Vulnerable seniors living in the Municipality of Pontiac can now sign up for a weekly meal program that will see three fresh home-cooked dishes delivered to their doorstep every Monday.
The service, which officially began in April, is being offered thanks to a collaboration between Services aux Aînés des Collines and Luskville catering company Ouichef. The meals cost $8 each, or $24 a week, and the menu changes every week.
April’s menu, for example, saw one week offer roast chicken breast, chicken penne alfredo, and a tourtière; the next brought red wine braised beef, honey mustard chicken and turkey rigatoni bolognese; and a third week delivered lasagna, glazed meatloaf and a french onion chicken.
This permanent program is being launched after a successful pilot project was run over the winter, which offered free meals to 30 or so vulnerable seniors across the municipality.
Services aux Aînés des Collines vice-president Jennifer Larose said while the organization’s current funding no longer makes the meals available for free, the pilot confirmed the local appetite for such a program.
“Hopefully we’ll be getting more funding so [we] can bring the price down more,” Larose said.
“Some of [the seniors] are fine with that price, but there’s a couple that it’s too hard for them,”
She said so far, she has 13 people signed up for deliveries, and room for many more.
All food is cooked by Ouichef, which also offers catering and a weekly meal delivery service outside of the Meals on Wheels program for local seniors.
Chef and owner Peter Wannis moved from Toronto to the Pontiac for kitchen work in 2014, and then started this catering business in Ottawa in 2022. Three years ago he moved back to Luskville, where his business is now based.
“We take orders from Monday to Saturday at midnight, Sunday is when we do the prep and packaging, and Monday is the delivery day,” Wannis said of his regular business offerings, emphasizing that the meals are delivered fresh, not frozen, to the client’s doorsteps.
Every week brings six different dishes for clients to choose from, recipes Wannis has selected from a collection of hundreds through which he rotates.
“It’s always changing, which is great,” he said.
Unlike the Meals on Wheels program, which is strictly for seniors in the Municipality of Pontiac, Wannis delivers meal packages from Ottawa to Fort-Coulonge.
Soon, commuters will also have the option of stopping by his business in Luskville to pick up a single meal if they don’t need the five included in a delivery order.
While his regular prices are $90 for an individual box of five meals, he is offering meals at a reduced cost of $8 each for the Meals on Wheels program.
“The Meals on Wheels thing is something we thought we could provide and do our part to help the elderly in our community, so we’re happy to be a part of it.”
Seniors living in the Municipality of Pontiac can register for the service can do so by emailing projets@servicesauxaines.org or calling 1-855-662-4637 ext. 248.
