I’m an RD Who Tried Mom’s Meals for a Week in 2025 to Find Out How My Aging Parents Liked It

It’s not easy figuring out what to eat when there are strict dietary guidelines for a health condition. This is especially true if you’re a caregiver.

I’m a registered dietitian, so I have a lot of experience planning meals, but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy to help my parents — who are both over age 70, live with me, and have high cholesterol — stick to a meal plan. Yes, I know what they should eat to lower their cholesterol. But I lean toward plant-based meals with a lot of spice, whereas my parents, who grew up on farms in eastern North Carolina, favor meat and potatoes, and like their vegetables with more butter and salt than I do. Because I work full-time and my parents are retired, my mom is our family’s main cook. She’s a fantastic Southern cook. Her gravy and pound cakes are perfect. But she’s less comfortable experimenting with new recipes (like the ones I recommend to her) unless she has a sous chef in the kitchen (aka me).

That’s why I was excited to try out the medically tailored prepared meal delivery service Mom’s Meals to see if it would work for my family. This service's meals are created by registered dietitians and professional chefs, and delivered to older adults and people with disabilities nationwide. Mom’s Meals aims to help improve its users general well-being and chronic health issues with proper nutrition while keeping costs affordable. I decided to see if the service lived up to its promise of better health and high-quality, well-balanced meals that meet my family’s needs. Here’s how it went.

It’s incredibly easy to sign up for Mom’s Meals. I simply entered my name, address, and credit card number, then put together my order.

Choosing My Meals

Mom’s Meals offers over 50 breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, which can be ordered in multiples of 10, 14, or 21. I liked that the service is week to week and there's no ongoing commitment, as with most other meal delivery services.

Each meal is labeled as diabetes-friendly, heart healthy, lower in sodium, gluten-free, renal-friendly, higher protein, or vegetarian, and most are labeled with several of these. There are an additional 16 pureed meals for those with dysphagia, the medical term for difficulty swallowing, which is common in older adults with certain neurological conditions.

While the service doesn’t have a specific plan for each condition, you can filter the meals according to your preferences, then choose what you want. Some meals come with a choice of a side, such as applesauce or juice, but most meals are not customizable.

I chose “general health” to see the widest selection, which made 50-plus meals available to me. I chose not to repeat meals, but I could have ordered multiples of the same meal if I wanted to. There is no restriction on the number of breakfasts versus lunches or dinners in an order, but unlike some meal delivery services, there are no extra grocery items or desserts available. You can make your meal selections up to eight weeks in advance.

The entrées lean toward simple, homestyle dishes. There are several hearty soups, some stir-fres, and quite a few meals of meat with potatoes or pasta. Proteins include beef, pork, and chicken. There is a filter for fish, but no fish meals were available at the time I ordered.

Vegetarian choices were made of starch, vegetables, and often cheese or eggs; they did not feature tofu or other alternative proteins.

My parents and I ordered the following meals:

• BBQ Chicken, Potato Medley, and Seasoned Vegetables
• Beef Soft Tacos With Cheese and Santa Fe–Style Rice
• Breakfast Burrito Kit and Spiced Fruit Medley
• Chicken Teriyaki With Stir-Fry Vegetables and Rice
• Chicken, Mushroom Gravy, Rice, and Seasoned Vegetables
• Creamy Risotto With Mushroom and Vegetables
• French Toast Sticks, Turkey Sausage, and Berry Sauce
• Southwestern Style Chicken, Vegetable Hash, and Rice
• Sweet and Sour Chicken, Stir-Fry Vegetables, and Rice
• White Bean and Ham Soup With Corn Bread

My Mom’s Meals order arrived in one box, with plenty of ice packs to keep it cold until I could unpack it.

The weight of the box (containing 10 meals) was considerable. I didn’t have trouble transporting it from my front door to my kitchen, but some older adults with less mobility and strength might.

The cold meals were separated from the nonrefrigerated items, such as granola and a cookie, so nothing was soggy from moisture, which I appreciated.

The Mom’s Meals order was shipped in a cardboard box with a plastic liner. The plastic ice packs are filled with a gel; they can be refrozen or disposed of, but they should not be thawed and the gel rinsed down the sink as this may cause a clog. The Mom’s Meals website does not have a statement about sustainability practices. The meals I received were packaged in plastic trays with numbered recycling symbol stamped on the bottom.

Preparing the Meals

Mom’s Meals are simple to prepare; you heat them in a microwave or occasionally open a package containing a slice of bread, a container of juice, or a cup of applesauce.

The typical instructions were to:

• Puncture the cellophane cover with a fork or knife.
• Heat the meal in the microwave for 60 to 90 seconds.
• Stir.
• Heat for 60 seconds.
• Wait two minutes.
• Eat.

Tasting the Meals

My dad is willing to eat almost anything — and he’ll do so happily — so it’s no surprise that he pronounced all of the Mom’s Meals selections delicious. He particularly liked the cookie, which he didn’t share with me.

The barbecue chicken was designated as a “fan favorite” on the website, and I agree; it was the best entrée I tried. I also thought the Southwestern chicken was tasty. Risotto is one of my favorite dishes, but I did not care for the Creamy Risotto With Mushrooms and Vegetables. It was not as creamy as I would have liked, and I felt like it was more of a side dish than an entrée.

Most of our Mom’s Meals contained around 450 calories, which is less than I would typically consume at a meal. Although the protein and starch portions were adequate, they lacked the volume of vegetables I am used to eating. I was hungry shortly after eating Mom’s Meals, but I’m decades younger and likely more active than the older adults these meals are designed to satisfy.

Like other meal delivery services I’ve tried, the portions of protein were adequate overall, but the portions of fruit and vegetables were much smaller than what I would prepare for my family if I were cooking.

When you select your meals, you can view the full nutrition facts label of each meal on the Mom’s Meals website, which is a nice feature for people who need to pay close attention to their nutritional needs. In general, the nutritional content of Mom’s Meals met my expectations as a registered dietitian.

Sodium

Calories

The calorie content of the meals I sampled ranged from 400 to 500, although some meals on the menu are closer to 700. Those with smaller appetites and caloric needs would do well on 400 to 500 calorie meals, and larger, more active people would benefit from the meals in the 600 to 700 calorie range.

Protein

Saturated Fat

Sugar and Carbohydrates

As for sugar content, some of the diabetes-friendly meals had as much as 65 g of carbohydrates and 31 g of sugar. This amount of carbohydrates can be fine for some larger, more active people who live with diabetes, but it may be too much for smaller, less active people who are working to keep their blood sugar levels in check. (Small, older women require only about 30 g of carbohydrates per meal; but this is highly individualized and should be decided with the help of a registered dietitian.)

Preservatives

Mom’s Meals contain preservatives (sodium bisulfite, sodium benzoate) and thickeners (xantham gum, guar gum). This is not unexpected in a product designed to be shipped and refrigerated for a week or more, but Mom’s Meals is not the right service for someone who prides themselves on eating all-natural, organic, or non-GMO foods.

Are Mom’s Meals Healthy?

When I searched Mom’s Meals for a choice that was heart-friendly, lower in sodium, diabetes-friendly, and renal-friendly, I got 43 entrées. One of them was the Southwestern-Style Chicken, Vegetable Hash, and Rice, for which the nutrition facts lists these details:

• 410 calories
• 10 g fat
• 2 g saturated fat
• 35 mg cholesterol
• 480 mg sodium
• 310 mg phosphorus
• 62 g carbohydrate
• 6 g fiber
• 10 g sugar
• 16 g of protein
• 10 percent of the daily value of calcium
• 25 percent of the daily value of iron
• 17 percent of the daily value of potassium

The question is: Does this meal qualify for the Mom's Meals labels based on the nutrition facts? At 480 mg of sodium, Southwestern-Style Chicken, Vegetable Hash, and Rice is appropriately classified as lower in sodium, and because of its low saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium content, it qualifies as heart healthy as well.

It’s clear that Mom’s Meals understands older adults’ nutritional and financial needs, and the company fills a gap for older adults and disabled people who want food that supports their health concerns at a lower price point, and who don’t want to or can’t prepare their own meals.

The cost per meal is less than other services such as Factor and Trifecta, which cost closer to the $13 to $15 range, and slightly higher than frozen meals from a supermarket.

Mom’s Meals is not competing for shoppers who want organic produce or even those interested in a traditional meal kit delivery service. It is filling a specific medical and mobility need for certain groups. Here’s how the service compares to other medically tailored meal delivery services.

Mom’s Meals is a great service for older adults or disabled people who no longer have the interest or ability to cook, and want quick, nutritious food at home. The prices are reasonable, the ordering process is quick and easy, and there is no ongoing commitment so you won’t be charged unless you actively place an order.

The service will go a long way to ease the burden of shopping, meal prep, cooking, and cleanup for either an adult who needs the meals or a busy caregiver who is taking care of a loved one who lives across town or even in another city. Especially if the loved one is like my dad: thrilled to pull something out of the fridge that someone else has already planned and prepared, an expert has approved as heart healthy, and will be ready to eat in under three minutes!

Everyday Health is finding the best meal delivery kits by testing over 50 services. First, we research and vet the company and its business practices. Next, we consult registered dieticians to find out what to look for in meal delivery kits, what to avoid, and about overall nutrition. Finally, we assign professional journalists or RDs to try out the service.

I tested Mom’s Meals by ordering 10 meals directly from the company website and eating them over the course of a week. I also asked my parents, who are in their seventies, to taste the entrées and give me their opinion on the flavors. As a registered dietitian and a certified diabetes educator, I’m interested in helping people find convenient meal delivery solutions that work for their lifestyle and contribute to improved health.