Occupy Meals-On-Wheels! Re-post

So I have this dream... And it is not just that I would sell or give away breads and such. My dream is to start-up an independent meals-on-wheels program. With, you know, edible, actually nutritious, food. I don't know how it is in your community but here in A2, despite having some real money, a lot of really great and dedicated volunteers, and a partnering with U-M, they are sending out thousands of pounds of inedible, visually unappealing, patently institutionalized, and wastefully packaged, food. Every person that I have worked for that got meals-on-wheels usually threw away something like 10 lbs. (or more) of food a week PER PERSON! Styrafoam, plastics, and all of that sort of thing as well. It was dreadful to watch. But people who are food insecure, or unable to cook, will not leave the program as they are fearful that they might eventually need it enough to eat some parts. So I have watched it pile up in refrigerators and then get thrown out when the pile took over.

Anyway, it seems to me that a way to help solve this is to have a privately run program. So that someone would have the authority to say "we're not sending out any gross, institutional food". Have it be heavily soup/stew based, as nutritionally soup is a god-food. As well as that many of these potential clients (the elderly, the sick, the disabled) have various health issues that make chewing, swallowing, digesting, etc. problematic anyway.

The current program is so committed to meats as the primary protein source that they absolutely sacrifice quality to quantity and end up serving huge quantities of very disturbing, mostly inedible, meats from extremely dubious sources, what a waste! This could be managed much differently and still appeal to most folks who want some meat.

I am not completely opposed to some tinned foods. I have seen tinned peaches prolong life and the desire to live! I am not opposed to meat, I am an omnivore. I just think that with the dietary knowledge we now have that there has to be a better way to do a protein delivery system. That with the technologies available there should be less waste in packaging. That people who are struggling with food insecurity should have a resource that is viable, edible, nutritious, enjoyable, a source of pleasure, something to look forward to instead of being burdensome and guilt inducing because one wants some security but simply cannot physically or emotionally partake of most of what is given.

Occupy Meals-on-Wheels! That is my goal.