Canterbury District Health Board is delivering special Christmas lunches and dinners to more than 1000 people in hospitals today.
Patients will be able to choose from two lunch and evening menus Photo: 123RF
Patients will be able to choose from two lunch and evening menus, designed to taste "a little bit like home".
Options include pineapple-glazed Christmas ham, Moroccan vegetable strudels, chicken, veggies, potatoes and salads - and for dessert, Christmas mince pies and pudding, trifle and traffic-light jelly and ice cream.
The meals will be dished up by about 120 kitchen staff and delivered by catering assistants, while another 50 'meals on wheels' will be served throughout the community.
The service manager of the health board's Wellfood team, Neville Patrick, said the festive season could be hard for patients and their families, being in hospital and away from home.
"Our teams across Canterbury work hard every year to create a very special menu," he said.
Patrick said hospital staff working on Christmas day would also be on the receiving end of some "special treats".