Meals on Wheels Queensland launches new recipe ebook

Poverty, poor mobility, isolation, ill health, depression and a lack of understanding of how nutritional needs change with age can lead to poor diet and ultimately increased physical and mental frailty.

But help is available.

Around 76,000 Meals on Wheels volunteers deliver 10 million nutritional meals to 120,000 Australians annually across 500 local services.

And these volunteers provide more than just a meal, sometimes they are the only visitors an elderly person gets week to week; and the service they provide helps people live the lives they choose in the comfort of their own homes, where they are often happiest.

Queensland Meals on Wheels provides two million meals a year through 150 local services. In conjunction with The Institute of Culinary Excellence and Meals on Wheels Australia it recently launched a Recipe Resource eBook.

Containing 50 new recipes, the resource has been made available to all Meals on Wheels Services across Australia to create nourishing contemporary meals including sweet potato and carrot soup entrée, a choice of beef and vegetable casserole or oven baked chicken, followed by apple and rhubarb crumble.

Queensland Meals on Wheels Chief Executive Evan Hill said the Recipe Resource eBook had been built in consultation with a number of Meals on Wheels kitchens and was designed for services to readily put the great tasting and nutritious recipes into practice.

"These meals will be delivered by our amazing volunteers across the State; eating well is so important for older people and our volunteers double down on that investment by providing a daily check-in that is friendly, kind, encouraging and honest, supporting people to stay home and stay independent," said Evan.

Institute of Culinary Excellence director and training manager Alison Taafe said the Recipe Resource was created not as a textbook but as a contemporary and visually inspiring cookbook designed for Meals on Wheels Services.

"It's filled with amazing recipes that are based on the National Meal Guidelines; they're healthy and look beautiful.

"Every meal has been developed with the correct amount of protein, carbohydrates and fats for older Australians.

"They've been developed specifically with Meals on Wheels kitchens and clients in mind. We've also made provision for substitutions and alternatives to cater for differing tastes, dietary requirements and seasonality."

Although the Recipe Resource has been developed for Meals on Wheels kitchens it is available to the public (or community organisations looking to cook for a large amount of people) by downloading from the organisation's website for a donation here.

When you make the donation type RECIPE RESOURCE in the special message section and you'll be emailed the ebook link.

In the meantime Meals on Wheels Queensland has kindly allowed The Senior to print one of its recipes.

The recipe serves 20 people so is ideal if you want to feed a crowd maybe at your local club, or when you have the neighbours round. You could even divide up and freeze servings or half or quarter the amount of ingredients.

1. Preheat fan-forced oven to 180°C (190°C for conventional oven).

2. Dust steak with flour, paprika, salt and pepper. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat, add steak and fry until just brown on all sides. Repeat in batches until all the meat is browned. Remove and set aside.

3. In the same frying pan, heat additional oil and cook onion, celery and carrots for 5 minutes, until all vegetables have softened. Add the crushed garlic and cook for a further 30 seconds. Set aside.

4. Transfer meat into a large saucepan (which has a tight-fitting lid), add hot stock, tomatoes and seasoning and then cover the saucepan with the lid. Place in the oven and cook for 1 1/2 hours. Check to make sure it is not cooking too quickly or browning on the sides of the pan. Lower heat if necessary and add a touch more stock if required.

5. Add the capsicum and potato and continue cooking for a further 1 hour without lifting the lid too many times.

6. Check for seasoning and the tenderness of the meat, return to the oven if more cooking time is required (e.g. the meat is still tough).

7. To ensure nutritional guidelines are met, serve with 150g of a seasonal vegetable (such as steamed broccoli) and 100g of brown rice.