Turkey and all the trimmings on the menu for hospital Christmas feast

Whipping up a Christmas spread is no small feat. While the rest of us put our feet up and enjoy lunch, the team behind the scenes at the Townsville University Hospital kitchen will be in full swing as they prepare a delicious, and nutritious, menu for patients.

Assistant food services manager Alec Stevens said the team would serve an estimated 1500 meals on Christmas Day.

“Here at the hospital our food services team operates 365 days a year and serves three meals every day, even on Christmas,” he said.

“We expect about 500 patients for each meal service that day which adds up to 1500 meals in total plus snacks and desert.

Mr Stevens said the team had something special in store for December 25 to bring a smile to people who found themselves in hospital.

“The food services team knows that delicious food is how most people celebrate Christmas, so we try and capture that spirit for our patients with a special menu of traditional foods.

“This year on the menu we have a baked ham and roast chicken for lunch. For dinner we have a roast turkey with cranberry gravy.

“This is a special menu that has been prepared especially for Christmas. Here at TUH it is a tradition to serve a special homemade plum pudding prepared by our chefs and this year is no different.”

“For Christmas we have pre-ordered about 40 kilograms of roast chicken and baked ham and about 80 kilograms of roast turkey because turkey is the traditional meal of choice,” he said.
“When we plan a special dinner like for Christmas, we must ensure we are meeting nutritional standards.

“We liaise with the dietetics teams as well as our speech pathologists to make sure that our meals are not only nutritious but also appropriate for patients.

“Nutritious meals are very important towards someone’s recovery while they are here.”