WHAT do you get when you mix 210kg of sprouts, 1000 litres of lentil soup and around 2000 pigs in blankets with a team of dedicated kitchen elves?

This is not a Christmas cracker joke - the answer is, in fact, dinner for the thousands of children and adults who will spend Christmas Day in hospital in Glasgow. (Of course, there is turkey too, and potatoes, Christmas pudding, stuffing…plus a steak dinner if turkey is not your thing, and a veggie option…)

Glasgow Times: Sprouts and carrots ready for packaging up. Pic: Gordon Terris Herald and Times

The Glasgow Times was given an exclusive look behind the scenes at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s awardwinning cook freeze production unit, which is where the magic happens every festive season. It is one of two revolutionary units – the second is at Paisley’s Royal Alexandria Hospital – covering the whole health board area.

It was an eye-opener – and from hi-tech systems and state-of-the-art equipment to meticulously planned recipes and high quality Scottish produce, likely to ensure none of us look at hospital food in quite the same way again….

At the helm of the unit, which is based at Inverclyde Royal in Greenock, is manager Michael McCall, who is retiring next week after 40 years in the job.

“It has changed a lot, there is no doubt about that,” says Michael. “The biggest change is the way technology is used.”

A tour of the unit starts at the loading bay, where produce from suppliers across the country arrives before being taken through to the preparation areas. There’s a room for unpacking, another for baking – apple crumbles, sponges and more.

The kitchens are spacious and spotless, and surprisingly quiet. There is no hustle and bustle, no chef yelling instructions across the room.

Michael explains, with a smile: “People are usually taken aback by how calm it is. Also, we don’t have an abundance of food in the freezers – everything is as fresh as we can possibly have it.

“Every recipe is measured precisely and each ingredient weighed out to ensure each meal has the proper nutritional value. We work with strategy dietitians to develop the recipes.”

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Jessie McIntosh is inputting today’s recipes into the system, which are then sent to the kitchen, where more hi-tech wizardry ensures each batch of each ingredient of each dish is logged.

Glasgow Times: Team manager Jim Dougan with the digital tracker. Pic: Gordon Terris Herald and Times

“That’s essential for keeping track of which products are used in which recipe so if there is a problem we can trace it exactly,” says Michael.

In the kitchen, team manager Jim Dougan demonstrates the giant cookers, called ‘kettles’.

Glasgow Times: Making Christmas dinners for petients in Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS region at Inverclyde Royal Hospital  STY fotheringham..Pic Gordon Terris Herald & Times..9/12/21.

“This is a cheese sauce for macaroni cheese – the kettle holds 300 litres, but in here today we have about 220 – enough for 1200 portions,” says Jim. “We also have ovens, for browning meats, roasting and baking. No deep fat fryers, of course.”

Once dishes are cooked they are decanted into smaller portion packs and immediately blast frozen, using specialised freezing equipment (including huge freezers which cost a cool half a million pounds each).

The meals are then stored in the freezer holding area before being packed and dispatched to each hospital site.

Glasgow Times: Making Christmas dinners for petients in Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS region at Inverclyde Royal Hospital. Tom Craig in the freezer at -24C. STY fotheringham..Pic Gordon Terris Herald & Times..9/12/21.

At the wards, or as close to them as possible, the meals are ‘regenerated’ which, acknowledges NHSGGC’s head of catering Kate Murray, sounds a bit sci-fi, but just means thawed and heated.

“The food is taken to the wards on special trolleys which means it can be warmed up as close to the patient as possible,” she says.“If you were cooking it in a hospital kitchen, it would be cold by the time it reached the ward. Hospitals have got bigger and bigger, with many buildings spread over huge sites, so the idea of each one having its own kitchen just doesn’t work.”

Kate has worked for NHSGCC since 1984.

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“The biggest challenge today is catering for special diets,” she says. “Planning for our Christmas meals starts in October.

“This year, we will be serving 5382 Christmas Day dinners to children and adults in hospital.

“The service covers all the Glasgow hospitals, and all those in the health board area, from big ones like the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, to smaller community hospitals.”

In 2019, the team won Catering Service of the Year at the Hospital Caterers Association - six years earlier, Michael won Caterer of the Year.

It is frustrating, admits Michael, when hospital food gets such a bad reputation.

“It is annoying,” he says.

“There is a lot of nonsense spoken about hospital food, that it comes from Wales, that it’s not good quality. But we know the hard work that goes in to preparing and cooking this food. We use 100 per cent Scottish beef, each supplier has to meet strict standards. We even went to see the fish company we use in action, and got to talk to the trawlermen bringing in the haddock we use in our dishes.”

Glasgow Times: Christmas dinner. Pic: Gordon Terris Herald and Times

Margaret Valenti, administration manager, joined the team in 2006.

“It’s a really interesting job,” she says. “As part of the national catering strategy group, I am involved in many aspects, not just in the kitchen. One of our main aims at the moment is sustainability and working with suppliers to tackle how we reduce plastics.”

She adds: “Food is such an important part of a patient’s recovery, we want to get it right.

“We’re proud to play a part in that.”