Choosing frozen dinners over home-cooked meals is something we all do occasionally. It’s fast, easy and fills us up when we’re tired or in a hurry. But for seniors, who often live alone and have limited access to grocery stores or fresh food markets, an over reliance on frozen foods can lead to nutritional deficiencies and poor health down the line. Listed below are some facts about frozen meals that older adults are often unaware of:

Frozen meals can be:

• High in sodium - most contain a minimum of 600 mg of sodium and may have as much as 1,900 mg. With sodium values this high, it can be a challenge to stay within the recommended daily sodium intake of 2,400 mg. or less.

• Filled with preservatives such as BHT, shown to be a possible carcinogen in animals, as well as polysorbate 80 and propylene glycol, the same ingredients found in antifreeze.

• High in sugar - but this is hard to recognize because the package lists sugar as high-fructose corn syrup, dextrose, and maltodextrin.

• Deficient in fruits and vegetables. The entrée may represent a full serving, but the vegetable sides included are often well under a serving, or almost non-existent. It’s rare to find fruit in a frozen dinner unless it happens to be part of a fruit dessert.

• Expensive. While 99 cents might seem like a great price for a frozen meal, you have to consider the amount of food you are getting and the nutritional value it contains. The box might look big but the meal inside is not.

In comparison, a meal from LIFE ElderCare’s Meals On Wheels program is specifically designed to meet the nutritional parameters set by the Older Americans Act and the Alameda Area Agency on Aging. Every fresh cooked meal provides one-third of the minimum daily requirements for older adults and includes food that is high in Vitamin A and Vitamin C. The entrees are low fat, contain no added salt, and are delivered with a pint of milk and fresh fruit.

On Monday through Friday, our Meals On Wheels Coordinator, Barbara Emge, sends over the number and type of meals for each of LIFE ElderCare’s 24 meal routes to Molly Russo, Valley Care Hospital’s dietician. All of the hot meals are prepared daily at the hospital. Frozen meals for Saturday and Sunday are delivered on Thursday and Friday.

The weekly meals are made from recipes chosen by Russo, in collaboration with the hospital’s head cook, and include items that appeal to the different ethnic groups in the Bay Area. Every week there are seven unique meals that are rotated over a 4-month period.

At end of the 4-month period the meals are changed. Changes are also made based on feedback from the individual programs. If, for example, people complain about too much green pepper, the recipe is changed to include less of this item. “The meals give seniors a good idea of what a balanced meal looks like which helps them in planning other meals throughout the day,” says Russo. “They can see what the proper serving size looks like for protein, carbohydrates and fat.”

Valley Care Hospital receives fresh food from the Livermore distribution center of US Food Service, located just a few miles from the hospital. US Food Service is a company that has been around for 150 years and currently serves more than 250,000 customers nationwide through 60 distribution centers.

Meals On Wheels nutrition sites are required by the Alameda Area Agency on Aging to be ServSafe certified by the National Restaurant Association every five years. Russo and Emge recently passed the certification exam after attending an all-day training on food safety and handling. The ServSafe certification helps the Meals On Wheels program provide good, nutritious food that is safe to eat. The information also gets passed on to Valley Care Hospital kitchen workers and Meals On Wheels volunteer drivers through ongoing training sessions.

If you are age 60 or older, and live in the Tri-City area, give Barbara a call at 510-574-2092 for a fresh daily meal that is healthier and tastier than a frozen meal and, as an added bonus, comes with a friendly personal visit from one of our community volunteers as well.