Low sodium cooking for elderly person missing quite a few teeth.

[dsmith]

Our dear neighbor has no one, just got out of rehabilitation after valvuloplasty and is battling cancer. He is on a low sodium diet, under 2000 mg a day and needs soft foods. He barely eats any veggies - corn, carrots, green beans, mixed vegetables, cabbage and a few others. Hates cheese, mushrooms and broccoli and a bunch of other stuff too long to mention, lol. He loves chicken and pork and a few beef dishes. I didn't realize how much sodium is in so many things, even milk. I need some ideas for dinners that are easy to make and soft. Pre-diagnosis he was eating canned veggies with salt, frozen dinners or entrees like pulled pork or pot roast, occasional steak, the prepared mashed potatoes in the plastic containers... You get the picture. I made him a low sodium meat loaf with some frozen mixed veggies cooked until soft, and he enjoyed that. I also roasted some chicken thighs with some yukon gold potatoes so they would soften in the juices - that was a favorite. Tonight I lightly browned some chicken breasts and slow cooked them with some broth and seasonings that I will thicken to make a gravy to serve with some brown rice. He will add a no sodium canned veggie on the side. Hopefully it is good! Please help me out with some ideas!! 

[Momto6inIN]

I make low sodium soup regularly for an elderly outreach ministry in our community. I use no salt chicken or beef broth and add various meats and vegetables in it along with noodles or rice (cooked without salt). I try to load up on other spices to make up for the lack of salt - pepper, rosemary, thyme, garlic, onion, etc. I also like to put ground sausage in it instead of ground beef to add a little more flavor without a ton of sodium. Good luck!

[mamaraby]

Chicken and dumplings - either with drop biscuits or with noodles in the broth. You could make the drop biscuits pretty small or cook the noodles well. If you make the biscuits from scratch you can reduce the salt.

frittata or spanish omelette, scrambled eggs

savory bread pudding - there’s an idea here (https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/savory-sausage-and-cheddar-bread-pudding.html), but it uses sausage which is probably high in sodium. You could sub ground pork and season it yourself sans salt or with less salt.

salisbury steak - http://skipthesalt.com/low-sodium-salisbury-steak/

Maybw you can find some more inspiration at http://skipthesalt.com/

[prairiewindmomma]

Do you have access to a good quality blender like a Vitamix? There are a lot of savory foods that can be turned into thicker purees--cauliflower, potatoes, etc.  A lot of dishes with ground beef (pasta with meat sauce, enchiladas, etc.) are also fairly easy to negotiate without teeth. Chicken is a bit trickier, but if he was doing well before....I think chicken and dumplings or chicken noodles are a good way to go. 

[mamaraby]

26 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

A lot of dishes with ground beef (pasta with meat sauce, enchiladas, etc.) are also fairly easy to negotiate without teeth. Chicken is a bit trickier, but if he was doing well before....I think chicken and dumplings or chicken noodles are a good way to go. 

Or make it with ground chicken or ground turkey.

[Ali in OR]

You're doing great. It's pretty easy to go low sodium with homemade food. Getting him off the canned/frozen/processed food is key. Bread, cheese, and processed meat (hot dogs, lunchmeat, etc) are also typically sources of high sodium. Watch condiments and salad dressings.

[Cecropia]

A whole pork butt roasted in a slow oven for several hours is very soft.  Super easy, delicious on its own or with a little (low sodium) BBQ sauce.

One of our family staples is ground beef cooked in a pot with a chopped onion and a chopped head of cabbage.  This dish also becomes very soft after about an hour.  You can use cauliflower that has been "riced" in a food processor instead of cabbage.  He might not even figure out that the white stuff is cauliflower and not rice or fine potato hash.

Will he eat creamed corn?