We Create Award-Winning Meals That Nourish The Body And Dining Experiences That Stimulate The Mind
Serving our residents with delicious food is about so much more than nutrition at Avery. Our award-winning chefs work with an expert dietician, Helen Simpson to create seasonal meals that please the eye as well as the taste buds, in addition to catering to the varied dietary, nutritional and cultural needs of our residents. Every ingredient is carefully sourced and wherever possible, we use local suppliers to ensure the freshest produce goes into our meals.
Food forms such a b link to our identities and heritage and we believe this should not be lost just because an individual moves into a care home. It’s why our chefs take the time to listen to the likes and preferences of our residents by developing meals that they can enjoy every day.
All of our menus are adapted to meet local tastes. At Birchwood Grange in Harrow, we have a dedicated vegetarian-only kitchen with a diverse range of authentic Asian meal options to cater to both our Asian residents and all of our other residents who’d like to try something different. Meanwhile at Albion House in Birmingham, we routinely provide a range of Caribbean dishes that have proved to be very popular to all.
Providing diversity in our meals comes naturally to our multicultural team of chefs who work hard to reflect the tastes of our care home communities. Whether it’s hearty British fare or cuisines from abroad, our chefs “follow the food”, venturing into our dining rooms to ensure the food is well-presented and enjoyed by our residents. The dining experience at every Avery care home is a regular social highlight for our residents.
We Create A Positive, Social Environment So Mealtimes Are A Joy
We believe in empowering our residents to enjoy as much independence as possible and this applies to mealtimes too. We always provide several different choices at every meal, from the traditional to the exotic, giving residents the chance to find comfort in the familiar and excitement in the unusual. What’s more, with table service at each of our care home dining rooms, mealtimes become a shared, social experience; one that is never rushed but instead offers time to relax and enjoy.
Beautiful crockery and cutlery makes every meal feel like an occasion, while the option of family service adds an extra element of social interaction. Throughout the year, we also celebrate festivals and holidays through our menus, from Burns Night to Christmas, alongside hosting global cuisine-themed nights and seasonal cake competitions.
Hydration is encouraged at every meal, with triple-filtered bottled water always available alongside our Thirst-Quencher Drinks Menu. This innovative menu was developed by our chefs at one of our regular Avery Culinary Workshops and offers residents a variety of enticing flavoured waters; from our zesty Saint Clements and exotic Pomegranate, Lemon, Ginger & Lime, to our Homemade Cloudy Lemonade.
Care workers and hospitality staff are always on hand to help at mealtimes. We find that help goes both ways as interested residents assist our culinary teams, offering their own experience and skills as cooks and bakers. We always encourage residents with an interest to join in preparing meals in the safe and welcoming environment of our kitchens.
While our dining rooms are vibrant hubs in each of our care homes, we understand that not all residents are able to or wish to visit the dining room every day. That’s when we bring the dining room to our residents’ rooms. We pay extra care and attention to make sure their mealtime experience is still an event. Each course is served sequentially, condiments are always provided, and the quality and presentation of the food remains exceptional.
We Continuously Innovate To Create Exciting Meals
Our talented chefs, in consultation with an experienced dietician, are constantly pushing themselves to create even more delicious meals for our residents; meals that balance flavours, textures, colours and nutrition.
All of our chefs have a thorough understanding of how to adapt foods to accommodate allergies and special diets. They’re also trained in creating texture-modified foods that make meals easier to chew, swallow and digest, without compromising on quality. The results are spectacular dishes that use modern gourmet approaches, such as fondants and silky smooth purées, to create varied textures that are visually appealing.
All of this is made possible through a combination of our chefs exemplary skills and the high-quality equipment we provide in our commercial kitchens. Continuous training of our chefs is par for the course at Avery, ensuring they can build on their skills and develop new meal ideas for our residents to enjoy.
We Compete Nationally To Deliver The Very Best Meals In A Care Setting
The passion of our chefs to deliver excellent meals has seen them win multiple awards. For consecutive years, our chefs have been finalists and winners at the NACC (National Association of Care Catering) Awards, with 2019 seeing one of our own win Care Chef of the Year. 2021 saw one of our chefs, Champa Misty win Vegetarian Chef of the Year and the Birchwood Grange culinary team win The Beulah Charity Trust Special Recognition Award at the Vegetarian for Life Awards.
We continue to compete in national culinary competitions for the care industry and in recent years have also taken part in the CAP (Continuous Advancement Programme) Awards.
The CAP Awards recognise housekeeping, front of house service and culinary services in the healthcare and education sectors. Though highly competitive, we have achieved Gold Awards at 6 of our care homes and continue to strive for success across all of our locations.
We are particularly proud of the dining experience we provide at every Avery care home and in 2018 our excellence in this area was recognised by the Care HomeAwards, where we won for Best Dining Experience.
This is a testament to the dedication of our culinary and hospitality teams, all of whom undergo bespoke training to better understand our residents’ needs and support them in their daily lives. At Avery, care is delivered by every single member of our team, from chefs and cleaners to receptionists and care workers. This level of joined-up care makes the world of difference to each of our residents but especially to some of the most vulnerable members of our care community, those with dementia.
Click here to read more about how we cater for residents who live with dementia.
Cutlery-Free Dining – Inclusive Dining For Everyone
“By thinking differently, we can adapt most meals. We are only limited by our imagination.”
Simon Lawrence, Head of Culinary and Hospitality, Avery Healthcare.
Everyone should be able to enjoy nutritious and appetising meals, regardless of ability or disability. Avery’s cutlery-free dining approach focuses on supporting those who find cutlery a barrier to enjoying meals in a dignified way.
Our pioneering approach to food in care homes accommodates those with different needs, including swallowing difficulties, those with specific dietary requirements, or individuals who have difficulty using cutlery due to conditions or illnesses.
Foods can be adapted in many ways, whether that’s how something is cooked, cut, or presented – the possibilities are endless.
Adapting Meals For A Cutlery-Free Approach
When we say ‘cutlery-free’, we don’t mean traditional finger foods such as sandwiches, sausage rolls or other buffet-style items.
Although these kinds of foods are acceptable from time to time, reliance on them for main dietary intake increases the risk of undernourishment – due to the typically lower nutritional content.
As well as this style of food being less nutritionally beneficial, there’s also the obvious difference in the foods being served to those who can eat independently using a knife, fork, or spoon.
Adapting ordinary meals removes some of the stigma and differentiation involved, and allows individuals to enjoy nutritionally balanced, appetising, and varied meals, regardless of whether cutlery is used.
Who Could Benefit From the Cutlery-Free Dining Approach?
There are many people who could benefit from the cutlery-free dining approach to meals. Conditions such as Parkinson’sdisease, arthritis or a stroke can all affect how cutlery can be used, particularly if motor skills are heavily impacted. Cognitive illnesses such as dementia can cause an individual to have difficulty processing their environment or cause problems with sequencing and co-ordinating actions. The difficulty these individuals face when it comes to using cutlery can make mealtimes problematic and cause unnecessary stress.
Nutritional Value Of Cutlery-Free Dining
As well as reducing the risk of stigmatisation and improving independence through the cutlery-free approach, another huge benefit is that as the food is merely adapted, there is no reduction of nutritional value.
By simply adapting the way meals and snacks are prepared, cooked, and presented, quality ingredients can still be used.
Quiche could be cut into bite-sized chunks, miniature versions of popular desserts could be created, and sauces can be decanted into dipping pots.
Cutlery-Free Dining – A Chef’s Viewpoint
With the cutlery-free initiative in mind, chefs across our Avery care homes have received training and support to produce delicious and accessible meals for residents with a whole variety of needs, including those who find manipulating cutlery a barrier.
Simon Lawrence, head of culinary and hospitality atAvery Healthcare gives his opinion on cutlery-free dining:
“As chefs working in the care sector, it is of fundamental importance that we continue to develop and innovate through our culinary teams.”
Finger foods have often been a misunderstood concept. A chef new to the sector asked to prepare it may visualise buffet items, an inaccurate perception. We have worked hard to develop strong guidance and comprehensive training that ensures that all our chefs can adapt everyday menu choices into Cutlery-Free meals.
Cutlery-Free Recipes
Creating delicious and nutritious meals for those who have difficulty using cutlery is a simple process, and most meals can be adapted. Get a taste of what cutlery-free meals are like with this tasty recipe example:
Potato Cakes
Serves: 10
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Product: McDougall’s Plain Flour, Bisto Vegetable Bouillon
Paste, Marvel Milk Powder
Ingredients
450g peeled potatoes
10g Bisto Vegetable Bouillon Paste
100g Marvel Milk Powder
100g onions, diced 20g fresh chives 2 medium eggs
50g McDougall’s Plain Flour
50ml olive oil MethodCook the potatoes in a pan of water for 15–20 minutes until
soft. Drain well, then mash. Mix the mashed potatoes with the
Bisto Vegetable Bouillon, Marvel Milk Powder, onion, chives,
and egg. Season with plenty of black pepper.
Fold in the McDougall’s Plain Flour.
Heat the olive oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat.
Using a dessert spoon, scoop up the potato mixture, roll, and flatten slightly. Carefully add to the hot oil, and fry for 2–3 minutes on each side until golden, topping up the pan with more oil, if needed. Serve warm.
Hints and tips – Potato cakes are great as an addition to a light snack or to have on their own; try adding smoked bacon and tomato as an alternative for a breakfast item.
Avery treats residents with dignity and respect in every aspect of their lives, with mealtimes being no exception. Learn more about care services in our insightful blog and view our portfolio of care homes today.
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