Can I get vegan and vegetarian food in a care home?

An increasing number of people in the UK, including care home residents, follow a vegetarian or vegan diet.

There are an estimated 7,000 vegetarians and vegans in residential and nursing care homes according to the charity Vegetarians for Life, a figure that has more than doubled since 2014.

The trend has forced care homes across the UK to adapt and change their ways to accommodate people’s food choices and dietary requirements.

Can you get vegan and vegetarian food in a care home?

By law, all care homes in the UK must meet residents’ nutritional needs and reasonable requirements regarding religious or cultural backgrounds.

This means the short answer is yes, you can get vegan and vegetarian food in a care home as they should be able to cater for your dietary needs. However, some care homes may be better equipped to cater for specific dietary needs. So it is always advisable to discuss these prior to moving into a care home.

Although there are very few care homes not serving meat at all, Vegetarian for Life has an online directory with more than 1,500 services that have pledged to cater well and ethically for vegetarians and vegans.

What is the Memory Care Pledge?

These services, including care homes have made the Memory Care Pledge to ensure vegan or vegetarian food is served even if you or a loved one have forgotten your preferences and beliefs. This could be due to dementia or other conditions that cause memory loss or losing mental capacity.

Cares homes that have made the pledge will be well informed on how to cater for vegans and vegetarian residents. Others may not have the knowledge to ensure the food, although vegan or vegetarian, is varied and of high nutritional value with an appropriate mix of carbohydrate, protein, fat and fibre providing at least five portions a day of fruit or vegetables.

Because of this, it is a good idea to involve yourself and have a written meal plan to make the care home is aware of what dietary requirements you have.

Vegan and vegetarian meal plans in care homes

Meal planning, along with individual eating and drinking care plans, is a common practice in care homes. It helps the care home with time management, budgeting, and meeting your needs.

Vegetarian for Life recommends having a written meal plan for at least a week ahead. For more variety, a four-week plan repeated over a maximum of three months is suggested. The three-month cycle ensures seasonal changes.

In a typical week’s vegetarian or vegan menu, try to ensure that you include a good mixture of:

• Root vegetables
• Green vegetables
• Salads & other vegetables
• Fruit – fresh & dried
• Pulses (peas, beans, lentils)
• Bread
• Rice & pasta
• Meat substitutes (soya protein, tofu & Quorn**)
• Nuts & seeds
• Cheese*, milk* and other dairy products* or vegan versions of these products
• Eggs*

*not suitable for vegans
**not all Quorn products are suitable for vegans

Amanda Woodvine, chief executive at Vegetarian for Life emphasises that a meal plan is about more than just the food.

“By having a plan, and one that builds in flexibility – after all we may all want a change from time to time – staff will be better able support the needs of the individual. Eating should be a time to look forward to, and a time of social interaction. If the meals made, and any aspect of the mealtime experience, does not work towards this goal and reflect the needs and desires of the individual, then this may result in poor nutrition and a feeling of social isolation,” Ms Woodvine said.

Dementia and loss of capacity

Issues can arise if you or a loved one are living with dementia or have lost your mental capacity. What if you or a loved one forgets that they are vegan and suddenly requests meat or dairy?

In this case, it is paramount to have a meal plan in place to ensure vegans and vegetarians who have capacity issues or cognitive losses keep being served food and drink according to their beliefs. If your loved one is living with dementia and is moving into a care home, make sure you involve yourself in the meal planning, so your loved one’s preferences are catered for.

Why is it important to have eating and drinking care plan for someone with dementia?

Ms Woodvine said: “Having an individual eating and drinking care plan for a person living with dementia is a vital way of recording individual food preferences. It can be used to note any food allergies that a resident has (and may not always recall), in addition to any ethical, cultural or religious preferences. It can also be used to note individual dietary objectives, such as providing a varied and nutritious diet with the intention of aiding some weight gain, while respecting a resident’s wishes to remain vegetarian.”

Vegetarian for Life is asking care homes to make a Memory Care Pledge, which includes five fundamentals to follow that enables residents to eat the way they want for the rest of their lives, even if they lose capacity.

You can listen to Amanda Woodvine, chief executive at Vegetarian for Life, talking about the importance of care homes respecting the beliefs of vegetarian and vegan care home residents, on carehome.co.uk’s Let’s Talk About Care podcast.

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