You’ve probably heard the saying ‘we eat with our eyes’. Well, this doesn’t just apply to restaurant dining experiences. The same is true for all our meals, including in Aged Care. Meal presentation can have a big impact on our mood, appetite, and perception of taste.
One of the greatest issues seen within our aged care systems is malnutrition. Malnutrition can lead to a loss of muscle mass, reduced mobility, increased risk of falls and fractures, weakened immune system, and fatigue. Adequate food and nutrient intake are essential for the prevention of malnutrition. Strategies such as meal presentation and creating positive mealtime experiences can help to increase the food intake of residents in residential aged care homes.
Do you find the meal appealing?
Most of us will have experienced being put off by a meal that doesn’t look appetising. The opposite can also be true, a well-presented meal can encourage good intake. This can be an especially useful tool in aged care where residents can experience poor appetite due to reduced mobility, poor health, or fatigue.
7 tips to help improve the visual appeal of meals in Aged Care
Serve a rainbow
Aim to include a variety of colours on a plate and use the brightly coloured foods to break up foods of the same colour e.g. you might break up similarly coloured foods such as mashed potato and cauliflower by placing brightly coloured peas or carrots in-between the two white foods.
Fresh herbs
Use fresh herbs and other garnishes to add more colour and texture to the plate.
Get creative with condiments
Avoid covering up appealing parts of a dish such as colours with condiments such a gravy, instead try serving condiments on the side or using different techniques to drizzle condiments over the dish to add to the visual appeal.
Coloured plates and cutlery
can further add to the visual appeal of a meal, especially for residents who are visually impaired.
Different heights and textures
Add varying heights and textures on a plate to create a more interesting dish.
Use moulds and piping tools for textured modified foods
moulds are available to help make pureed foods look closer to their original shape e.g. moulds for pureed carrots that make them look like a stack of baby carrots, or use various piping techniques to create different shapes and textures.
Focus on Meat
Studies have shown increasing the visual appeal of a meal results in increased food intake. Using colours, textures, and plating techniques to increase the appeal of meals plays a vital role in ensuring adequate nutritional intake and the prevention of malnutrition in our vulnerable residents.
The Mealtime Experience for Aged Care Residents
Creating a positive and welcoming mealtime experience is also essential for encouraging good oral intake as well as brining joy to residents and adding to the quality of their lives.
Some tips for creating a positive mealtime experience include:
Use fun and creative table settings – add colour and visual appeal with tablecloths, centre pieces, table runners, coloured plates, glasses, and cutlery.
Themed days – add to the celebration of special days with decorations throughout the dining room such as Christmas, new year’s, Valentine’s day, and sporting events
Encourage residents to sit together in the dining rooms during meals and encourage conversation to help increase their social interaction.
When providing physical assistance during meal times give the resident your fall attention - it can be easy to become distracted talking to staff or thinking about the other things you need to do whilst providing physical assistance, but ensuring the resident is given your respect and attention by engaging with them, ensuring they are provided with the level of assistance required, and providing them with your full attention whilst providing assistance, helps to create a more supportive and positive experience.
Ensure residents have their glasses, dentures, hearing aids, cushions, and any other assistance tools they may need to create a more comfortable mealtime experience.
Minimise distractions e.g. ensuring televisions are turned off - whether the resident is in their room or in the dining room a television can distract them and prevent them from completing their meals.
Ensure adequate lighting so the resident can clearly see what is one their plate.
Announce to the resident what they are being served – this is particularly important for residents that are vision impaired or who are on texture modified diets and therefore may struggle to identify what foods are on their plate.
Encourage engagement between residents and chefs during their meals to allow for time to provide feedback and create a connection between the food they are eating and its preparation process.
Ensure residents are provided with adequate time to complete their meals, and ask residents if they have finished eating before taking plates away.
Where possible avoid clinical activities during mealtimes such as assessments by the allied health team and provision of medications (with the exception of medications that must be provided with meals).
Dietitian Involvement in the Meal Presentation and experience for Residents
Dietitians can assist in meal presentations and mealtime experience in several ways including:
Development of meal ideas/recipes that are appealing and meet nutritional requirements
Running workshops and presentations on creating a positive mealtime experience, providing feeding assistance, and creative meal presentation. Find out more here.
Dietitians can also work individually with residents to identify food likes/dislikes, food allergies/intolerances, cultural preferences, and assistance requirements to ensure residents personal preferences are reflected in their diet. Find out more here.
Meal presentation, mealtime experience, and Dietitians' involvement are all essential aspects of implementing strategies that help to optimise the nutritional intake of residents within aged care homes.
Our OSCAR Care Group Dietitians can work with your aged care home to improve your meals and mealtime experiences. Reach out to us to find out just how we can help you.
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