My mother (85) who lives with us is quickly developing a taste for junk food!
Throughout her working life she was a professional cook (not trained as a chef but very good) and I was brought up on home cooked food, homegrown veg, anything the local poacher brought us. She regularly dipped into her Cordon Bleu books and we really did eat fantastically well. Even after Dad died she continued to cook for herself until the last few weeks before she moved in with us when I think the stress of her moving just got on top of her (some of you'll maybe remember she had a heart attack shortly after).
She goes out 3-4 times a week to a luncheon club with the "oldies" (her term
) so for her evening meal she'll have a sandwich and/ or soup - on those nights we eat spicy or other meals she doesn't really like. The rest of the time I keep our diet fairly simple - chops, sausage and mash, fish pie and stuff that I know she enjoys. But her expression at the table has got more and more pained of late, like it's a real chore for her to eat my food.Anyway, at our last T£sc0 trip in exasperation I got her some ready meals (£1 each out of the freezer) - last night she had the fish pie and declared it the nicest fish pie she'd had in years! Hastily followed by "but yours is nice too"
The thing was I licked the spoon after I dished it up and it was almost tasteless and I certainly didn't find any fish! I really am a good cook (she used to relish my food) and I'm really bewildered - I can only think her tastebuds must have altered in some way I can't fathom. I don't really know how to deal with it - these ready meals can't be good for her health and even though they're only £1 - that's still quite expensive for one meal for one person.
It's not just that - getting her to eat veg is becoming increasingly hard (she'll eat them if I dish up but if we put out a dish of veg or salad to help yourself she'll ignore it unless reminded) and she insists on tinned soups and sugary breakfast cereals! I'm fully expecting an order for spaghetti hoops and fish fingers soon
It very much feels like I'm starting to feed a picky child.That's it, just wanted to offload
even if offerd a home cooked meal without needing to lift a finger , im assuming its just a degrading of the tastebuds along with everything else 
