I have a sweet neighbor downstairs: an 80-year old woman who speaks primarily Spanish and not much English. She’s got nice children who come to visit her and a cute, little chihuahua.
I know she is a great cook because when I come home from work, amazing smells are coming into my apartment from my stairway, which is near her kitchen.
My neighbor must be part of a government senior program because she receives frozen meals from SunMeadow, which provides food to senior programs. I know she gets these senior meals because she gives them to me. Every couple of weeks, I find a bag of 10 or so frozen SunMeadow meals by my front door, and I Googled SunMeadow to figure out why she had all this generic-looking frozen food to pass to me.
Years ago, we used to visit my ex-husband’s grandma. (We can’t now, as she has passed away and she wouldn’t want to see me if she were alive, anyway, BECAUSE I DIVORCED HER GRANDSON.) She, too, received free food from the government. She was always cutting large pieces of American cheese off the massive slab she’d get from the government and send it home with us. Imagine a slice of American cheese that tasted like it had a full teaspoon of salt in it. It really was disgusting cheese. No wonder she wanted to get rid of it.
I think the government was trying to give my ex-husband’s grandma high blood pressure. (If you met her, you might understand why.)
Anyway, salt content rules must have changed because SunMeadow meals taste saltless. Whether it’s the chili or applesauce or chicken, there is just no flavor. I find them inedible, so I cut up the entrees and give them to the dogs. They don’t mind flavorless breaded fish. I sometimes eat the vegetables. The dessert always goes in the trash.
I know my neighbor is doing this to be kind because she does not want these frozen meals and her kids know I was really sick for a good part of this year. So God bless her for this kindness to me. But now I have a freezer full of SunMeadow senior meals that I am never going to eat and that I microwave to give to the dogs.
lifestyles of the broke and obscure 
Hi, I work with GA Food/Sun Meadows. Their standard meals are diabetic friendly and contain low to no sugar, sodium or fat which are the things that give food flavor buy also cause high blood pressure, diabetes, etc if eaten in excess. The meals are purposely made this way so that they can be seasoned to taste by the recipient, many of whom have recently been discharged from the hospital on restricted diets. Add a little Mrs. Dash seasoning or your favorite salad dressing to the meals (rather than feeding to animals or tossing) and you’ll definitely enjoy them. Give it a try. 😀
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