How to Assess Dining and Nutrition in Senior Care Communities

The price listed on a senior care brochure rarely covers dining. Therapeutic diets, texture modified meals, and upgraded premium meal plans often come with additional monthly costs adding up to hundreds of additional dollars. The bottom line is, if you’re looking to get a fair value assessment of the place you’re considering, start with the dining program. 

Why food is really a health line item 

The best way to think about dining in a senior community is as a health care line item, not an amenity. Malnourished seniors cost the healthcare system $51.3 billion a year, according to Avalere Health/ASPEN. For families, this can mean higher premiums if the resident’s health care costs spiral out of control due to a poorly managed dining program. A well-managed dining program can prevent some of these issues by providing the kind of individualized care that helps seniors get the nutrition they need to prevent the kinds of health crises that require a hospital stay or skilled nursing facility rehabilitation. 

Ask who actually designs the menu 

Find out if a registered dietitian is on staff or if an external RD comes in to consult with a resident when they first move in and periodically after that rather than just doing a nutritional assessment once a year as a formality. Determine if an RD is a full-time employee or if they’re contracted for a few hours a month and whether the kitchen staff helps them with resident assessments or not. Ask directly if an RD is the one who approves residents for specialized diets such as low-sodium, diabetic, and renal diets and how often they come in to talk to the residents. 

The texture-modified test 

If the resident requires a puréed or minced consistency diet, ask to see what that looks like on a plate. Most communities will make an effort to make puréed meals look nice and serve them in an attractive mold, but some places simply serve mush with nothing to make it look like actual food. This is a good indicator of how seriously the community takes its obligation to provide specialized diets and whether its staff take their jobs as caretakers seriously. 

Tour during a real meal, not a staged one 

The picture on the brochure can make any dining room look like a five-star restaurant, but most communities you tour will show you their dining room at their best. Ask to see the dining room during breakfast or dinner to see how the staff operates. Ask if the service is more like a restaurant where residents order what they want to eat or if trays circulate at certain times. Ask how many aides are on staff at meal times and whether they can assist residents who need help feeding themselves or if one aide is responsible for an entire dining room. When comparing different assisted living communities and Senior care homes near Minneapolis, keep an eye on these details to see what kind of value they deliver in terms of food and dining. 

On-site kitchens versus catered contracts 

Ask if meals are prepared in-house or if the community contracts with an outside catering company. This can be a good litmus test for both the variety of the menu and the flexibility of the menu in terms of special diets. Ask how often the menu changes to see how much variety the residents can expect from their meals. Ask about fresh produce as another indicator of whether their menu planning is done with care or if they’re simply using standard frozen meals with minimal variation. You can also ask about fluid intake during meals and whether water is available to residents in between meals. Hydration is important to senior health and can be as much of a concern as nutrition. 

Check the paper trail 

Most states publish inspection reports online, so ask the community for their most recent food service inspection. One or two deficiencies is normal, but repeated problems are an indicator that the community has staffing issues or other underlying problems. Ask the staff directly about the cost of dining services. Find out if it’s rolled into the resident’s monthly fee or if it’s a la carte and if specialized diets or premium meals come with additional costs. The former is generally preferable to the latter, but understand that the costs can add up. 

One more question about food services to ask 

Ask if the community allows family members to eat in the dining room with the resident. Communities that don’t have any issues with this practice tend to be more confident in their food and operations, while hesitation to allow it is worth asking about further. 

What this actually buys you 

A well-run dining program requires a larger staff with higher wages, which means higher costs for residents, but it also helps prevent other costly issues that come up when nutrition and hydration are neglected. When comparing assisted living communities, don’t just focus on the sticker price. Focus on the value of the dining program, because that’s where you’ll find the best value in senior care.