WEEKLY deliveries of frozen ready- meals could be the answer to providing a standard dinner menu for thousands of vulnerable older people unable to cook their own food.

WEEKLY deliveries of frozen ready- meals could be the answer to providing a standard dinner menu for thousands of vulnerable older people unable to cook their own food.

Norfolk County Council is reviewing its community meals service after research unearthed problems with the current service, including a lack of volunteers to deliver meals, food coming at the wrong time of day and too limited a menu.

The bill is also around £500,000 a year - which is around £200,000 more than the amount set aside in the budget.

Currently meals are offered through a mix of providers, via meals-on-wheels, voluntary groups and a frozen meals service.

But standards vary across the county, with some areas receiving no community meals service at all

One respondent to the survey, which was carried out by Age Concern Norwich, complained that he had been sent meatballs and mashed potatoes five days in a row.

Yesterday, members of the county council's adult social services review panel gave the green light to a fresh look at the how meals were provided.