: Easier Meal Preparation

Prepare Ingredients for Them

Do your parents no longer cook because it’s hard to chop ingredients? Arthritis in the hands and fingers can make it hard to hold a knife. If you have vegetables prepped in containers in their refrigerator or freezer, it helps. You can also have meats sliced and in freezer bags.

Instead of ingredients, you could get entire meals in bags and ready to go. The large freezer bags easily fit everything needed for stews, soups, and casseroles. All your parents need to do is pour the contents into a slow cooker and walk away. When you do this, date and label everything. That ensures they’re used in time and don’t go to waste.

Invest in Helpful Small Appliances and Ergonomic Knives and Utensils

It can be easier to prepare meals if there are small appliances that make it easier to prepare things. A food processor that grates or slices vegetables into even sizes or grates cheese eases prep work. A slow cooker makes it easy to cook soups, stews, casseroles, and roasts without having to lift a heavy pan from the stove or oven.

Consider purchasing a portable induction burner. The burner never gets hot. Electromagnetic energy transfers the energy to the magnetic pot sitting on the burner. That causes the pot and it’s ingredients to heat up. It cooks faster than a traditional electric burner. Adjusting the temperature also causes the heat level to immediately lower.

While the pot is hot, the burner itself is never hot. Your parents won’t accidentally touch the burner after moving the pot and get a burn. If they have a gas burner, there’s no open flame with induction burners.

Ergonomic knives make it easier for people with painful joints to hold a knife while slicing or chopping ingredients. Utensils that are easy to allow you to stir things or serve them without struggling to hold a thin, narrow handle.

Get Caregivers to Cook Meals for Them

Elderly care services are worth researching. Each week, day, or a few days a week, have a caregiver come to your parents’ home to cook meals for them. Caregivers also help with grocery shopping if that helps. Call an elderly care specialist to discuss your parents’ situation.

Are you or a loved one considering hiring a Caregiver in Saratoga Springs, UT? Please talk to the friendly staff at December Rose Senior Care at Home. Providing Home Care in Highland, Utah and Surrounding Communities. 801-427-ROSE (7673)