Meals on bigger wheelsBy Shaun Inguanzo

GREATER Dandenong is leading the charge to supply the region’s elderly and isolated residents with cheaper and more nutritious meals.
Councillors last week visited Queensland for a one-night whirlwind tour of the nation’s largest kitchens which produce food for the Meals on Wheels program.
Keysborough Ward councillor Roz Blades said Greater Dandenong was hoping to join with up to 10 other municipalities to build a Victorian version that would be capable of producing 1.3 million meals annually.
“The situation is that we have got a Meals on Wheels kitchen in Dandenong that supplies annually about 104,000 meals,” she said.
The main attraction to the joint kitchen is its ability to quick-freeze meals within two minutes, containing their nutrients and ensuring they can be kept safely for up to 45 days.
“It’s cheaper then for all councils whose kitchens need updating because we won’t be building stand-alone kitchens everywhere,” Cr Blades said.
“There’s the ability to then supply more meals at a reasonable cost because we will be buying in bulk, so obviously the costs of the meals will reduce.”
The money-saving scheme follows criticism of the amount of ratepayers’ money used to fund the trip.
“I don’t know how much the cost was,” Cr Blades said.
“But we went to work all day before flying to Queensland at 6pm.
“We had a bite to eat, went to bed, woke up and had breakky then visited the facilities before flying back at 4pm.
“The idea was not to waste any money, the idea is to get as much opinion around Meals on Wheels as possible.
“Wherever the kitchen was we had to go there – if it was in Bendigo we would have gone there.
“I resent any inference to the contrary that this group has done a great job for Greater Dandenong and the whole of local government.”