Serving Food With the Mealtime Partner

Food is served in the Assistive Dining Device by placing it in one of the bowls and attaching one of three bowl cover types to the bowl. The three covers are: The Low Bowl Cover, The Medium Bowl Cover, and The High Bowl Cover. Each cover has a unique wiping edge for shaping the top of the top of the food on the spoon. The Low Cover provides the least amount of food on the spoon and is used for people requiring a smaller amount of food or when eating rich foods where a small amount of food is more desirable. (A child would use the Low Cover more often than an adult.) The Medium Cover provides more food than the Low Cover and the High Cover provides an even larger spoonful. The Cover selection is effected both by the size of bite that the eater likes and by what food is being served. A little trial and error will soon lead to determining which cover to use with which foods.

When serving food in the Partner, each bowl is used to serve one cup (and only one cup) of food even though it will hold a lot more. The depth and shape of the bowl, along with the use of the appropriate bowl cover, provide the proper placement of food on the spoon as it scoops. The bowl should not be filled with more than one cup of food. Doing so interferes with developing a well rounded spoonful of food. It is recommended that several extra bowls of food be prepared for larger eaters. When one bowl is emptied, the caregiver (or, mealtime partner) can quickly replace the empty bowl with the second helping or a different variety of food so they can continue to enjoy their own meal without a significant interruption.

As a general rule, the maximum serving to be placed in each bowl is one cup. With food that is particularly lumpy, smaller servings are recommended. If a particular type of food is not being handled well by the Partner, it is recommended that a smaller portion is placed in the bowl. If the performance still does not improve, trying another bowl cover or reduce the size of the food items in the bowl.

Cut larger foods into bit size pieces that are approximately 1 centimeter (3/8") cubes. This allows the spoon to be able to scoop them consistently. Larger pieces may result in the spoon not always retaining the food as it is withdrawn from under the bowl cover. The cover tends to remove some of the food from each spoonful. Thus, large pieces of food tend to be knocked off the spoon very easily.

There are some foods that the Partner cannot handle very well. These are foods that stick together to form large clumps that will not separate. For example, cooked spinach or turnip greens. Also, the pieces of a cut up chocolate candy bar (at room temperature) would stick together and become a large, inseparable cluster of food would not work well. These foods are not recommended for the Partner. (Chilling the candy bar, however, may eliminate the tendency for it to stick together and then would be served without difficulty.) M&M's serve very well in the Partner because they don't melt at room temperature.

The Food Serving Guide provides comments and recommendations about serving many common table foods using the Mealtime Partner. It lists some of the foods that have been served with the device and how the different covers worked. The Food Serving Guide is not complete and should be considered a work in progress.  As you use the Partner, you will gain experience in what works well and what doesn't. Please email any additions or comments that you have to info@mealtimepartners.com. Your comments and suggestions will aid us in improving the content and value of the Food Serving Guide for all of our users and their mealtime partners.