It looks like my elderly parents will be chowing down on frozen dinners

[hedgehog]

for a while. Mom's real frail and dad doesn't really have the energy to cook after taking care of everything else.

Any suggestions for fairly healthy stuff? My sister says don't even try to get them to go to the organic section, and Dad's never been a fan of vegetables.

(They live in another city, so me cooking for them isn't an option.)

[elleng]

1. Stouffers has a pretty good variety, generally tasty.

Also Lean Cuisine and Healthy Choice.

Good luck.

[supernova]

2. Second those, also Amy's

for a little variety, if you can get them further down the frozen section. They have some good veggie/rice/bean combos that are fairly easy on the sodium.

[Warpy]

3. If they're on a low sodium diet, it's Healthy Choice, pretty much

and they're bland, bland, bland. If they can tolerate the sodium and need calories, you can't beat Marie Callender's stuff, the one I steered my dad toward. If they don't need the calories, the Lean Cuisine line is really good.

Most frozen dinners are pretty high in sodium to compensate for the loss of flavor freezing causes. However, if your parents are frail elderly, getting enough food into them is often a bigger problem than the sodium is, so let them get what they like. Just steer clear of Mexican dinners, they're the worst.

Also lay in a supply of Ensure or any of the liquid diet drinks like Slim Fast (they're all pretty much the same formula) for those days they just don't have the ambition to cook and eat.

My own feeling is that once they've had their three score and ten, they get to do whatever the hell they want to. Just let them know what the various food lines are and let them decide just how healthy they want to be.

The next step would be Meals on Wheels, but only when they're too ill to get to the store by themselves.

[hedgehog]

4. I'll have to rememeber the Ensure for days Mom isn't very hungry.

Thanks to everyone for replying. I was down there this weekend and found out that Dad is also picking up the "ready to eat" meals from Wegman's grocery.

[elleng]

5. I understand that Wegmans is quite good, and lots of groceries do 'ready to eat' now.

[hedgehog]

6. That's what I was thinking, so i mentioned it for anyone else in this

situation.

[Warpy]

7. My mother preferred the Slim Fast chocolate

and lived on it exclusively for about three years. She could get that down when nothing else would work. Your folks will need to sample various brands to find out what they like.

The ready to eat, slide it into the toaster oven stuff is great, lower in salt than most frozen fare. I tried to get my Dad interested in it but it was too much like cooking for him, so he stuck to the microwave stuff.

[The empressof all]

8. Check out if they can get Schwans delivery

Their live smart line is lower in sodium and fat than most stuff out there and isn't really bad tasting. Lots of options.

http://www.schwans.com/liveSmart/

There are also some really tasty canned soups out there now that are low sodium which make a quick lunch with some crackers and a piece of fruit.

A banana and oatmeal in the microwave for breakfast is also quick and easy

[trud]

9. Amy's is very tasty and some are marked low sodium

Real comfort foods, too.