pensioners food home delivery

[big-all]

wiltshire farm as a random example
now i realize there is a need and they do a just service but for a day to day full meal service could cost a fortune
the average single course 400g ish meal that is typical size is around £4
now at perhaps 2 a day thats £56 a week assuming that's over the free delivery level but will need further food input so on top off a normal shop or two
now in general supermarket ready meals are about 1/3 to half that level from say asda now i know its free choice and all that and someone delivering perhaps once or twice a fortnight can be seen as human contact i do think the cost is a bit excessive on the often poorest and possibly less able to budget well falling for the "free from" low in" good for" patter where you dont mention the "high in"possibly close to dangerous levels off sugar"/fat /salt in other meals
my thoughts are positive spin is expected but detraction where loads off information will be wrongly conflated from generally very trusting people who are not so wise to the modern " bullshit" off spin

 

[Deleted member 174758]

I thought for a moment you were going to offer a service B-A...

Our local meals on wheels service is around £6.50 a day for a two course meal - so WFF seem in the same sort of area. The lunch club at our village ha;l;l charges £4.50 to £5.00 for the same thing, but obviously it isn't delivered

 

[Notch7]

wiltshire farm as a random example
now i realize there is a need and they do a just service but for a day to day full meal service could cost a fortune
the average single course 400g ish meal that is typical size is around £4
now at perhaps 2 a day thats £56 a week assuming that's over the free delivery level but will need further food input so on top off a normal shop or two
now in general supermarket ready meals are about 1/3 to half that level from say asda now i know its free choice and all that and someone delivering perhaps once or twice a fortnight can be seen as human contact i do think the cost is a bit excessive on the often poorest and possibly less able to budget well falling for the "free from" low in" good for" patter where you dont mention the "high in"possibly close to dangerous levels off sugar"/fat /salt in other meals
my thoughts are positive spin is expected but detraction where loads off information will be wrongly conflated from generally very trusting people who are not so wise to the modern " bullshit" off spin

I used Wiltshire farm for my Dad when he was getting very old and frail.

It’s a main meal with meat and a vegetable side, an elderly person will only have one a day.

they also offer a minced or puréed option - which my Dad had due to his lack of teeth.


Wiltshire farm are quite helpful, you give them the key safe code and they will put the meals in the freezer.

given they have to employ a driver to deliver the meals, I’d say it was a pretty good deal really.

 

[Dork Lard]

When you've lost the ability to shop for &/or cook your own food, then I think there will be other issues beyond just a meals on wheels service !

 

[Mottie]

Mrs Mottie literally ordered some for her mum last week. She loved 'em! Had desserts too. The delivery driver is very friendly and put them in her freezer for her and the lady she spoke to to order them said that if she ever needed any on the quick, she could drop some round to her as she lives in the next street to her mum.

 

[Odds]

When you've lost the ability to shop for &/or cook your own food, then I think there will be other issues beyond just a meals on wheels service !

There are, but when you've struggled with those health problems all day, especially on a bad day, a good, well cooked, tasty meal can make a great deal of a difference to a person's well being. The interaction with a friendly face also makes a big difference to a persons state of mind and can sometimes be the only contact they receive all day. To someone living on their own it's the equivalent of the 5th emergency service.

 

[Diver Fred]

When you've lost the ability to shop for &/or cook your own food, then I think there will be other issues beyond just a meals on wheels service !

Do so agree. In the later years of my fathers life he had Home Help from various sources including myself. Apart from me the person he missed the most was the daughter of one of his mates who entertained him with stories off his mate. As for food, wife and I would cook, 'pack' and freeze meals in foil trays - around 500 or 750 ml dependant on the contents, for him or the home help to reheat.

The costs are definitely less and can be more suited to peoples taste but such does take time. I reckon we would spend anything from half to a full day every week doing the meals. And that was without the time for shopping for the ingredients.

The company of people was equally as important - but it is/was so easy to get pulled in and become unable to leave.

 

[big-all]

quite a few positives there
it was more the free from making it sound "better than " but no mention off the really high sugar levels at 27g per meal about 1/3 your daily consumption
https://www.wiltshirefarmfoods.com/ready-meals/free-from/free-from-sweet-sour-chicken

 

[Ihavenojob]

Farm Foods do a range of ready meals that are quite cheap, never tried them so no idea what they are like, also no delivery.

 

[securespark]

I normally cook for everyone in the house.

But there was a bit of role reversal when we were all grounded with COVID.

Mrs Secure's folks ordered us a load of Parsley Box meals.

If they are representative, I'd rather not, thank you.

They tasted very "manufactured" and were very samey.

In fact, COVID affected my taste and for months afterwards, everything I put in my mouth tasted like these wretched meals.

Even toothpaste!

It got to the point where we could not eat another one, so we gave them back.

 

[Dork Lard]

I still don't get it. Wiltshire Farms is clearly a 'convenience' service for folk who are cash rich / time poor, so why the moan & whinge about the cost?

 

[ajstoneservices]

Customers that I have who use Wiltshire do so because they are often too frail to cook. Next step is probably a care home.

 

[big-all]

I still don't get it. Wiltshire Farms is clearly a 'convenience' service for folk who are cash rich / time poor, so why the moan & whinge about the cost?

Comments about the cost were only part off my comments, i realize its a full package and people do different things for different reasons
we dont learn without knowledge, this thread is part off the process

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

For the time being I am having to 'self cater' [1]. I am no cook, nor do I have much inclination to cook alone, for one. So I tend to buy foods which are ready to heat and eat, maybe with the addition of a few extra items. Things like frozen toad in the hole, complete roast ready meals, beef in black bean sauce with rice, etc., the occasional omelette and chips. One full meal per day, perhaps topped up with a sandwich is usually enough.

Last time around, I would aim to have a meal out once a week, but costs of this have shot up. Whilst I am not short of cash, I will not pay over the odds either. Last time around around, Iceland offered some really good quality range of ready to heat meals and I would buy a few of those, but the really good range seems to have been quietly dropped.

I've not tried Wiltshire, but I did try the meals from the other company which supplies ready made meals which you can store in the cupboard and are posted to you - Parsley Box. They sent one set on approval, at a discounted price and to be honest I was disgusted by the size of some of the meals. Some were as small as 250g, no more than a snack, so under the distance selling regs I had them arrange recollection and a refund.

My regular sources at the moment, are Lidl, Tesco and a slightly more distant pound shop's freezer cabinet, though I am mostly favouring Lidl at the moment as they seem to have a fairly good range. Even the sold as complete ready roast meals, I tend to have to supplement with extras to make up the weight.

[1] As some will remember, Wendy suddenly upped and offed on the 19th, after two years here, so I went back on a dating site and got an almost immediate 'bite' from a 55 year old Filipino widow, who was brought to the UK by her husband. He gambled their money away, mistreated her and died leaving her in some debt, but with more than enough assets to cover the debts. She is working silly hours, just to pay interest and a little off the capital. Living alone, she is struggling with the running costs.

I have suggested her best way out is for her to move in here and sell up to turn her asset into cash, to pay the debts off. She is rightfully worried what she would do, if I were to chuck her out. She has visited me here once for the day, loves what she saw of me and the house etc. and wants to come back again, but needs to wait until she can afford the fare to get here. We got on absolutely great, even with her less than good English. I have offered her help with the fare, but she will not accept any such help.

I am now confident she is more than 100% genuine and of her motives, so I want her moved in ASAP. She is the slightly reluctant one, to move on and forward to a new life. Reading between the lines, one way to really upset her, would be to offer to pay off her mortgage for her.

 

[Mottie]

Blimey Harry, 16 days and you're thinking of moving another one in! You don't let the grass grow under your feet, do you?