Bosses get a flavour of Meals On Wheels service
8:30am Sunday 19th February 2012 in News
THEY say the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
So senior officials and councillors tried Meals On Wheels to give them an idea of what elderly people in Bolton can expect to receive.
Bolton Council leader Cllr Cliff Morris took the step at a Town Hall meeting of the council’s full executive.
The local authority took over the operation of the service last year and now makes all the meals in-house at the Albert Halls kitchens.
Cllr Morris said: “We thought it would be a good idea to taste-test the meals to make sure we were achieving the required quality for our residents, and we are happy to say that we all found them to be delicious.
“The Albert Halls took over the in-house production of community meals last September with the aim of providing a nutritious, home-cooked meal to hundreds of vulnerable people in the borough.”
The team cook between 420 and 450 meals every day and deliver about 2,400 meals a week.
Meal choices include: breaded fish, mushy peas and mashed potato; chicken in cheese and bacon sauce with peas and corn and herby potatoes; crusty corned beef hash with carrots and green beans.
Desserts range from spotted dick and custard and rhubarb crumble to chocolate sponge with chocolate sauce.
The meals cost £3 each and the council recently allocated an additional £75,000 to ensure prices can be frozen for another 12 months.
A council spokesman said: “Community meals are important, not just because the person receives a hot, home-cooked meal which could be the only one they receive that day, but also they benefit from human contact when they are delivered.
“It is a connection to the outside world for many older people and we can keep our eye out for any problems if the community meals service is the only service they receive.”
Jean Jones, scheme manager at Westhoughton Visiting Service, a befriending service for socially isolated older people, said Meals On Wheels is “invaluable”.
“It’s not just the meals, it is the company too, having somebody going in and bringing the meal,” she said.
“The service is really invaluable to older people and it does an excellent thing.
“Without the service, many older people would not have a nutritionally balanced diet and would just make do with something simple like soup or a sandwich, it really is invaluable.”
