Can anyone offer advice on where to find pureed foods commercially? Is it sold retail anywhere?
My FIL needs his meals puréed and thickened since he got home. Wife is doing most of it herself but would appreciate some backup meals in the fridge or freezer when she’s unable to be there.
My aunt is on pureed food. The caretaker will make dinner for everyone, and then just put hers in a mixer and blend. soft bread with butter seems ok for aunt. ensure is good for protein.
I like the Instant Pot. check it online. Do you have room in your kitchen for these?
I used to have an old Oscar blender, until it slipped out of my hand and I broke it. I threw away the whole darn thing, not realizing I could have purchased another glass container on the internet.
Igloo says vitamix is really good? Anywhere else to purchase it? I don't like going to Costco...it's too busy.
We were fortunate in that our local meals on wheels offered frozen meals for multiple dietary needs including purees, they were so handy to have available for those days when making a meal was just one thing too much. I've just been doing a little searching and there are several more options available now than I was able to find a few years ago, try googling "frozen pureed meals"...
Most grocery stores have ready to go smoothies in frozen foods sections. Many have protein powders added to them. Individual pouch packs. They are expensive & I’d go this route for something to take when you go off to an appointment with him.
Otherwise if your up for cooking, you can purée almost anything with a VitaMix. They aren’t cheap but really fabulous. Costco has the more consumer size friendly ones. I’d order from ViaMix couple extra containers to make things easier. VitaMix are a beast & can chew through all proteins to liquify. Bake boneless whatever and then into the VitaMix.
Costco also sells large pouches of ready to serve fruit smoothies. Some wholesale places - like Restaurant Depot - that often are open to regular folks sell “savory” (so not sweet or fruit based) bagged frozen protein based soups (Smithfield) but these will be designed for immersion heating. If you don’t have a way to do immersion, don’t buy these as it will likely end up a pool all over your stove.
For thick, I’d use THICK IT. That’s it’s name, it’s a powdered dysphasia additive. Comes in a 10 oz plastic jar & totally flavorless. Dissolves really well whether hot or cold. It does wick humidity so need to Ziploc the jar once you open it.
if someone is culinary savvy, you can use gelatin leaves to thicken stuff. It’s double boiler work. PerfectaGel is a great brand. You want 230+ bloom leaves. Unless your in a big big city, you’ll have to mail order them. Modernist Panty has carried them On line. They too wick humidity but come in commercial grade resealable packaging. The European leaves are porcine gelatin based so great to use with puréed meat & pork products. And imho using leaves gives a smooth continuous flow to your recipe unlike Knox gelatin which goes lumpy and granular “mouth feel”. Knox is nasty imo.
For recipes, look for living with cancer Recipes. The drug companies, like Pfizer, have recipes on their sites. The late Holly Clegg has an excellent cancer cookbook with lots of soft & liquified recipes as dysphagia and sensitivities to acids happen with chemo.
also hit the baby food aisle, lots of puréed foods and you might can just add low sodium stock (like in a recloseable tetra pack container like Swanson or Pacific) to it for an easy to heat & serve meal.
Some folks use Xanthan gum (Bobs Red Mill) as a thickner. Imo it does not dissolve as seamlessly easily as Thick It. But you can find Red Mill on Whole Foods, Fresh market, Publix, HEB aisles.
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I used to have an old Oscar blender, until it slipped out of my hand and I broke it. I threw away the whole darn thing, not realizing I could have purchased another glass container on the internet.
Igloo says vitamix is really good? Anywhere else to purchase it? I don't like going to Costco...it's too busy.
Mom's meals https://www.momsmeals.com/our-food/nutrition/pureed/
Hormel (also available on Amazon I believe)
https://www.hormelhealthlabs.com/product/thick-easy-shaped-pureed-frozen-foods/
Some good ideas for home-prepared food here: https://www.agingcare.com/questions/does-anyone-know-of-pureed-food-for-the-elderly-in-the-supermarkets-i-only-see-pureed-foods-for-babi-440166.htm?orderby=oldest
Otherwise if your up for cooking, you can purée almost anything with a VitaMix. They aren’t cheap but really fabulous. Costco has the more consumer size friendly ones. I’d order from ViaMix couple extra containers to make things easier. VitaMix are a beast & can chew through all proteins to liquify. Bake boneless whatever and then into the VitaMix.
Costco also sells large pouches of ready to serve fruit smoothies.
Some wholesale places - like Restaurant Depot - that often are open to regular folks sell “savory” (so not sweet or fruit based) bagged frozen protein based soups (Smithfield) but these will be designed for immersion heating. If you don’t have a way to do immersion, don’t buy these as it will likely end up a pool all over your stove.
For thick, I’d use THICK IT. That’s it’s name, it’s a powdered dysphasia additive. Comes in a 10 oz plastic jar & totally flavorless. Dissolves really well whether hot or cold. It does wick humidity so need to Ziploc the jar once you open it.
if someone is culinary savvy, you can use gelatin leaves to thicken stuff. It’s double boiler work. PerfectaGel is a great brand. You want 230+ bloom leaves. Unless your in a big big city, you’ll have to mail order them. Modernist Panty has carried them On line. They too wick humidity but come in commercial grade resealable packaging. The European leaves are porcine gelatin based so great to use with puréed meat & pork products. And imho using leaves gives a smooth continuous flow to your recipe unlike Knox gelatin which goes lumpy and granular “mouth feel”. Knox is nasty imo.
For recipes, look for living with cancer Recipes. The drug companies, like Pfizer, have recipes on their sites. The late Holly Clegg has an excellent cancer cookbook with lots of soft & liquified recipes as dysphagia and sensitivities to acids happen with chemo.
also hit the baby food aisle, lots of puréed foods and you might can just add low sodium stock (like in a recloseable tetra pack container like Swanson or Pacific) to it for an easy to heat & serve meal.
Some folks use Xanthan gum (Bobs Red Mill) as a thickner. Imo it does not dissolve as seamlessly easily as Thick It. But you can find Red Mill on Whole Foods, Fresh market, Publix, HEB aisles.