Eating regular, nutritious meals is a vital component of good health. One-pot recipes are an excellent way for seniors and caregivers to enjoy healthy, hearty meals without using a lot of time and energy.
Nearly every type of cuisine can be fixed in a one-pot style, so it's easy to enjoy many cultural flavors. They also can be made in a wide variety of appliances, such as microwaves, crockpots and rice cookers, ensuring seniors can prepare them in their kitchenettes in their assisted living apartments.
Check out these nine one-pot meals for inspiration.
The usefulness of rice cookers doesn't end with effortless, fluffy rice. With a few additions, rice cookers can prepare delicious meals in a single easy-to-clean pot. Budgetbytes.com also makes it easy to alter ingredient amounts to your preferred serving size.
Curing a pizza craving doesn't mean you have to spend hours cleaning up afterward. This quick air fryer recipe works best when the pizza is assembled inside the cooker itself, and if you use a pre-made pizza sauce, you can eliminate extra mixing bowls.
Slow cookers are a classic medium for fixing one-pot meals. By simply dumping ingredients in the dish and starting the cooker, you have a delicious hot meal waiting at dinner. A bonus to this classic beef dish is delicious aromas fill your apartment all day as it cooks. This recipe serves three, so seniors can eat heartily and store the leftovers in the fridge for later or invite a few friends to catch up over a hot meal.
There's no need to precook the pasta with this recipe, making it a true dump-and-go meal. Unlike most slow cooker dinners, it can be done in 1 to 3 hours, so it's important to fix it close to mealtime. Almost effortless to prepare, it's perfect for visits with family, especially when entertaining grandchildren. To make clean up even easier for seniors, consider putting a liner in the cooker before adding the ingredients.
Hot and filling, baked potatoes are as fast to cook as they are good to eat when you use a microwave. This recipe only takes 12 minutes from start to finish, and seniors can substitute and experiment with toppings to find their favorite taste. For safety, seniors need to be very careful removing the potato and plate from the microwave due to the extreme heat. If you have trouble lifting things with oven mitts, call for assistance. Here at Bethesda Gardens Fort Worth, our caregivers are always happy to lend a helping hand.
A microwave meal for one, this pasta dish takes just 25 minutes to complete. Cling wrap is used to keep the food from drying out so it's essential that seniors use care to avoid being burned by the steam when removing the plastic wrap. The recipe is in metric, however, 80 milliliters of water equals roughly 4.5 tablespoons. The rest of the recipe includes 3 ounces of pasta, a 1/4 cup of bread crusts and 1.25 cups of chopped tomatoes.
Glazed carrots are a great side dish to bring along to potlucks. And they are also a fun way to eat veggies as snacks throughout the day in seniors' assisted living apartments. Other than a single stir about halfway through the cooking time, it's a straightforward recipe where the ingredients are just tossed in and cooked.
Slow cookers aren't just for supper. Seniors can set up breakfast before bed and wake up to a warm, hearty bowl of oatmeal the next morning. This recipe makes four servings. A link to instructions to reheat leftovers is on the site so seniors can use it for breakfast all week. It's important to note that instant oats will not work in overnight recipes such as this one. However, steel-cut oats are considered extremely healthy to consume so it's a good way to give them a try. Toppings are customizable and can include fruits, nuts, chocolate, honey and spices.
We love to spoil our residents with 5-star restaurant meals every day here at Bethesda Gardens Fort Worth. We also love to see our seniors living life to the fullest. Cooking for yourself can be deeply rewarding and fun, so we encourage our residents to give it a try. This omelet mug recipe is ideal for beginners and only takes a few minutes to prepare. Keep in mind that it may take a few tries to get the cooking time right because every microwave is different.
