A Cambridge tech design hothouse has cooked up a fresh solution to elderly malnutrition.

Cambridge Design Partnership – shocked that 10 per cent of UK over-65s suffer from malnutrition – has devised a prep-to-plate mini-kitchen that ends the misery of microwaving frozen food or not bothering to eat at all.

It has developed a novel food concept branded Naturally, including a packaging system for fresh ingredients and a counter-top appliance to automatically prepare a fresh meal. This can potentially deliver healthy, fresh and nutritional meals ranging from stews to soups and fruit smoothies.

A key feature of the solution is to bring back traditional cooking from raw ingredients rather than simply reheating factory-prepared food to give consumers the quality meals they need.

The solution is timely with Britain’s senior population set to grow by 40 per cent over the next 25 years and the situation putting a strain on the NHS.

Cambridge Design Partnership is looking to speak to potential partners about commercialising the technology.

It is addressing an enormous potential market: Age UK reports that UK over-65s spend more than £100 billion on goods and services each year, with a significant proportion spent to enhance the quality of life. Good nutrition is a basic need which is important for both physical and emotional wellbeing as well as maintaining independence.

Ben Strutt, Cambridge Design Partnership’s head of industrial design said: “This demonstrates our ability to address the need for the older generation to become less reliant on care systems and experience the satisfaction of preparing a meal from fresh by themselves, while removing some of the dexterity and logistics challenges. This will reconnect them to the sensory experience of cooking and eating.”

The patented ‘Naturally’ system starts with a novel bowl-like packaging system for the raw ingredients, which facilitates a supply chain through commercial food manufacturers and retailers, making a wide range of recipes available to consumers.

It also allows families or charities to get involved in creating and supplying recipes and ingredients within their local communities. The second element is a small, low cost cooking appliance designed to be easy and safe to use.

To use the system the customer simply chooses the meal they want and adds tap water to the pre-prepared bowl of ingredients, places it into the unit and presses down the plunger to start the cooking cycle. The smart packaging technology ensures the machine automatically cooks and prepares the meal while indicating the time remaining on an easy to read display.

The cooking bowl becomes the serving dish and the meal can be eaten immediately. Recipes provide balanced nutrition and hydration, while delivering the great taste of freshly cooked food, if necessary in a format that is particularly easy to eat and digest.

“Cooking is an important part of life,” says Mike Cane, director CDP. “When we spoke to older consumers it was clear that an important part of wellbeing is looking forward to meal times and being in control and physically involved in what you eat.

“However, as mobility and energy levels decrease it becomes an increasing challenge and when poor health adds to the situation people can simply go without proper food at a time when they need good nutrition the most.”

Robert Curtis, the designer responsible for the system said: “Neither microwaveable nor frozen dinners can replace the ritual and experience of cooking from fresh ingredients, nor the nutritional value.

“Research has shown that for elderly consumers the sensory experience of cooking from fresh ingredients contributes to working up an appetite, which can naturally reduce with age and eventually contributes to the risk of malnutrition. This is why we worked hard on the whole product experience with ‘Naturally’.”

‘Naturally’ could easily be adapted to other demographic groups interested in convenient, fast, quality nutrition, including mothers and babies, single people and students.