Would you like to share your spouses favorite foods now and before AD?
My Mothers changed during her last year, but my husbands has remained about the same.
Basically he is pretty much ok with whatever I prepare but he has always loved sandwiches. No tuna fish. When we go out to eat he usually chooses sandwiches. Now, I know most of you are thinking "Wow, how great is that". Most of my friends husbands want a hot meal every time.
Sandwiches are ok with me but I love a fancy sit-down meal with all the trimmings of cloth napkins, tablecloth, candles and all the other romantic do-dads that go along with that. That is one reason I love the cruises so much. I always wanted to sit in the dining room and we usually did but dh would have preferred the buffet. He never objected much, perhaps because he wasn't having to pay for it. Big incentative. He was never comfortable with small talk either and that made him uncomfortable. Now eating at a similar place locally you have to stand in line and after you are seated, wait forever for your food. This entails a good deal of small talk also so our mode of eating is 95@ fast-food.
Tacos and Spaghetti before Ad and Tacos and Spaghetti after Ad
Dh is ok with going out, we tended to eat out a lot before at least several times a week at sit down but that is what our lifestyle consisted of. We both worked crazy hours and weren't home much, neither of us are/were much into fast food. I don't like places I have to stand and wait. But I know more and more it's the norm. But my Dh has always been a whatever kinda guy. A lot of times now, he does prefer to just snack. Which I love cause its so much easier than cooking a big meal that will go to waste. Rk
Red meat and pasta before FTD and Chicken and pasta after FTD
We have been married 30 years and up until the last year he would NEVER eat chicken. He said he had it way to much when he was in the Army and just didn't like it. Now he would prefer chicken over any other type of meat. Actually now he will pretty much eat anything I give him compared to his very limited menu when we were first married. I have to make sure he eats a decent meal everyday because if he had his way he would live on chips and m&ms
From a guy's perspective, the one part of being a caregiver that I don't do well at is cooking. We eat out every day at lunch, which has become our large meal. Have a variety of places we go ranging from Thai to Middle Eastern to standard American fare. Breakfast is pretty simple.......oatmeal and an english muffin. We have a great local supermarket that has a hot food bar and a salad bar. The soups are great, so supper is soup and/or salad. DickS
Dick the supermarkets make it easy anymore with their food bars. You might want to check out their precut lettuces where all you have to do is take them from the bag and put in a bowl - add a favorite dressing and you are good to go. I haven't tried their soups. Love those whole baked chickens. The leftovers go good on a salad the next day too.
We eat out a lot too. Lately we have been getting up late and stopping at Mc at 9 or10 for breakfast and a tall iced coffee and that takes us until 2 when I will have our big meal - which is usually not anymore- we eat a lot of leftovers because I cannot seem to cut my meals down enough. We usually just snack for evening.
Stu's eating habits haven't changed a lot since AD, except he doesn't eat as much as he used to - and that is a good thing! Neither of us really like fast food places and enjoy a good sit-down, tablecloth, place. We don't eat out as much now that I'm not working. Breakfast: he fixes his own - cereal and sometimes toast or a roll; lunch, if we don't go out, is usually a small pizza or a pannini; I do cook for dinner. It's the only time I can get him to eat veggies. But tonight we had a chicken caesar salad with all the goodies on it (tomatoes, carrots, green peppers, olives, cauliflower, etc). He will eat chicken cooked any way, every day of the week!
Like Imohr, I prefer nice restaurants, cloth napkins, good salads, meats, vegetables, yeast rolls and desserts. DH has always preferred hamburgers and french fries both before and after AD.
Before we moved to this retirement home (which provides the evening meal) I had taken over the cooking, using the magazine "Cooking For 2" as my guide. My wife always liked whatever I made. Now I only have to worry about breakfast (cereal, OJ, Eng. muffin, and coffee) and some lunches (usually soup or sandwiches). So far she will eat whatever is put in front of her. She still follows the pattern from childhood of cleaning the plate, even if she is getting full and I tell her not to eat it all. We both liked nice restaurants, but that is a thing of the past. I don't get any enjoyment out of paying a lot for a meal and then just sitting across the table from her with no conversation.
My DH eats mostly everything i give him nowdays Before AD. he was always a fussy eater and he only would like gourmet restaurants. He especially likes homecooked meals now with meats/potatoes/corn/veggies/salad/and dessert of course. he never ate sweets before AD or (me)-! now he devours anything with sugar-huge sweetooth with AD. i let him have anything he wants as i figure its one of his very few pleasures . he seems to enjoy eating more now since off the AD meds last yr and has actually gained a few lbs..strange. Divvi
I find it easier to cook these days because a lot of the old rules are out the door. He would get upset if we had chicken for supper when he had chicken for lunch (as if I knew he was having chicken for lunch!). If we had spaghetti with a red sauce one day, I couldn't cook anything with tomatoes in it for the rest of the week, so I always saved the tomatoes for pasta.
Now, if it makes sense to serve rice two days in a row, as I did last week, that is OK. So is two different kinds of potatoes two days in a row. He doesn't remember what he ate yesterday.
But he is harder to take out to lunch because what he wants is a hot meal. Going out to lunch is literally the only treat we can share at this point. We have a local diner that is becoming our favorite. And we can go there. But the meal we get there is not our main meal of the day because he still won't give that up. It would be so much easier if he would.
My husband loved steak and salads and Saturday night that was always on the menu. In the early days of marriage when money was a little tight I made a patty of ground chuck and wrapped a piece of bacon around it and broiled as I would a filet. He was not fond of sweets but that certainly has changed. Now he must have his pecan pie with icecream every day. Thank goodness for Mrs. Edwards Georgia Pecan Pie found in the freezer section of the grocery store. They really taste homemade. His favorite thing to eat is fried chicken now and he does not want steak or a salad. He also loved seafood. I ordered take out of fried shrimp the other night and he asked what they were and I had to explain to him how to eat them. So many foods I cook now he does not remember what they are . I hate this disease.
For 46 yrs of marriage and everyone that knows Ken knows he never ate sweets. No cookies, cakes, pies, nothing sweet. He liked salty foods and snacks. The past year he eats cookies daily, ice cream nightly and never want anything salty. He's always been thin as a rail and still hasn't gained weight. This is so strange a 180 degree turn around. Other than that he really was never too interested in food, unlike myself.
Nancy, as I posted in another discussion today, for some reason most AD patients crave salty and sweet things. Nuts, chips and sweets. I keep no-fat fruit-flavored yogurt around for his sweet tooth, and my grandson bakes pies a couple of times a week for my husband's sweet tooth (and his!).
My husband refused to eat chicken for the 46 years we were married - until this past year....now he's eating chicken and we are thrilled! We have it a lot, now that he will eat it. On another food though--he has always refused to eat shrimp. We were at Benihana's last month and they always give us three shrimp each, which he has always passed to my plate...he didn't. HE ATE THEM!!!! My daughter and I almost fell on the floor! The last holdout has now been accepted. I really think that it is a bad sign, and not a good one.......He now eats whatever we put in front of him, and cleans his plate to the last crumb. And finishes long after we do.....
My wife has always liked just about any food. She always said she was on a "seafood" diet - I see food, I eat it. Lately she has done as Mary's husband - cleans her plate to the last crumb and finishes long after we do.
We start every day with "I'm not hungry", then progress to "I can't taste it". I basically cook as I always have except G likes baked potatoes all the time...he used to love them for the skin, but now doesn't eat that. I find myself preparing more carbos as he is so thin..which of course I don't need! Texture is his main thing, but he can change day to day on what textures he likes. It is all a guessing game.
I made some whole lobsters a few weeks ago--we hadn't had them in years. My husband had no clue as to what was edible, what wasn't, how to go about taking it apart. It was as if some foreign creature had landed on his plate from outer space! I finally took his apart and he enjoyed it--but I won't be making them again--too much work to disassemble both his and mine. It was good, though.