While waiting for the macaroni to boil, my thoughts drifted to last spring when I was cooking for my Dad after my mother died. He is a picky eater (he doesn't think so) therefore making meals was a challenge. I knew he liked mac & cheese so I decided to make the real deal with lots of good cheese in a creamy sauce, baked in the oven with a panko topping. I asked him what vegetable he would like with his mac & cheese and his reply was, "Your mother and I always had hard boiled eggs with it".
Huh, what? Hard boiled eggs?? I told him that hard boiled eggs weren't a vegetable! He didn't care, that's what he wanted. He had his eggs and I had a salad.
Since my mother's passing, my sister takes Dad grocery shopping and cooks him dinner once a week. She usually makes something that he can heat up another night. He finds cooking a real chore. At first we were appalled at what he chose to eat... lots of hot dogs and beans, keilbasa, SPAM, and frozen dinners. We have finally accepted that at least he is eating. He is going to be 88 years old in another week and he may as well eat what he wants. Aside from being lonely and eating lots of processed meats, he is in pretty good health and is doing ok on his own. He takes care of his own apartment and walks to the library and church when the weather is good. I wish I lived closer so I could visit more often and give my sister a break. Hopefully I can get there in the spring.
I think I haven't posted a photo of piggy bank in at least a week... so here is your serving of pork for the day...
Oink, oink! Looks good!
ReplyDeleteEvery once and a while, I go for the box mac n cheese too. It's good comfort food. I try to throw some extra stuff in there to make it a little more grown up.. maybe a scoop of sour cream or some cream cheese, so it's at least not sticky like I remember it to be. ;)
ReplyDeleteI know, you get older and eat whatever the hell you want, right?
ReplyDeleteI used mac and cheese to get the kids to eat peas. I'd throw in a couple of handfuls of frozen ones. It was too much trouble to eat around them.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all boxed mac and cheese is definitely disgusting.... and sooooo good!
ReplyDeleteYour poor dad. Wonder if he might like meals on wheels. Some areas get really good foods, I can't say that is true where my father in law lives, I could not even recognize the food they brought him. But he liked it. He now eats at the nursing home most days with his wife.
I will never understand the concept that processed foods are easy. What is so hard about biting into an apple or banana or peeling a carrot? chopping a bell pepper? We are so addicted to all the wrong foods...... i think if I get to where I don't want to cook I will just buy a bunch of frozen fruits and make smoothies all the time !
My Dad is lucky that the building he lives in is the distribution center for the area meals on wheels. He can go to dining room and have lunch 4 days a week. He says the food isn't too bad and since the cost is minimal he doesn't complain.
DeleteAt least my Dad does eat fruit, and a few vegetables if they are put in front of him and cooked to death!
By the way, my mom eats 2 bowls of ice cream every single night. Her doctor told her if she wanted to keep living to stop. She said, if I have to stop eating ice cream I don't want to live. She's 84, might as well enjoy....
ReplyDeleteHave you looked into a meals on wheels program for your dad? He might enjoy that better than cooking. My mom is using one and it makes us feel better that someone is coming to the house to check on her and deliver the meals.
ReplyDeleteHe does eat lunch in the dining room of his senior apartment building - it's the distribution location for meals on wheels. At least 4 days a week he gets a meal that he doesn't have to cook! They used to serve 5 meals a week, but the budget was cut a couple of years ago. I am glad he is willing to eat in the dining room, not only good for his health but the social aspect is important.
ReplyDeletewhen I was a kid we used to have that boxed mac and cheese, it is kind of addicting; I was just thinking I could use some home made mac and cheese the other day as my mouth and throat are so sore from this flu thing but no energy to make it maybe one of these days, the dining room sounds like a great place for your dad to go; are there any grocery stores near your dad that have salad bars, we have Ingles around here and I like going there when I have a craving for a salad with all the vegetable fixings, they also have a fruit bar
ReplyDeleteMy Dad can longer drive so he depends on family to take him grocery shopping once a week. And can you believe that he doesn't like salad?!!
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