With the weather getting nicer, it can be hard to think of easy summer meals for the elderly. Of course, eating well is vital at any age, but it can be especially tricky for elderly adults who may have a more challenging time preparing food or who are limited in what they can eat.
The easy summer meal is grilled chicken or fish. Another is sandwiches, such as salmon and egg sandwiches. Salads may range from tuna, eggs, chickpeas, mixed beans, cottage cheese, another fantastic summer supper option. Soups are another easy summer meal.
Check out these easy summer meals that are perfect for older adults. All of these recipes are simple to make and taste great, so you can rest assured that your loved one is eating well during the hot summer months. So go ahead and bookmark this post – you’ll want to come back to it later!
What Meals Do the Elderly Like?
The elderly often enjoy simple, easy-to-prepare meals like grilled cheese sandwiches, pasta, and cold cereal. They might also like family recipes passed down through the years. While some of these easy summer meals may take a little preparation time, they’re straightforward enough that the elderly will enjoy eating and preparing them.
Ideas For a Great Summer Meal
- Sandwiches
Hot or cold sandwiches are easy-to-prepare summer meals. Of course, everyone enjoys a good grilled cheese sandwich, but sandwiches can also include deli meats, tuna salad, and other simple ingredients. In the summertime, fresh garden tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce make easy sandwich add-ons. Also, try sourdough bread, whole-grain bread, and hearty rolls for bread varieties. Grilled ham and cheese sandwiches also make easy weeknight dinners because they take little preparation.
- Bean salads
Bean salads use canned beans as their base ingredient and come in various variations with different vegetables and seasonings. It’s easy to make a delicious bean salad for summer picnics, barbecues, and cookouts with canned black beans or pinto beans.
To make your easy summer meal of bean salad:
- Drain the liquid from one can of drained beans.
- Add in some diced red onion, green pepper pieces, fresh parsley leaves, and any other vegetables that sound good to you.
- If you prefer a vinegar-based dressing over mayonnaise-based dressings, try using balsamic vinaigrette instead.
Chicken noodle soup is another great easy summer meal idea because it requires little preparation time despite needing hours to simmer on the stove. Using precooked chicken makes this easy dish even more effortless by cutting out extra steps like boiling, frying, or grilling raw chicken.
- Crackers and cheese
This easy summer meal idea only requires three ingredients: crackers, cheese, and one or more kinds of preserves like fig jam or strawberry jelly. Bake the crackers first before adding the preserves and cheese for the best results. For extra flavor, you can toast cheese in a skillet. These easy summer meals taste great with fresh fruit too! Fresh fruit smoothies are easy summer meals made by blending ingredients like frozen strawberries or peaches, milk, yogurt, ice cubes, and any other kind of fruit that sounds good to you. Pick your favorite smoothie recipe online or experiment with your concoctions using fruits at their peak season during the summer months.
- Cooked cereal
Cereal is an easy summer meal that can be served hot or cold, depending on your preference. For hot cereal, try cooking oatmeal in milk instead of water for fuller flavor before adding any sweeteners or toppings to it. If you prefer cold cereal, try adding fresh fruit like strawberries, bananas, and blueberries to them, along with milk for extra nutrition and delicious tastes.
- Cold pasta salad
Cold pasta salad is an easy summer meal recipe that uses cooked pasta as its base ingredient mixed with vegetables like carrots, peas, or bell peppers, plus a simple dressing made from oil, vinegar, and spices. It’s easy to make pasta salad by simply mixing all the ingredients! Try pairing it with other easy summer meals like sandwiches or crackers for variety.
- Fruit pops
Easy summer meal ideas are fruit pops. First, make them using fresh fruit, yogurt, milk, and sugar ingredients. Then, purée the ingredients together in a blender for easy results! It is great to serve these easy summer meals to children, so consider making these treats for cookouts or family picnics.
- Cold cereal
Cold cereal makes an easy summer meal that can be dressed up with fresh fruit or preserves, depending on your preferences. For added nutrition, try combining it with low-fat milk instead of water when you’re ready to eat them because skim milk contains calcium and other essential nutrients for elderly health benefits.
- Fruit salad
Fruit salads are easy summer meals. They combine fresh fruit varieties like oranges, bananas, strawberries, and blueberries with a simple lemon juice and sugar dressing. Adding some cream or yogurt to the fruit salad adds extra flavor and nutrients!
- Cold sandwich
Cold sandwiches are easy summer meal ideas. Depending on your preferences, you may want to use lots of extra vegetables like lettuce, tomato, onion slices, or cucumber slices. Try adding leftover meat like roast beef or chicken to it for added protein! Avoid using mayonnaise-based condiments because they contain more fat than other types of spreads, so instead, use low-fat mayo if you prefer its taste over olive oil spread.
What to Feed Elderly With No Teeth?
One option for easy summer meals for the elderly with no teeth is to provide soft, easy-to-eat foods. Teeth loss might be a sign of aging, but it doesn’t mean that your diet should suffer as a result. For example, the following edibles are high in nutrients while chewing for individuals who lack teeth.
- Steam vegetables grilled to perfection. Seniors without teeth may have problems eating raw vegetables. When preparing vegetables, consider utilizing a steamer rather than boiling them. Instead of boiling them, steaming vegetables retain more nutrients than boiling. Most vitamins are lost in the cooking water when you boil vegetables.
- Scrambled eggs. The complete protein source available is eggs, which are also high in unsaturated fats. Scrambled eggs are simple to prepare and digest. Before scrambling the eggs, add a dollop of cottage cheese or light sour cream for added flavor.
- Smoothies. Smoothies are an excellent method to boost your diet while using little or no chewing. Blend your favorite fresh (or frozen) fruits, plain Greek yogurt, milk (dairy-free milk is also an option), and other desired ingredients. You may also add fresh spinach for a burst of superfoods, and we guarantee you won’t notice.
- Mashed potatoes. If you leave the skins on (which add more fiber) and use milk rather than heavy cream, mashed potatoes are a nutritious side dish.
- Yogurt. Yogurt is a fantastic source of calcium and protein for non-lactose intolerant elders. It also contains probiotics, which encourage optimal gut bacteria. Choose whole-milk yogurt rather than fat-free, frequently high in sugar and other artificial elements.
- Slow-cooked meat. Tough pieces of beef are difficult for seniors to chew. Slow-cooked foods, on the other hand, like pulled pork or beef stew, are preferable for elders who have problems chewing.
- Beans. Longer is better when it comes to softening beans. They’re a good source of fiber and protein, and they’ll be entirely soft when cooked long enough. You find beans in various dishes, including refried beans, black bean soup, and baked beans.
- Oatmeal. Many older people have trouble digesting grains. Oatmeal is gentle on the digestive system and is also high in fiber. It’s simple to create by combining oats with hot water or milk/creamer.
- Water-packed tuna fish. Canned meats are easy for senior citizens with no teeth to eat. Water-packed tuna is very easy to chew, especially when paired with a soft bread product like crackers or bread slices that become soft when placed in broth or soup.
- Chicken nuggets. Food processors work magic on chicken breasts, turning them into tender chunks that are easy for seniors without teeth to eat whole. Add seasonings of choice before cooking for added flavor.
What are the 8 Fatal Foods for Seniors?
- Raw fish.
Eating raw fish can cause food poisoning due to harmful bacteria.
- Raw shellfish.
Eating raw shellfish can cause food poisoning due to harmful bacteria.
- Unpasteurized fruit juices, milk, and apple cider can cause food poisoning.
If you don’t know how easy it is for dangerous microbes to contaminate these foods, you could end up with some very sick seniors on your hands! Remember that if something seems risky, assume that it is precisely that until proven otherwise. We are all at risk when our immune systems are compromised. Therefore, it’s even more essential to ensure the safety of our elderly loved ones by following safe practices in the kitchen. Our seniors are not only more sensitive to contaminants in their environment, but they also have a more challenging time fighting off infections.
- Cured meats and aged cheeses or mushrooms.
Unpasteurized foods now come to mind as easy-to-spoil foods with easy access for contaminants, but it’s easy to forget cured meats since they are so salty. Cured meat products are usually smoked, salted, or otherwise preserved. Because of this, even if the meat is still fresh when you buy it (you can tell by the smell), it will spoil quickly because microbial action has already begun breaking down its proteins before it ever reaches your shopping cart.
- Canned fish and home-canned foods.
Once again, food poisoning caused by harmful bacteria is easy to fall victim to when avoiding dehydration. Always use up home-canned food within a year. If you keep it for longer, it can be “hot packed” by boiling the jars in water to kill any bacteria before storing them in the pantry.
- Raw eggs.
Raw eggs can contain salmonella, which will give your loved one food poisoning. So if you decide to use raw egg in a recipe, make sure to cook it thoroughly.
- Raw or undercooked ground beef and poultry.
Salmonella is easy to contract in kitchens, and it’s easy for people who are dehydrated or immunocompromised to develop serious bacterial infections in the gut when they eat raw meat products. So always remember to cook all meats properly before you allow your elderly loved ones to eat them.
- Fish with high mercury levels.
Shark, Swordfish, king mackerel or tilefish have very high levels of mercury that humans should avoid exposing themselves or their elderly loved ones to regularly.
- Soda.
Soda contains a lot of sugar and can dehydrate your loved one quickly. The elderly are easy to dehydrate because the aging process causes a decrease in fluids held by the skin, bones, muscles, and blood. Since their cells have a harder time maintaining fluid balance, it is easy for them to become dehydrated without even noticing until it’s too late.
- Alcohol.
Alcohol is easy to dehydrate the elderly because it’s easy to become addicted. Since seniors can also be easily confused and have a harder time making sense of their surroundings, they might think that alcohol is as harmless as water or juice when it could make them feel tired and weak after only a few drinks. This lack of strength can cause serious falls, which are easy for elders to fall victim to if they’re not careful.
Conclusion
After reading this article, I hope you better understand what types of easy summer meals are out there. Whether it’s grilled fish or chicken, sandwiches like the salmon and egg sandwich, salads made with tuna, eggs, chickpeas, mixed beans (or cottage cheese), soups that can be stove-top or slow cooker – there is something for everyone. Which was your favorite type? Let me know in the comments!
