Food delivery for seniors: alternatives to Meals on Wheels?

November 23, 2010 8:58 AM

Is there a Meals on Wheels alternative for an elderly woman living in the Sacramento, California area?

An elderly relative of mine no longer cooks and is convinced that store-bought meals (i.e. Lean Cuisine) are making her hypotensive. She isn't at the stage where reasoning with her about dietary choices will get very far, so we have decided to pursue other avenues of nutrition for her.

Meals On Wheels has been an option previously, but she has decided that she does not like the food they provide. Is there a similar that may provide better quality food? Failing that, does anyone have experience hiring a personal chef to cook meals 2-3 times per week that could be later heated and consumed?

Thanks in advance!

posted by mps to food & drink (3 answers total)

I haven't tried it myself, but in similar AskMes people have recommended Schwan's.
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:25 AM on November 23, 2010

Googling "food home delivery" turned up quite a few things, including the aforementioned Schwan's, as well as DineWise. Here's a big list of diet-oriented ones, some of these may meet her needs.
posted by zug at 10:39 AM on November 23, 2010

We had a private chef come and cook for us after our daughter was born (friends chipped in and bought it.) The chef cooked the meals and froze them in seal-a-meal type freezer bags which are nice because they store compactly. The meals were stewy things with a separate starch (potatoes or biscuits) or things that went with rice or pasta that we cooked.

It was really great and the food was really delicious too. One of our favorite meals (lentils and spinach over pasta) came from the chef.

That said, I don't know what the cost was since it was a gift.
posted by vespabelle at 11:07 AM on November 23, 2010