Retirement Community Menu
Diet and food choices are obviously critical to a long life with good health, so it’s important to know that your retirement community is offering food choices that you’ll be eager to consume.
We’ll outline the top five things you should consider about potential retirement communities when it comes to dining.
Preparing food for a large group of seniors can present some interesting challenges. Factors such as medication side effects, special dietary requirements, decreased ability to taste, and providing obese or underweight residents viable meals are all considerations. Even with these challenges, it is possible to ensure your retirement community offers the selections you are seeking. Here’s how:
- Does your retirement community involve residents in menu planning? Is a nutritionist involved in meal planning? Many communities have food committees where residents assist chefs with meal suggestions or recipes. These suggestions are then often reviewed by a nutritionist to ensure the meals meet certain vitamins, minerals, and caloric requirements.
- Flexible Dining Schedule or Multiple Dining Rooms? Flexibility is important so that residents can adopt a schedule that is conducive to their preferences. Some communities, like Baywoods of Annapolis, offer several dining venues to accommodate a variety of preferences.
- Farm to Table? By incorporating this approach, the community promotes sourcing and serving local foods. This initiative often reduces preservatives, promotes organic foods, and helps support local producers such as farmers, wineries, and fisherman.
- Dining Rooms Inviting. Is the dining area inviting, well-lit and does it smell like home cooking? The presentation of food is extremely important to a healthy appetite, and if you’re going to eat the majority of your meals here, you’ll want to feel right at home.
- How varied is the menu? How often does it change? Variety is the spice of life…and food! You’ll want to understand how diverse the menu options are and what alternatives are available if you don’t like the chef’s selections.
Nutrition from the food we eat is critical to maintaining a healthy body, especially as we grow older. The atmosphere, presentation, and variety of options available are important considerations. In addition to asking questions about the dining experience, you should sample the menu and ask other current residents about their dining experiences. This will help ensure your dining experience meets your dietary and culinary needs! Contact Baywoods of Annapolis for a free menu sampling!
