The Hairy Bikers’ Meals on Wheels

I have just been catching up on BBC iPlayer with the new series, “Hairy Bikers’ Meals on Wheels” where the TV chefs aim to do for Meals on Wheels what Jamie Oliver has done (or at least tried very hard to do) for school dinners.

Meals on Wheels, as run by the very admirable WRVS and others, is one of those invisible glues in British society which are greatly undervalued until they are under threat.  Not only do Meals on Wheels provide hot food to older people every day, they also provide regular contact and conversation to people who are often isolated and housebound. In the words of one of the customers, they are  “something to look forward to”.

And perhaps most importantly, Meals on Wheels allow people to stay independent and in their own homes for longer. Something most of us want.

Meals and Wheels are under threat not only from the cost cutting affecting most Council services but also from a shortage of, particularly younger, volunteers. As with school dinners, there are also issues around quality and the overuse of frozen rather than fresh ingredients.

As more of us live longer, more and more of us will depend on these sorts of services. Now is a good time to make sure the model works. And that means more of us volunteering now to guarantee that  the service is there when we or our family need it in the future.

But Meals on Wheels in its current incarnation at best looks rather outdated and subsequent programmes will explore how volunteering can be made more attractive. A rebrand by Saatchi and Saatchi seems to be on the cards.

A couple of our University of Brighton students  focused on re-vamping Meals on Wheels as part of our “Designing for the Future” competition last year.  Miranda Holms and Hanna Crick devised  a whole business where meals would be delivered in vintage-look branded vans and food decanted into the most beautiful handmade bowls inset in a bespoke wooden tray before being delivered to the customers. The challenges they had were logistical – how to deliver the service for the price within the time constraints.

I suspect the Hairy Bikers will face the same issues but with enough people and goodwill anything is possible. I shall be watching the rest of the series with interest.

To watch the first episode, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b014sqyx/Hairy_Bikers_Meals_on_Wheels_Episode_1/