FAQ
About Nurture Life
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What is Nurture Life?
Nurture Life is a weekly subscription service. We provide busy parents with delicious, nutritious, ready-to-eat meals for babies, toddlers and kids. For too long parents have had to rely on premade kids meals that lack the freshness, nutrition and variety their kids need. We created Nurture Life to give parents a stress-free solution to feeding their little ones healthy meals. No grocery shopping, chopping or cooking. Just extraordinarily kid-friendly, seriously nutritious meals you can serve in just 1 minute. Kids love our meals, parents love our convenience and nutrition. It’s a full-family win!
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How does Nurture Life work?
Nurture Life is a weekly kids meal subscription service that offers the convenience of automatic deliveries with the flexibility to skip weeks, pause or cancel at any time. You can create your first order by selecting a plan size and choosing meals and snacks from our menus page.
All our meals are made-to-order and delivered straight to your door in insulated packaging to maintain freshness. If you’re not home when they arrive, please be sure to refrigerate them as soon as they are unpacked. Our meals stay fresh in the refrigerator for a week after they arrive and have use by dates on all packaging. Our meals can also be frozen for up to 90 days as long as they’re placed in the freezer before the use by date.
Our Kids Meals need only 1 minute in the microwave, or they can be heated for a couple minutes in the oven! (Please note that you will need to transfer meals into an oven-safe container before heating). Our Finger Foods can be enjoyed hot or cold—if you’re heating the meal up, just make sure to transfer to a heat-safe container. Our Mighty Bites and Superfood Smoothies are made to be served out of the fridge—perfect for any on-the-go situation! All meals include use by dates, heating instructions, full ingredient lists and nutrition facts.
For more information, please visit our How It Works page.
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Who is Nurture Life for?
Nurture Life is for busy parents who want to spend less time in the kitchen and more time doing what they love—without having to settle for flavorless, unhealthy or heavily processed meals for their kids. We create delicious, nutritious kids meals for all the little ones in your home: babies who are just learning to self-feed, toddlers who love playing with their food and active kids who need well-balanced meals to power their days.
With healthy meals and snacks ready in 1 minute or less, you get time back in your busy lives and your kids get healthy food with veggies on every plate—and flavors that even picky eaters can love!
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Does Nurture Life have a referral program?
Yes! If you’re a Nurture Life customer, you can send your unique referral link to your friends and family. Share Nurture Life with them, and they’ll get a free box*, you’ll get free box when they make their first purchase (*up to $48, tax and shipping not included). To get started, click here. Please note that referrals are meant to be shared between friends and family members in different households, and referrals with the same address on file will not be honored.
Allergens
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Are your meals and snacks allergen friendly?
Yes, we offer a variety of allergy-friendly Finger Foods, Kids Meals, Mighty Bites and Superfood Smoothies, which you can find by using the filters on our menus page. All Kids Meals and Finger Foods are made in a facility free of peanuts and tree nuts (except coconut). We are certified by the The Safe Quality Food Program (SQF), and have strict allergen controls in place when preparing all meals, but note, we do process coconut, egg, fish (salmon), milk, sesame, soy and wheat in our facility and inadvertent cross-contamination may occur.
If you have a family member with a food allergy, prior to placing your order, we recommend that you closely review our full ingredient lists and the “contains” statement associated with each of our foods available for every menu item. From our menu, these can be found by clicking on any item. All of our food and beverage packaging includes full ingredient lists as well as allergen statements.
Please contact us if you have any questions about your specific needs at support@nurturelife.com or 312.517.1888.
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Can I personalize my meal and snack selections to exclude specific allergens?
Yes! To identify meals, snacks and smoothies that are free from specific allergens, go to our menu, click on the filters, select the allergens that you’d like to exclude and then click the Apply Filters button.
If you would like to permanently exclude specific allergens from a family member’s preferences, you can do so by following these instructions:
- Sign in to your account
- Click Account
- Select the family member’s Preferences that you’d like to change
- Under Allergens select the allergens that you’d like to exclude
- Be sure to click the Save Preferences button before exiting
COVID-19
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How is Nurture Life managing through COVID-19?
Every week, our customers welcome us into their homes and allow us to help nourish their families. We are grateful for the opportunity, and we take that responsibility very seriously and to heart in every action we take as a company.
Each Nurture Life meal is handmade with care in our production facility located just outside of Chicago in Bedford Park, IL.
We are an FDA-inspected facility and adhere to HACCP-compliant culinary processes, which are the most stringent food safety and preparation processes in food manufacturing.
- All team members adhere to strict hygiene and good manufacturing practices, including proper hand washing techniques and the wearing of personal protective equipment at all times (hairnets, frocks, gloves and face masks).
- We do not permit team members who exhibit any signs of illness to work in our facility and provide all team members with paid time off so that they can be paid if and when they take sick days.
- We follow rigorous sanitation practices throughout our production facility including sanitizing our facility throughout the day, during changeovers and conducting deep cleanings nightly.
- Our meals are delivered to you through UPS or United Delivery Service providing contact-free deliveries. To minimize contact, our delivery team is leaving your boxes in the safest place possible (doorstep, front porch, front desk and lobbies of your building, etc.).
These policies have been adhered by since the beginning of the pandemic and we continue to follow them rigorously, as our workers’ safety and wellbeing, as well as you and your family’s safety and comfort, always remains our top priority. We are closely monitoring the evolving guidance from the CDC, WHO, FDA and local health officials to ensure we are instituting the safest practices possible for our customers and our team members.
Food Safety
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What are Nurture Life’s food safety standards and practices?
Our number one priority is food safety, and our production facility is designed to ensure that we meet the highest food safety standards. We adhere to HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control point) compliant culinary processes, which are the most stringent food safety and preparation processes in food manufacturing. We have an FSQA (food safety and quality assurance) Manager who directs all our food safety and quality practices, as well as FSQA Technicians on duty at all times during our operations.
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Is Nurture Life FDA inspected?
Our production facility is FDA inspected.
Getting Started
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How do I get started?
It’s easy! Go to the menus page to browse our flavorful, nutritious meals and snacks and choose the perfect food for your baby, toddler or kid.
With Nurture Life, you decide exactly what goes in your order. Click on any meal from our Menu to view nutrition facts, full ingredient lists and allergens. You can also use our filters to filter meals by dietary preferences and allergens. To add a meal to your order, click Add to Cart.
Once you’ve selected your meals, you’ll be prompted to complete the checkout process, so we can start cooking up your meals! Meals typically arrive within 7-11 days depending on the day you signed up and your delivery location. You will be able to view your first and future scheduled delivery days in your account. Once your meals are on their way to you, we will send you an email with the tracking information.
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Is there an order minimum?
Yes, our smallest plan size is 6 meals. This helps us cover our packaging and shipping costs.
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Can I make a one-time purchase?
No, Nurture Life is a weekly subscription service. However, you can skip weeks, pause or cancel your subscription at any time! If you’d like help setting up your account so that you can try a first order before committing to future orders contact our Customer Experience team at support@nurturelife.com and 312.517.1888 and we’d be happy to help you!
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What are the benefits of a Nurture Life subscription?
By joining Nurture Life’s weekly subscription service, you’ll get the convenience of customizable deliveries filled with meals and snacks based on your family’s dietary, taste and quantity preferences. We keep it flexible by making it easy to skip weeks, pause, or cancel your subscription.
Choose a plan size that meets your family’s needs! Plans start at 6 items with savings as you add more meals:
- 6 meals
- 10 meals = $5 off your entire order
- 13 meals = $10 off your entire order
- 16 meals = $15 off your entire order
Managing Your Subscription
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How do I change my menu items?
Sign in to your account and go to your Orders page. Click into a specific week to view the items that are scheduled for delivery, then select Edit Items to change your food selection. Use the + sign to add meals, snacks or smoothies and the – sign to remove them. Be sure to click the Save Changes button to confirm your changes.
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What is the weekly order cutoff date and time to change my items or skip a week?
The deadline to change your food or skip a week depends on your delivery day. Sign into your account and go to Orders. You will see the order cutoff date and time below each week. Your order cutoff stays the same from week to week!
You will also receive a reminder email (titled Please Review Your Upcoming Order) each week reminding you to make changes or skip a week. Cutoffs will also be noted during signup and via email.
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Can I skip a week?
Absolutely! Sign in and go to your Orders page. Select the upcoming week you’d like to skip, scroll down and click Skip Week. The deadline to skip a week is the same as your weekly order cutoff date and time, which can be found in your Orders. Orders that do not have an Open status are past the order cutoff date and time and cannot be skipped. You will be responsible for the charges associated with a confirmed order.
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How do I change my weekly order preferences?
With Nurture Life, you can define exactly how you’d like us to fill your order each week. You can choose your own items each week, or you can have us choose your meals, snacks and smoothies based on your dietary, meal and quantity preferences. Simply sign into your account, and then under Account, select the family member’s preferences that you’d like to change. You can then edit their meal type, dietary preferences, allergens, number of meals received per order and permanently include or exclude specific meals in all upcoming orders.
Please note that if you change your family’s preferences after an order cutoff has already passed, that order will be filled based on your previous preferences. All future orders will be filled based on your new preferences.
Meals and Nutrition
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What ages are Finger Foods for?
We generally recommend our Finger Foods for babies and toddlers who are developing their pincer grasp, still enjoy eating with their hands or prefer smaller portion sizes.
Many babies are ready for Finger Foods around 10 months old, but your baby may exhibit readiness signs as early as 6 months. We go in depth on Finger Food readiness below (How do I know when my baby is ready for Finger Foods?).
Many toddlers eat our Finger Foods through age 2, but you can also choose to transition them to our Kids Meals. If you’re unsure whether your toddler would do better with our Finger Foods or Kids Meals, we go in depth in the question below (Which stage should I order for my toddler—Finger Foods or Kids Meals?).
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What ages are Kids Meals for?
Our Kids Meals are great for both toddlers and kids—providing an introduction to bigger portions for toddlers while serving up a deliciously filling meal for kids. They also offer a greater variety of flavors and cuisines to expand your little one’s palate. Our Kids Meals serve ages 1–12 years old, but we find that kids 1–8 years fall in our sweet spot.
If you’re unsure whether your toddler would do better with our Finger Foods or Kids Meals, we go in depth in the question below (Which stage should I order for my toddler—Finger Foods or Kids Meals?).
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How do I know when my baby is ready for Finger Foods?
Your baby may be ready for Finger Foods when…
- They reach for food (most commonly a parent’s dish or serving utensil).
- They are hungry soon after meals. (Purees are less calorie-dense and filling, so they may not be getting enough to eat!)
- They are eating their purees quickly and continue wanting more.
- They are able (or almost able) to hold small pieces of food between their fingers.
If your baby is exhibiting a few or all of these signs, consider introducing Finger Foods! But if they aren’t ready, don’t fret. They’re still getting all of the nutrition they need from breast milk or formula up until age one when they transition to cow’s milk.
Every child develops at a different pace—just continue paying attention to your baby’s habits, and ease into finger foods when they’re ready.
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Which type of meal should I order for my toddler—Finger Foods or Kids Meals?
Both our Kids Meals and our Finger Foods work for toddlers. The best way to decide which might work best is to ask yourself a couple questions about where your toddler is in their self-feeding process:
- Are they using (or trying to use) utensils?
- Are they showing signs of wanting more food after mealtime? (This can be a sign that they’re ready for larger portions.)
- Have they tried basic finger food ingredients and seem ready for more diverse flavors and textures?
If you answered yes to these questions, your toddler is likely ready to begin with our Kids Meals! Our Kids Meals are similar to an adult plate but in smaller portions, perfectly sized to give your little one the nutrients they need at this stage. They’re also great for expanding your toddler’s palate and teaching them to love real, nutrient-dense foods! Some of the meals will require some parent intervention in terms of cutting bigger pieces of food down to a smaller size that you find appropriate for your little one; however, we have a variety of soft, veggie and pasta-based meals (Mac & Cheese with Hidden Butternut Squash, Pesto & Cheesy Ravioli with Hidden Spinach) that you may want to order as a starting point.
If you answered no to some or all of these questions, you might want to consider ordering a mix of Finger Foods and Kids Meals or just Finger Foods. Our Finger Foods are perfect for toddlers still in the earlier stages of their self-feeding journey because they offer a softer texture and smaller size (no chopping necessary!). They’re also designed to be big enough for little fingers to pick up but small enough to prevent choking so that your little one can safely practice feeding themselves.
Many of our toddler customers love to get a mix of both our Finger Foods and Kids Meals as they make the self-feeding transition, so we encourage you to consider trying both and seeing what works best!
Mighty Bites
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Can babies eat Mighty Bites?
We do not recommend Mighty Bites for babies. Serve to children ages 2 and up, who are seated, supervised, and accustomed to chewing solid foods.
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What makes Mighty Bites different?
Our bites are made with wholesome, natural ingredients and have way less added sugar than the average snack. Cookie-esque flavors make them a hit with the kids! Nutritious ingredients like chickpeas, whole grain oats, sunflower seed butter, and chia seeds make them a home run for parents.
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Do Mighty Bites have preservatives or artificial flavors?
No artificial flavors. No preservatives. Just delicious, simple ingredients! Naturally sweet dates give our bites their dessert-like flavor, and shelf-stable ingredients keep our bites fresh until their enjoy by date. Simply store them in a cool, dry place and make sure to reseal the bag between each use!
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Can Mighty Bites be used in place of a meal?
While loaded with nutritious ingredients and superfoods, we do not recommend Mighty Bites as a meal replacement. However, they do make an awesome snack or addition to any meal! We created Mighty Bites to delight kids with fun, tasty snacks that fuel their growth and power their playtime.
Superfood Smoothies
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What makes Superfood Smoothies different?
Our Superfood Smoothies have two servings of fruit and veggies, superfoods and absolutely no added sugar. That’s a whole lot of good stuff! Plus they come in kid-friendly flavors that little ones adore—they can’t even taste the veggies! So whether you grab one for a snack on the go or serve it up at mealtime, your little one is getting a wholesome treat that tastes amazing and makes it easy to give them something great.
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Are Superfood Smoothies fresh or frozen?
We deliver them fresh so that your little one can start drinking them as soon as they arrive! No prep necessary—just grab them right out of the fridge and get sipping!
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Can smoothies be used in place of a meal?
While our smoothies are packed with vitamins and minerals, we do not recommend serving them as a meal replacement. However, they can be a wonderful addition to a balanced meal routine! If you want to give your little one an extra boost of fruits and veggies during a meal, or if they’re looking for an easy snack, just grab a smoothie from the fridge. With no added sugar, our smoothies are a wholesome anytime treat or snack.
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How do you keep smoothies fresh for so long?
To keep your smoothies fresh without adding preservatives, we use a process called HPP (high pressure processing), also commonly referred to as “cold pressed”. This process uses pressure to inactivate the microorganisms that cause fresh food to spoil. Because there is no heat involved, it’s a much gentler way to prevent spoilage—one that retains the nutrients and flavors while ensuring food safety.
Packaging and Recycling
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What is your food packaging made of?
Our food packaging is made from the highest-quality food-grade plastics available and are BPA, PVC and phthalate free.
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Is Nurture Life packaging recyclable?
We use recyclable materials wherever and whenever we can! Trays, tray sleeves, jars, jar lids, and bottles are all recyclable! Dispose of these in your curbside recycling bin. Please dispose of meal seals and Mighty Bites bags in the trash.
Our insulated liner is made from 95% recycled paper fibers and is just as simple to recycle as a piece of paper! Simply place the liner in your curbside recycling bin.
Our non-toxic gel packs can be stored in your freezer and reused any time! If you’d like to dispose of a pack, simply thaw it on your counter, cut the package open, discard the gel in the trash and recycle the plastic bag anywhere #4 plastic is accepted. (Check your local grocery store.)
Our boxes are made from over 85% recycled corrugated cardboard and are 100% recyclable. Simply recycle them in your curbside bin or let your kid’s imagination go wild and get cardboard crafty with forts, costumes and more!
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What are the gel packs made of and are they recyclable?
Our non-toxic gel packs are made from a viscous gel refrigerant that is over 99% water and can be stored in your freezer and reused any time. If you’d like to dispose of a pack, simply thaw it on your counter, cut the package open, discard the gel in the trash, rinse it out, let it dry and recycle the plastic bag anywhere #4 plastic is accepted. (Check your local grocery store.)
Shipping and Delivery
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Where do you deliver?
We deliver to the entire contiguous United States—everywhere except Alaska and Hawaii!
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How will my order be shipped?
Your food will be shipped in insulated packaging with gel packs designed to keep your meals, snacks and smoothies at or below refrigerated temperatures for a minimum of 48 hours.
We use UPS, OnTrac, LaserShip, and UDS (United Delivery Service) to deliver your order directly to your door. The specific shipping provider is dependent on your zip code and delivery day.
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Is Nurture Life food shipped frozen?
Our food is shipped fresh at refrigerated temperatures, but never frozen. Our food should be eaten by the use by dates on the packaging. Our Kids Meals, Finger Foods and Mighty Bites can also be frozen for up to 90 days as long as they are placed in the freezer before the use by date.
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How does my food stay fresh in transit?
To keep your meals and snacks cold and fresh throughout their journey to you, we use insulated packaging and non-toxic gel packs designed to keep your food at or below refrigerated temperatures for a minimum of 48 hours until their arrival to you. As our meals, snacks and smoothies are perishable, please place them in the refrigerator as soon as you receive them to ensure maximum freshness.