cna job--prepare meals

I guess that would depend on where you work. I think maybe some home health jobs ask that you do a little light cooking for the patient. At hospitals and other facilities the most "cooking" you will have to do is perhaps heat someone up a bowl of soup or fix them a bowl of cereal.

I say the same. The meals come up already prepared at a facility. If the patient is unavailable or doesn't wish to eat immediately, we used to place it in the fridge and reheat it later when the patient requested it.

If you'll be working at a facility such as a hospital or nursing home, it is almost guaranteed that these places will have dietary workers who do all the cooking and meal preparation. The patients' diets must be prepared in strict accordance to their ordered diet, or else the facility could get into deep trouble. Some patients receive puree diets, cardiac diets, diabetic diets, renal diets, full liquid diets, low fat diets, mechanical soft diets, etc. Therefore, it is more appropriate for the task of meal preparation to be left to the dietary department.

When I was an aide in a 6-bed group home for adults with mental retardation, I helped with meal preparation. Since the facility was a small single family house with only 6 clients, hiring dietary workers would have been unrealistic.

I work 3-11s at a hospital and my favorite time of the evening is when dinner comes. I like to go around and get the patients set up with their meals. They often like to talk about what is for dinner or what their favorite foods are.

As far as making any food, I've not done that, but I have heated food that sat out for a while because the pt was off the unit when it was served. I have also made instant chicken broth for some pts.