FAQ
About Nurture Life
-
What is Nurture Life?
Nurture Life is a food company that provides busy families with a creative variety of freshly made, nutritionally balanced, ready-to-enjoy meals for babies, toddlers, kids, teens and adults. When it comes to prepared meals, for too long parents have had to rely on meals that lack the freshness, nutrition and variety their family, and especially kids, need. We created Nurture Life to give parents a new way to feed their families and tackle one of our country’s biggest challenges—the way our children eat. With Nurture Life, we’re setting a new standard—one that delivers a healthier world through better nutrition with meals parents can be proud to serve. With Nurture Life nutritious, freshly made and delicious are the norm, not the exception.
-
How does Nurture Life work?
Nurture Life is a 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 meals from our menus page or answering a few questions about your family’s mealtime needs, and we will recommend meals for you. We have a $39 order minimum. Add more meals to your cart to receive free shipping and discount benefits up to 10% off your entire order.
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 Heat & Eat Meals only need a couple minutes in the microwave or oven, and our Cold Lunches are made to be served cold—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.
-
Who is Nurture Life for?
Everyone! Our meals range from Finger Foods for your baby to an adult-sized meal for yourself. Instead of a one-size-fits-all menu, we’ve designed meals by age group to ensure the right portions and nutrients for each family member’s developmental stage. We’ve also designed our variety of meals to satisfy any palate, from your pickiest eater to your flavor explorer.
COVID-19
-
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.
As an essential business, we are continuing to operate and deliver to families uninterrupted across the contiguous United States. Cooking and delivering meals has always been one of our specialties, but meal delivery has a completely different meaning now as it’s become a necessity for families across the U.S. looking to eat healthy while sheltering-in-place and avoiding trips to the grocery store.
According to the CDC, there is no evidence of the transmission of COVID-19 through food.
As always, we have incredibly high standards in the sourcing of our ingredients and only source from trusted farmers and purveyors focusing on organic produce, antibiotic and hormone-free meats and poultry, ASC-certified fish and whole grains.
Each Nurture Life meal is hand made 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.).
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.
Getting Started
-
How do I get started?
You decide exactly what goes in your order! Choose from a variety of freshly made, nutritionally balanced, ready-to-enjoy Finger Foods, Toddler, Kid and Teen & Adult Meals and Shareables. All our meals are handmade with care with ingredients that focus on a good source of antibiotic and hormone-free proteins, organic veggies and no added sugar. Click on the View link on each meal to view nutrition facts, full ingredient lists and allergens. You can also use our filters to filter meals by dietary preferences and allergens.
Not sure where to start? Once you click the Get Started button, click the Help Me Build My Box button and we’ll ask you a few questions about your family’s mealtime needs, then recommended meals for you. You can always change your meals before you checkout.
Once you’ve selected your meals, you’ll be prompted to complete the checkout process. Once you complete the checkout process, we’ll start cooking up your meals. Meals typically arrive within a week to a week and a half 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.
-
How much do Nurture Life meals cost?
Nurture Life meals are priced individually, starting at:
- Finger Foods: $6.89
- Toddler Meals: $7.99
- Kid Meals: $8.99
- Teen & Adult Meals: $10.99
- Cold Lunches: $7.99
- Shareables (2–4 servings per meal): $9.99–$12.99
-
Is there an order minimum?
Our order minimum starts at just $39. This helps us cover our packaging and shipping costs.
-
Can I make a one-time purchase?
Nurture Life is available by subscription only. However, you can skip weeks, pause or cancel your subscription at any time!
Meals and Nutrition
-
Who creates Nurture Life meals?
All Nurture Life meals are created by our team of registered dietitians and chefs to ensure meals meet the nutritional needs of growing children through adults. Every Nurture Life meal is thoughtfully developed based on recommendations from the US Dietary Guidelines and American Academy of Pediatrics. Each meal is appropriately portioned to deliver the right nutrients at each age and stage of development—from 10 months through adulthood – focusing on organic produce, antibiotic free proteins and whole grains. We offer a wide variety of meals to satisfy everyone from picky to adventurous eaters and continually introduce new flavors, textures and cuisines through our menu.
-
What are Nurture Life meals made of?
Nurture Life meals are made using only the best ingredients focusing on organic produce, antibiotic-free proteins and whole grains. All our fish is ASC-certified, which is the highest aquaculture standard. And all our meals are created by our team of registered dietitians and chefs ensuring the proper balance of essential nutrients, protein, veggies and fiber in all our meals.
-
Where do the ingredients come from?
We source our ingredients from trusted purveyors that we thoroughly evaluate to ensure they meet our food quality and safety standards. Examples include Bell & Evans for our antibiotic-free chicken, Wabash Seafood for our ASC-certified salmon, Veg Fresh Farms and Harvest Direct for our organic produce, Delallo for our organic pastas and many more.
-
Do all Nurture Life meals include a serving of vegetables?
All Nurture Life meals include vegetables, and some of our meals include as many as nine vegetables in a single meal! All of our Toddler, Kid and Teen & Adult Meals include a FULL serving of vegetables.
Allergens
-
Are your meals allergen friendly?
All our meals are made in a facility free of peanuts and tree nuts (except coconut). Our facility does contain coconut, dairy, eggs, fish (salmon), soy and wheat. We recommend that you closely review our full ingredient lists and the “contains” statement associated with each of our meals if you have a family member with a food allergy. On our site, these can be found by clicking on the View Details link on our meals. All our meal packaging include full ingredient lists.
While we always follow best practices for allergen handling, if your child has celiac disease, Nurture Life might not be the right option for you. Please contact us if you have any questions about your specific needs at support@nurturelife.com or 877.988.8851.
-
Can I personalize my meal selections to exclude specific allergens?
Yes! To identify meals that are free from specific allergens, from our Menus page, click on the Filters and under Allergens, select the allergens that you’d like to exclude, then click the Save Preferences button to view the meals that are free from these allergens.
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
Food Safety
-
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 and FSQA Technicians on duty at all times during our operations.
-
Is Nurture Life FDA inspected?
Our production facility is FDA inspected.
Managing Your Subscription
-
How do I change my meals?
Sign in to your account and go to Orders. Click into a specific week to view the meals that are scheduled for delivery, then select Edit Meals to change your meals. Use the + sign to add meals and – sign to remove meals. Be sure to click the Save Changes button once you’ve changed your meals to confirm your changes.
-
What is the weekly order cutoff date and time to change my meals or skip a week?
The deadline to change your meals 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. You will also receive a reminder email three days prior to the order cutoff date and time each week reminding you to make changes or skip a week with the subject line “See What’s Cooking in Your Upcoming Order,” reminding you to make changes or skip a week.
-
Can I skip a week?
Absolutely! Sign in and go to Orders. Select the upcoming week you’d like to skip, scroll down and click Skip Week. The deadline to skip a week is 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.
-
How do I change my weekly order preferences?
Our service has been designed to provide you with the ability to define exactly how you’d like us to fill your order each week. You can choose your meals each week or have us choose your meals based on your dietary, meal and quantity preferences by signing into your account, then under Account, select the family member’s preferences that you’d like to change. You can then edit their age group (portion size), dietary preferences, allergens, number of meals received per order and permanently include or exclude specific meals in all upcoming orders.
Please note, 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.
Shipping and Delivery
-
Where do you deliver to?
We deliver to the entire contiguous United States.
-
How will my order be shipped?
Your meals will be shipped in insulated packaging with gel packs designed to keep our meals at or below refrigerated temperatures for a minimum of 48 hours.
We use UPS (United Parcel Service) and UDS (United Delivery Service) to deliver your order directly to your door.
-
Are Nurture Life meals shipped frozen?
All our meals are shipped cold at refrigerated temperatures, but never frozen. Once your meals arrive, they stay fresh for 6-7 days in your refrigerator depending on your delivery day. All our meals include use by dates on the meal packaging. Our meals can be frozen for up to 90 days as long as they are placed in the freezer before the use by date.
-
How do my meals stay fresh in transit?
To keep your meals cold and fresh throughout their journey to you, we use insulated packaging and pack each order with non-toxic gel packs. Our packages are designed to stay at or below refrigerated temperatures for a minimum of 48 hours until their arrival to you. As our meals are perishable, please place them in the refrigerator as soon as you receive them to ensure maximum freshness.
Packaging and Recycling
-
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.
-
Is Nurture Life packaging recyclable?
All our packaging is recyclable except for the seals and interior of the gel packs.
Our trays, jars and sleeves are recyclable. Dispose of these in your curbside recycling bin. Jar lids are made of #5 plastic and can be disposed of in most curbside recycling bins. (Check your local recycling program.)
Our insulated liner is made from 85% recycled plastic bottles and is just as simple to recycle as your average beverage bottle! Simply place the liner in your curbside recycling bin along with any other plastic household containers.
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 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!
-
What are the gel packs made of and are they recyclable?
Our non-toxic gel packs are made from a viscous gel refrigerant and can be stored in your freezer and reused any time. If you’d like to dispose of a pack, simply thaw 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.)