Care Home Cooks Attend Hands-On Training Day Through Ongoing Partnership With Nestle Professional

A third of the kitchen staff from across the Orchard Care Homes Group attended a hands-on training day in November, at the Nestlé Insight and Learning Centre in York, as part of an ongoing national partnership between Orchard Care Homes and Nestlé Professional.

The partnership was established earlier this year, with Nestlé Professional supplying a variety of products to Orchard Care Homes. Nestlé are also set to support Orchard Care Homes in the second annual ‘Chef of the Year’ series in 2018.

Business Development Chef Justin Clarke, together with Customer Development Manager Charlotte Fryer, demonstrated a wide variety of dishes using every day products, such as Maggi Rich and Rustic Tomato Sauce, and Maggi Mashed Potato. Recipes included a range of ‘three-step-soups’, cheese and onion quesadillas, and a baked fruit rice pudding. The dishes were all designed to be simple to prepare, strongly flavoured, and highly fortified, with minimal waste.

Justin said, “The challenges of cooking within a care home setting revolve around the fact that many older people live with impairments in taste, smell, and sight. It is important therefore to use versatile ingredients that are highly nutritionally packed, and that go far, offering residents a broader choice of meals and snacks that meet their nutritional needs.”

Food and Beverage Manager for Orchard Care Homes Dianne Lilley commented, “The ongoing training and development that we offer our Cooks, in partnership with nationally recognised foodservice brands such as Nestlé, is evidence of how we are continually seeking to improve the mealtime experience. We are pleased that Nestlé has supported us with the delivery of this training course, which will ensure the continued diversification of our menus.”

Pat Haigh, Cook from Eaton Court in Grimsby said, “This is the second training session I have attended, and I have found it both useful and enjoyable. Having access to real-world training given by top level chefs is a valuable way in which to build on the skills we already have. We have all taken something away from today that we can use in our homes going forward.”