When you view the available menu, what you see is what you get: simple, home-style meals. A Mom’s Meals dinner can mean Grilled Chicken Breast with Orange Wild Rice Salad and Spiced Fruit Medley, or Roasted Pork Loin with Apple Cranberry Sauce over White Rice and Mixed Vegetables. Typical breakfast options include Brown Sugar Peach Oatmeal and Turkey Sausage Links, Mini Pancakes and Colby Cheese Omelet, or Vegetable Egg Scramble and Peaches with Cherries. The presentation isn’t four-star restaurant-caliber, but it is adequate and often even aesthetically pleasing. Unlike many leading meal delivery services, the company offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner options.
Quality
Since 2017, consumers have noted a sharp uptick in quality for this budget-minded PurFoods subsidiary. While there were many complaints in years past about palatability and broken seals on microwaved trays, in recent years, meals have garnered rave reviews. Intended for people who may not tolerate or be able to eat spicy or salty foods, the meals are not haute cuisine by any means. But their diverse diet options could easily provide something for everyone —including anyone on a budget.
How Much Does Mom’s Meals Cost?
As of this writing, the cost of meals usually starts at $6.99 plus $14.95 for shipping. The only higher price point is with pureed meals, which are $7.99 each. Auto-shipments come with a 10% discount. If you opt for the three-day trial, the shipping costs are somewhat lower at roughly $13 per delivery. The total cost for Mom’s Meals goes down as the number and frequency of your meals rise.
If you are over 65, disabled, receive Medicaid or Medicare, or require assistance shopping and preparing meals, you may qualify for Mom’s Meals Nourish Care Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) government assistance program.
Subscriptions and Plans
One of the best benefits Mom’s Meals has over other meal delivery services is that it does not require a subscription to order food. Nor must you keep a credit card on file unless you opt for Auto Shipment.
Delivery
Whatever meals you choose, Mom’s Meals employs a managed schedule to coordinate deliveries with the end of a previous order.
How to Order
It is possible to order Mom’s Meals by phone, where customers can talk to company representatives about nutritional needs and menu options. You can also request to have a menu mailed to your address. Self-pay customers can also order online.
In both cases, you’ll receive a scheduled delivery date when the selected items are delivered directly to you by either a Mom’s Meals NourishCare staff member or a third-party partner.
Mom’s Meals provides communication aids and services for customers with special needs. These include interpreters for American Sign Language and assistance for non-English speakers at no extra cost.
The company also offers gift certificates in values from $64 to $113 and $14.95 for shipping. The drawback: you must redeem the gift certificates over the phone rather than online. However, it is easy for caregivers and other family members to order meals for individuals, even if they are a great distance away.
Using the Website
For an interested consumer who has not already been referred to Mom’s Meals by a state agency, navigating the website and selecting a meal can be confusing. Unlike other meal delivery programs, you can’t easily browse current menus until you begin the registration process. Only sample menus can be viewed without action from the customer.
To get to Square One, click the purple “Get Started!” button on the screen’s upper right corner. Then indicate whether you will be paying for your meals, are on Medicare or Medicaid, or are recovering from a hospital stay and need nutrition support. After that point, you can choose your meal and menu preferences.
Selecting Your Plan
To proceed further, choose the number of meals you want to order (ranging from 3, 7, 10, 14, or 21) and if you wish to select each meal or opt for the “Chef’s Choice.” At this point, the number of food options will appear before you move on to the account, shipping, payment, and checkout stages.
Though the website may not be the easiest to use for everyone, it does categorize meal offerings on each menu with the main meat or source of protein and type of meal (breakfast, lunch, or dinner). You can browse meals of fish, poultry, pork, or beef.
Canceling Your Plan
Mom’s Meals ships weekly. If you need to cancel a shipment, you must do so via the customer service line over the phone by 1 p.m. Eastern Time on the Friday before delivery. The company doesn’t give refunds for anything that has already been delivered. You will be refunded for your remaining shipments within ten business days of a confirmed cancellation.
If you purchase a program at a promotional rate and cancel part of that program per the Cancellation Policy, you will be prorated to the regular price of the specific program you purchased for the portion of the program you have already received or is en route at the time of cancellation.
Packaging
While Mom’s Meals boxes aren’t environmentally friendly, they are one of the best organized “kits” available on the meal delivery market…and the easiest on customers. A typical box does weigh 40 lbs., which, while not unique to meal delivery companies, it will require planning on the part of a senior or caregiver to get the meals into a fridge.
Meals are packed in Styrofoam containers with enclosed icepacks, and an invoice on top lists the contents under tight wrap. Each neatly stacked individual meal container has clear, bulleted heating instructions in a large, high-contrast font. The container’s side and bottom have descriptions of the dish with nutritional information – though the font is not as large as that used for the other text. Still, it is nevertheless more accessible to read than most other meal delivery service products. The design makes it easy to see the stacked contents in the refrigerator.
The microwaveable container is sealed with a film that adheres enough to keep the food fresh but is also easy for arthritic hands to peel off. Meals can stay in the refrigerator up to 14 days from delivery as long as they are kept within 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
Because Mom’s Meals operates with third-party carriers, it is essential to understand the division of responsibility. The company can only guarantee that packages will be shipped out on time and in excellent condition. It also provides tracking numbers for every shipment that is sent out.
Mom’s Meals ships all packages with a “shipper release” default that authorizes FedEx or UPS to drop them off at your door without a signature. Once the box is at your door, it becomes your responsibility. If you’re uncomfortable with this, you can contact the Mom’s Meals customer care team to change to a “shipper required” authorization. However, the company is not responsible for your food’s freshness if you are not present to sign for the package, and the carrier holds it for the next business day. Delivery service problems, whether they are weather-related or the fault of FedEx or UPS is the carrier’s sole responsibility. Customers can file a claim of $100 (the highest-permitted value for which a package can be insured) with FedEx or UPS for a missed delivery. Any claim for a lost, stolen, missing, and / or damaged shipment is the third party’s responsibility.
That said, the company has a clear protocol for property damage or theft. If this happens, all you have to do is call the Mom’s Meals compliance department to walk through the process.
More Things to Know
While customer care standards and training are expressly outlined on the website, one recurring complaint is customer service. Website instructions for purchasing gift certificates and filing a complaint are offered over the phone only.
In theory, Mom’s Meals offers a “satisfaction guarantee,” however, the website states that it will not issue refunds for any meals or shipments that have already been delivered.
History and Popularity
Founded more than 15 years ago in Iowa, Mom’s Meals focuses on seniors’ unique needs and health-challenged individuals. These dietician- and chef-designed creations are fresh rather than frozen, transported in a fresh-lock container, and ready to eat in as little as two minutes.
Most of today’s seniors are either Baby Boomers or belong to the Silent Generation—both generations that are accustomed to communicating by phone and have less experience with online communication. With this in mind, Mom’s Meals wisely invests in a phone-based 8-to-5 customer service system. It is important to note that self-pay consumers have a different customer line from Medicaid Waiver clients.
The company ships refrigerated, freshly prepared meals everywhere in the U.S. except Alaska and Hawaii. But within the Lower 48, you should be able to find Mom’s Meals delivery no matter how remote your area. Mom’s Meals show up at your door, ready to heat and eat. From the time the box arrives at your door, this comfort food will stay fresh for two weeks in the refrigerator.
Mom’s Meals NourishCare is both a private enterprise and a long-term support/home-and community-based services program. The company waives costs for those who are eligible for government-funded nutrition programs, and the service is a very viable option for seniors with health and mobility issues.
Summary
Making an accurate apples-to-apples comparison with other meal delivery services is challenging. Of the top dozen companies, Mom’s Meals explicitly targets seniors and consumers with health or mobility issues. With no subscription commitment per se and the lowest bottom line, this is the most affordable option for many seniors, and if the menu is to your taste, it is the best option for you.
Even if you have been turned off in the past by bad reviews, recent improvements make this meal solution well worth a second look. What Mom’s Meals gets right is a winning balance of dietary options, affordability, and palate-pleasing cooking. All in all, Mom’s Meals offers many seniors the best package out there for them —literally and figuratively.
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