Dear People in my computer:

In that last post about Pog’s Chaotic Kitchen Care, I might have got a bit cocky.  I thought we’d sorted Dad’s weight, he was on the up and I could cross that off my list.

But anyone is any sort of similar situation to this knows that these things are not linear.  They are rollercoasters.  That are on fire.  And heading off the side of a cliff.  With absolutely no brakes.  And Dad demonstrated this brilliantly by struggling through another boat of poorliness that left him unable to eat much and took him back down to just 8stone 10.

BUT we found a secret weapon!  Mr R is training to be a nutritionalist.  Not because he wants to be a nutritionalist you understand, that would be far too obvious.  No, he’s training because he does big running races (50-100 mile types) and wants to properly understand how to fuel his body, so thought he’d learn for himself.  And recently in his quest he completed a module on the elderly, and discovered the secret weapon.  Powdered milk.

Who’d have thunk it?

You see, older people need more protein to maintain their muscles and they need extra vitamins – A and D are added to milk powder.  A helps your immune system, D keeps bones, teeth and muscles healthy. Milk powder is also relatively calorie dense.  And tasteless. 🙂

So needless to say, Dad now has milk powder (as well as butter and cream) in his mash, in cheese sauces and in fact anything where I can get away with it.

I’ve also changed up my cheese sauce recipe to make it as calorie dense as possible.  Incase this is useful to anyone, this is what I do:

Forget white / cheese sauce in it’s traditional sense entirely.  Instead…

• melt full fat cream cheese with a bit of full fat milk
• mix in double cream
• add a few tablespoons of milk powder
• (If it’s getting too thick add more milk)
• add a heap of grated cheese
• add some salt and pepper

….and use milk vs cornflour to reach the consistency you want

The great thing about this version is that when it’s frozen then microwaved, it doesn’t go stodgy like a proper sauce does.

Extra tip: If you’re prepping meals for someone in need of calories, pop a blob of butter on the top of everything when you’ve prepped it up so that as it is microwaved it doesn’t dry out and there are a few more calories in the pot.

There’s loads of extra information on how to fortify food here too. (Thank you, Mr R)

I forgot to take the scales with me after the first week, but this week on the new CKC regime for two weeks, Dad had put on FOUR pounds.  He was a whole nine stone (and a teeny bit!). He did say he had to go and take the weights out of his pockets after I weighed him, but I’m pretty sure he was kidding.

And even better, he’s been rating the meals I cook, and I’ve been getting some pretty good scores 😁😁😁 (not bad when you consider that as a vegetarian, I can’t even taste most of what I make him!)