A bit of history: Modern long-term-care regulations require that if a Resident does not care for a meal offered, the facility provides a substantial substitute. In the days before the regulation (and arguably the reason for the regulation) if a menu item was declined, a Resident may have only been provided at best a cold sandwich in a plastic baggy or pre-made snack.

Facilities traditionally complied with providing a substitute by having two menu choices at each meal.  Unfortunately, if Residents didn’t want either choice offered they might have been out of luck.  The first-choice/second-choice menu dates back to when many facilities may have lacked the means or creativity to offer a variety of à la carte-style alternative meal options. In addition to often falling short of meeting Residents’ needs, the two-choice menu has caused excess production and unfortunately a great deal of food waste. 

Where we are today: Today at JCMCF we do have the resources and department design to offer a wide variety of foods/meals that can be readily prepared and delivered at almost any time (our main kitchen is open almost 24 hours a day – we only have an hour and a half each night between 2nd and 3rd shift when kitchen personnel is not available).

Moving into the future: Beginning the first week of February, we are moving to a single main menu offering at meal times with a greater selection of alternative options available all day.  We are also expanding the main menu from a 4-week cycle to a 6-week cycle to add more variety and include as many of our most popular meals as possible.

Building on the most requested alternate food items, we have created an expansive new special orders menu that Residents can order from if they don’t care for the main menu meal offering or would like something outside the usual meal times.  Copies of the special orders menu will be provided to Residents and available throughout the facility. (This new menu is posted below.) This new system will streamline our production, provide the most popular menu items, and allow for a more efficient process to prepare and deliver a greater selection of special order meals.

As always, we will continue to seek input from Residents, staff, families, and friends and evolve our product and services over time to best meet the needs of those we serve.

 Click the photos below to view our menu for the week and our new Special Orders Menu.