High-calorie meals for seniors

elysianashes

Hi everyone! I would like to pick your brains My husband's grandmother has been losing weight very rapidly - 6lbs in the last month, she's now down to 105lbs - and we need to find foods that will keep her calories up. The doctor wants to make sure she gets plenty of protein, too. Problem is, she's extremely picky, to the point of it being like dealing with a toddler. Right now she's eating stuff like a sausage biscuit in the morning (not sure if she finishes it) and maybe a couple cookies during the day, and other than that... we have no idea. She lives on her own and just doesn't pay attention, claiming she never feels hungry. Her doc just put her on an appetite enhancer, and that has helped make her hungry finally, so we're headed in the right direction, but I think she has no idea how much she actually needs to eat in a day. This morning she made herself 4 slices of bacon and 2 pieces of toast and was very proud that she ate all of it, so that says something about how little she's been eating.

I thought maybe you guys would be able to help us figure out some simple meals that we can make and freeze for her! We'd like to avoid her using the stove if possible, so things that can be microwaved or that will last a few days outside the freezer are perfect.

Constraints:
She has dentures, so nothing crunchy or super-chewy that can get stuck in there.
She hates milk. Yogurt, smoothies, cottage cheese, even cream soups, are all out. She will eat cheese. I think she will eat ice cream, but she's not big on it.
She has some trouble swallowing so meat is problematic if it's not cut up fine enough. She won't even touch steak, even if it's cut up.
She's not big on fruit, but likes most vegetables.
I doubt she would be willing to put whey protein in anything, we'd have to sneak it in.
She eats in very small portions, so anything snacky is great - things that she can munch on in small quantities throughout the day.

Some ideas we've come up with so far - more worried about getting calories in her and having it be easy for her to prepare than it necessarily being super-healthy:
Breakfast burritos
Chicken and rice casserole
Single-serving quiches
Meatloaf
Ground beef/green bean casserole
Tuna salad
Ham and split pea soup

Thanks!

lyttlewon

The trouble swallowing is worrying me. My grandmother was having issues eating and lost weight rapidly to the point of having to be given a feeding tube. It turned out she had thyroid cancer and that was why she couldn't swallow easily.

elysianashes

I think it's been an ongoing thing for a long time - they've looked into it and haven't found anything.