Developing new options in home-delivered meals: the SMOC demonstration elderly nutrition project.
The purpose of this project was to design and test alternative approaches to in-home nutrition services for the elderly. Two meals systems--weekly delivery of five frozen meals and the daily delivery of hot meals--were evaluated for client approval, effect on clients' social contacts, and costefficiency. The alternative frozen meals system met with clients' acceptance, maintained clients' usual social patterns, and produced a cost savings of at least 16%. The development of a more flexible approach to home-delivered meals offers possibilities both for better serving clients' needs and for improving cost efficiency. It therefore has implications for elderly nutrition services nationwide.
D000368:Aged; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D005519:Food Preservation; D005522:Food Services; D005628:Frozen Foods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008404:Massachusetts