I love trail mix. And one reason I love it as much as I do… it is so easy to make! I mean literally, just throw different ingredients together into a bowl and ta-da! It doesn’t need to get any fancier than that. Another amazing thing about this treat? You can totally make it your own and add whatever you think will go great together. Many trail mixes contain a combination of dried fruit, nuts, seeds, and (most importantly) chocolate. If you or your person has a nut allergy or an aversion to chocolate (weird), again, totally customizable.
Depending on how progressed your person’s dementia is, you can choose to involve him/her in different ways. For instance, someone in the earlier stages may be able to create a shopping or ingredient list with you and measure out individual components. Someone who is further progressed may have a difficult time thinking of ingredients that are not visible to them (too abstract). For those folks, it might help to set out a bowl of nuts, dried fruits, etc., and then ask the person to chose from what’s right in front of them. So basically, it’s nice to provide choice where we can, but we want to be careful not to overwhelm the person with too many options or abstractions. Someone in the later stages of the disease might enjoy taste testing or feeling the different textures by using their hands to mix everything together.
Ready to get started? Try out this recipe below or change it up however you like! My recipe is actually a variation of this one that I found.
- 1 cup mini marshmallows
- 1 cup Candy Corn
- 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup of your favorite mini pretzels
- 1 cup Honey Nut Chex cereal
Mix ingredients together in a bowl. Eat and enjoy!
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