Open Hand's Prepared Meals Program provides one, two or three freshly cooked meals, combined with snacks or supplements, to meet the daily nutrition needs of homebound seniors and low-income men, women and children who are dealing with a critical, chronic, or terminal disease. Prepared meals are designed by our registered dietitians to meet individual clients’ dietary requirements/health conditions.                               See Sample Menu

In addition, the Open Hand Dependent Children’s Meals Program provides meals to the dependent children of Open Hand clients, regardless of the child's health status, preventing malnutrition and supporting their healthy growth and development.

Regular Menu Options

1.  Regular Menu: This menu option is for people who have no preferential or therapeutic diet requirements. This meal is high in calories and protein and meets 2/3 of an adult’s nutrient needs for the day.

Therapeutic Menu Options
2.  Mechanical Soft Menu: This menu option is designed to minimize the amount of chewing necessary to ingest food. It also restricts foods that irritate the mouth or throat (i.e. spicy and acidic foods). This menu also works for people with mouth and esophageal sores.

3.  Diabetic Menu: This menu option is for people who have diabetes or hyperglycemia. It is restricted to 1800 calories by limiting carbohydrates and fat.

4.  2-Gram Sodium Menu: This menu option is for people who cannot have more than 2000 milligrams of sodium each day (ex. someone with hypertension). There are approximately 660 mg of sodium per meal.

5.  Renal Menu: This menu option is for people who have chronic renal insufficiency or other renal problems. The meals are designed for clients who must follow a diet containing 60 grams protein (20 g/meal), 2 grams sodium (660 mg/meal), and 2 grams potassium (660 mg/meal). This menu excludes tomatoes, potatoes, bananas and oranges.

6.  Dialysis Menu:  This menu option is for people who have chronic renal insufficiency or other renal problems and have been placed on hemodialysis. The meals are designed for clients who must follow a diet containing 60 grams protein (20 g/meal), 2 grams sodium (660 mg/meal), 2 grams potassium (660 mg/meal), 1 gram phosphorus (330 mg/meal) and 2400 calcium (600 mg/meal). This menu excludes nuts, dairy, beans, tomatoes, potatoes, bananas and oranges.

7.  Low-Fat Menu:  This menu option is for people who cannot have more than 30% of their calories from fat. This diet is appropriate for most people who are trying to lose weight or who are experiencing problems with high cholesterol, high triglycerides, or lipodystrophy.

8.  Low-Lactose Menu: This menu option is for people who cannot digest large amounts of lactose, which is the sugar found in cheeses, milk, or cream. The only exceptions are hard cheeses and yogurt, since they only have a small amount of lactose.

9.  Liquid Menu:  This menu option is for people who cannot tolerate or cannot chew solid foods. A doctor must order this menu type for a client, as it is not a significant source of calories. The menu for one day includes: two cans of Boost, two cans of soup, two cans of juice, one container of yogurt, one container of applesauce, and one container of pudding.

Preference Menu Options
10.  No Red Meat Menu: This menu is for people who do not want red meat in their diet. Red meat includes all beef and pork products.

11.  No Pork Menu: This menu is for people who do not want pork included in their diet.

12.  No Fish Menu: This menu is for people who do not want any fish included in their diet.

13.  Vegetarian Menu: This menu is for people who do not want meat of any kind included in their diet.