Mom’s Meals Review
It has now been two decades since Mom’s Meals meal delivery service started offering invaluable support to seniors, people recovering from illnesses, and individuals managing chronic diseases. This Iowa-based service delivers freshly made, ready-to-eat, homestyle meals to homes across America and makes independent living easier for individuals who find it difficult to cook on their own.
In 2017, it won the Isadore King Service Award for its exemplary efforts in providing care and comfort to those who need them the most. Read this honest Mom’s Meals review and discover whether this service is a good fit for you or your loved one.
How Mom’s Meals Works
Mom’s Meals provides its services to case managers, healthcare organizations, caregivers, and self-paying customers who want to live independently. It offers 4 distinct programs, depending on customer type: LTSS/HCBS (Long Term Services and Support/Home and Community-Based Services), Chronic Care, Post-Discharge Care, and Self Pay. In this Mom’s Meals review, we will focus on its Self Pay program, which allows you to order meals for yourself or someone you care about directly, without the mediation of a third-party service or organization.
As a self-pay customer, you can choose from 9 menus designed with different dietary needs in mind. The menus available include General Wellness, Heart-Friendly, Renal-Friendly, Diabetes-Friendly, Cancer Support, Low-Sodium, Gluten-Free, Pureed, and Vegetarian.
You can decide whether you want to receive breakfast, lunch, and dinner or just lunch and dinner. Your deliveries can contain 7, 10, 14 or 21 meals. If you are ordering for the first time, you can opt for the 3-meal trial. The service allows you to choose every meal by yourself or let the chefs pick the meals for you (Chef’s Choice). If you opt for the Chef’s Choice option, you can still exclude the meals you dislike and replace them with those that suit your taste.
Once you choose your meals, you can decide whether you want the meals delivered once or twice per week. You can also choose whether you want to place a one-time order or opt for auto-ship and have the meals sent to you each week automatically. If you opt for auto-ship, you can get the same meals every week or change your meals at any time.
With Mom’s Meals, there are no long-term commitments, so even if you choose to receive automatic shipments, you can cancel whenever you wish. You just need to make sure you cancel before 1 pm the Friday before your next delivery is due.
What Makes Mom’s Meals Different
Mom’s Meals is one of the few meal delivery services that offer meals particularly designed with different health and medical conditions in mind. It is perfect for seniors, as well as individuals who want to recover from an illness or manage a chronic condition in the comfort of their own home. Its meals are made of high-quality ingredients, prepared by chefs in USDA-inspected facilities, and designed with the help of experienced dietitians and in complete accordance with the dietary recommendations for various conditions.
The service is incredibly flexible and allows you to order any way that suits you. You can order for yourself or your loved ones, regardless of whether they live in the same state as you. You can receive orders once or twice a week or order every once in a while. You can decide how much food you need, choose from 9 different menus, and handpick the meals yourself or let the experts do the choosing for you. Whatever your needs may be, Mom’s Meals will do its best to keep you full and satisfied.
In order to ensure that everyone can get its meals, Mom’s Meals provides communication and services aids for individuals with disabilities, such as sign language interpreters. For customers whose mother tongue is not English, it provides information in other languages, as well as interpreters, all free of charge.
If you want to treat someone to a couple of healthy, wholesome meals, you can purchase a Mom’s Meals gift certificate. The amounts range from $63.88 for 7 meals to $112.81 for 14 meals, plus a $14.95 shipping fee.
Meals And Recipes
Mom’s Meals offer includes over 60 different meals available on its 9 menus. For easier ordering, the meals on each menu are categorized in accordance with the type of meal and main protein source. You can browse breakfasts and view lunches and dinners featuring beef, beef with turkey, fish, pork, poultry or you can opt for vegetarian lunches and dinners.
As we mentioned previously in this Mom’s Meals review, the menus at your disposal include General Wellness, Heart-Friendly, Renal-Friendly, Diabetic-Friendly, Cancer Support, Lower Sodium, Gluten-Free, Pureed, and Vegetarian.
The General Wellness menu includes all 60+ meals on offer. All meals on the menu are nutritionally balanced and dietitian-designed. Each meal is labeled in accordance with the special diets for which it is suitable.
The Heart-Friendly menu features meals that are particularly suitable for seniors and individuals who are looking to enhance heart health through diet. The meals on this menu are low in both sodium and fat.
The Renal-Friendly menu is a perfect choice for individuals on dialysis. The meals on this menu are created in accordance with the dietary recommendations for most kidney disease patients.
The Diabetic-Friendly menu includes meals designed to help you keep your blood sugar levels in check. The meals are low in carbs and free from added sugar. The Cancer Support menu features high-protein, high-calorie meals. The meals are designed to prevent weight loss in cancer patients.
The Lower Sodium menu features meals similar to those available on the Heart-Friendly menu. The meals are low in sodium and saturated fat and designed to support heart health and lower blood pressure.
The Gluten-Free menu is not only suitable for individuals with mild gluten allergies, like most gluten-free menus on the market, but also for people with celiac disease. The Pureed menu is designed for individuals who have trouble swallowing (people suffering from dysphagia).
Finally, the Vegetarian menu exclusively includes meat-free dishes. The meals on this menu are not entirely plant-based and do include dairy and eggs.
Heating And Storage Tips
The meals you receive from Mom’s Meals are made fresh and delivered chilled, not frozen, in order to ensure better flavor. After you receive your delivery, you can keep the meals in your fridge for up to 14 days. If you order more food than you can eat in 2 weeks, you can put the extra meals in your freezer and preferably enjoy them within a month or two. Just be sure to thaw the frozen meals overnight before reheating them.
The meals can be reheated and ready to eat in 2 minutes or less. You can reheat them in an oven or on a stovetop, but the quickest and easiest way to heat is microwaving your meals for a couple of minutes, in accordance with the provided heating instructions.
Pricing
Meals offered by Mom’s Meals are generally rather affordable. They normally cost $6.99 per serving, no matter which menu you choose, unless you opt for pureed meals, which cost $7.99 per serving.
All deliveries come with a $14.95 shipping fee. If you opt for the 3-day trial, the shipping costs are somewhat lower and amount to $12.95 per delivery. If you want to save cash on your meals, you can opt for auto-shipments and receive a 10% discount on all your orders.
| Mom's Meals Pricing | |
|---|---|
| Meal | Price per meal |
| Individual meals | $6.99 |
| Pureed | $7.99 |
Delivery Areas
Mom’s Meals delivers throughout the contiguous United States. Like many other meal delivery services, it does not deliver to Alaska and Hawaii as of yet. The meals are delivered in custom-designed coolers that keep the meals fresh and at the right temperature throughout transit. The service does not offer refunds for meals that have already been delivered.
Mom’s Meals Pros And Cons
To make sure Mom’s Meals meets all your standards and expectations, it is important to know its biggest advantages and disadvantages. With a short overview of its pros and cons, you can easily decide if Mom’s Meals is the right meal delivery service for you.
- Fresh, high-quality, wholesome meals
- 9 menus for special dietary requirements
- Commitment-free ordering
- Great flexibility
- Affordable prices
- 10% discount on recurring orders
- Available throughout the contiguous US
- Shipping is not free
- No refunds for delivered meals
Sample Dishes
With Mom’s Meals, you get delicious meals prepared by pro chefs at affordable prices. To find out what kinds of delights you will receive in your delivery, we have chosen a couple of sample dishes that accurately represents its offer and can help you decide if it is the right service for you.
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- Brown Sugar Peach Oatmeal and Turkey Sausage Links
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- Mini Pancakes and Colby Cheese Omelet
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- Scrambled Eggs, Andouille Sausage and Potatoes
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- Vegetable Egg Scramble and Peaches with Cherries
Bottom Line
Mom’s Meals is a meal delivery service that invests great efforts into making homestyle meals available to individuals with various special dietary requirements who cannot cook themselves. It is senior-friendly, diabetic-friendly, renal-friendly, suitable for cancer patients and individuals with dysphagia, and it offers gluten-free, vegetarian, low-sodium, and heart-healthy meals. All of its meals are fresh and ready to eat in no more than 2 minutes. It is flexible, budget-friendly, and offers a nice discount on recurring orders. Finally, it delivers across the contiguous US and takes great care to make its meals available to anyone who may need them, regardless of potential disabilities and language barriers. It is a meal delivery service that truly cares.
Mom's Meals FAQ
How do you qualify for Mom’s Meals?
You might qualify for government or health plan assistance and have Mom’s Meals delivered at little or no cost to you if you are over 65/disabled/require help with preparing meals/ receive Medicaid/Medicare or have a Health Insurance Plan with a paid meal benefit.
How to apply for Mom’s Meals?
Anyone can apply for the Self Pay program. In order to get Mom’s Meals NourishCare for free or at a reduced price, you need to check whether you meet the criteria set by Medicaid/Medicare or your Health Insurance Plan.
Where does Mom’s Meals deliver?
Mom’s Meals delivers throughout the contiguous United States. The company does not deliver to Alaska and Hawaii.
Where is Mom’s Meals based?
The company is based in Iowa.
Who is eligible for Mom’s Meals?
The LTSS/HCBS Program is designed for individuals who are eligible for economic assistance through Medicaid Waiver or other government-funded nutrition programs. Medicaid/Medicare recipients can contact their case managers to check their eligibility.
Do Medicaid recipients qualify for Mom’s Meals?
If you are currently a Medicaid/Medicare recipient, you can contact your assigned case manager to request Mom’s Meals NourishCare. Your case manager will confirm your eligibility and send an authorization to Mom’s Meals NourishCare on your behalf.
Do Kaiser members qualify for Mom’s Meals?
Mom’s Meals NourishCare is available to Kaiser Permanente health plan members. Eligible members receive nutritionally complete meals that are delivered fresh to their homes.
We got these meals for my husband through his insurance. He found most of them to be inedible. I would have thought he was exaggerating, but I tasted a couple and they were disgusting. Shame on this company for trying to take advantage of old people!
I have been trying this processed food for the past three weeks. I do care for the bland, rubbery pasta. The servings are small and often mixed with too many peas and it appears dehydrated carrots which contained some black fungal spots. I will not waste any more money on this product. If you want bland rubbery food that cooks up quickly then this is something that you might like. I have had better MRE’s than this product.
Total monotony. rice carrots pasta, rice, carrots, rice, pasta carrots, peas, carrots, rubber chicked, unseasoned dishes, partially cooked beans, carrots, not worth the time or trouble.
There is no way I will eat a meal that has been refrigerated for over 14 days (counting delivery time)
My wife and are are very ill . There food is terrible our insurance pays for our meals delivered. Many times I would not receive my order.many times my wife received wrong order over 6 times. Today the delivery driver called after delivery minus my order of course told me he delivered the wrong order again already put it away he demanded I repack the box and he would then give me her right order now I has acute disection of the aorta surgery a bit ago very I’ll thank you. I packed it up and told him to keep her order. Called the company explaining what occurred and I want to cancel. They hung up on me the first time the second time I was told to notify our insurance companies .there customer service is truly terrible. This started 4 week s ago when I complained about the wrong meals delivered to us . I quit the service I told them .now searching for a new company.not worth the time or money guys and the food is bio engineered garbage stale bread some already molding yeah molding green okay that’s mommy meals done with them
After spending my entire food allowance on Mom’s Meals I have found them to be much less than I expected. The portion are very small, meal selections are padded with this sickening fruit salad side. The main dish is far from quality meat or poultry , in fact it cuts and tastes like synthetic food or cardboard. Comparing these entrees with a low cost single serving Frozen Meal I found the Banquet Frozen TV Dinners far exceed Mom’s Meals in portion, quality and taste. Four of these TV Dinners cost near the same as one Mom’s Meals. I believe I will be throwing 95% of these meals from Mom’s Meals in the trash. I have a very limited income and can not afford to waste my money on this garbage.
Agree! I tried Homestyle too…worse. why can’t that $100 ( for 14) be put towards a real food company with good food? The oatmeal and rice (and meat) look/taste awful. Sad.
I totally agree! I just got my first order and called and canceled. There’s very little food and it is really terrible food, I may throw it all away due to it being an edible for humans. Like a terrible TV dinner that cost too much..
Tried Moms meal for the first time. It will be our last time. The actual delivered food looks nothing like what is pictured on their website . The chicken is an extremely processed, shaped and stamped little thing with fake painted on grill marks. The same for the “beef”. The vegetables are bland. We’ve had TV dinners that tasted better. One positive note, the delivery was on time and the packaging and cooling packs were well done.
I’m currently getting this meal service provided to me by my insurance. I’ll have to agree with you about their chicken! I had the BBQ chicken the other day and it was rubbery. I fed it to my dog. Marked it on my list-gross! Some meals are better than others. In my opinion, they give too many meals that include apple crisp or oatmeal crisp, too sweet for me! Compared to another service my Mom got years ago, Mom’s meals is at least much better than that. Overall, it has been a big help to me post hospital/rehab stay, so I am grateful for them.