Facing a loss of energy and desensitized taste buds is very common when on cancer treatments. Therefore, it’s understandable that they may struggle to enjoy meals they once love.
Moreover, What you eat is essential when you have cancer. Your body needs enough calories and nutrients to stay strong.
The best recommendation is to stick with a balanced diet with healthy calories coming from lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy, and limit your sugar, caffeine, salt, and alcohol.
Some dietitians recommend moving to a pescatarian diet, which is a vegetarian diet with the addition of eating kinds of seafood.
Foods like nuts, yogurt, pre-chopped veggies and fruits, and whole grains are easy options. Make sure to eat lots of good protein like seafood, chicken, and plant-based proteins like beans and seeds.
When undergoing cancer treatment, making fresh meals is not something you would like to concern yourself with. Planning for the days when you won’t feel like cooking anything is probably the smart thing to do. To fill your fridge with healthy foods, especially those that need very little or no cooking at all.
It can be challenging to find meals and ingredients that provide you with the required nutrition. There are, however, a few great meal kits and prepared meal delivery services that offer meal plans that are in line with the American Cancer Society’s nutrition guidelines.
Many of these services offer vegetarian meals, vegan meals, and other meals in line with a pescatarian and lean and clean diet. These companies can deliver breakfast, lunch, and dinner to you and your family members.
Best Meal Delivery For Cancer Patients
All these recommended meal delivery companies are the best meals on wheels that you can find, and the meals provide you with the cancer support you may require.
1. Sunbasket
Organic Meal Kit Option, Excellent For Cancer Patients
Sun Basket meal kit delivery service offers all incredibly delicious meals while also providing customers with the necessary nutrient. Registered dietitians have Approved the Sun Basket healthy meals to ensure that the person receiving them gets the best-required nutrients.
The meals are healthy and low in calories, and they offer a great weekly selection of pescatarian, lean, vegan, and vegetarian meals that can fit very well into a cancer patient’s diet.
Sun Basket uses organic, high-quality products, arriving fresh from a few local farms.
Their nutritious meals are designed to be very easy to cook. The menu offers many quick recipes with 15 min cooking time and a large section of oven-ready and microwave-ready meals that you just need to heat up.
Moreover, the menu offers excellent fully prepared breakfast and healthy lunch options to add to your box so that your eating needs will be fully covered.
Suggested Meal Options On the Sun Basket Menu:
- Spicy bucatini arrabbiata with shrimp, mushrooms, and green beans – Pescatarian meal
- Green goddess chicken salad lettuce cups with roasted almonds -lean protein, low-carb, gluten-free meal
- Black bean and quinoa Buddha bowls with zucchini and avocado – a vegan meal with healthy proteins.
- Blackened sole with pickled carrots and sweet mini peppers – Pescatarian gluten-free and lean meal
- Fully prepared breakfast option – Egg Bite with spinach and feta cheese
- Fully prepared breakfast option – Roasted almond and Himalayan pink salt oatmeal cup
- Fully prepared lunch option – Quick quinoa meal with artichokes and roasted pepper
Sunbasket is offering a subscription-based service for two-person or four-person. The company also provides unique diet plans like a gluten-free meal plan, a Mediterranean meal plan, a low-carb meal plan, and more.
2. Diet To Go
Premade Meal Delivery Service, Good for Cancer Support
The Diet to Go service provides fully prepared meal plans, with a vast collection of weekly meals, including breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
This meal-delivery service mantra is that it all starts with excellent balanced and healthy food that is super easy to consume. With Diet to Go, you can forget about stressful planning, preparing, or wasting time on grocery shopping.
With Diet to Go, all you need to do is choose one of their award-winning plans and customize menu requirements to fit your taste and needs. They will take care of the rest. Each week you will get a food supply of freshly prepared meals that you just need to heat. You can choose between 5 days plan to 7 days plan, for lunch and dinner only, or a full-board breakfast, lunch, and dinner service.
The Diet to Go meal plan is designed with health and high nutrition in mind. The meals combine mouth-watering, restaurant-quality flavors with dietitian-approved fresh portions, making it easy for American cancer patients to stay on track with their diet. The meals are designed for one person.
Some Recommended Meal Options From Diet-To-Go:
- Breakfast meal – Kale and swiss frittata
- Lunch meal – Black bean & feta cheese wrap with wild Rice Salad, Sour Cream
- Lunch meal – Captain Stewart’s seafood sandwich with pretzel roll and tartar sauce
- Dinner meal – Stir fry chicken with oriental veggies and brown rice
- Dinner meal – Shrimp with Spanish style rice, steamed veggies, and sauce
3. Green Chef
USDA-Approved Balanced Living Meal Plan
Green Chef is an excellent meal kit service for ensuring you are eating well for dinner. In addition, the company offers various easy-to-follow meal plans for every lifestyle, including balanced living, nutritious meals that can fit cancer patients’ needs perfectly.
When Subscribing and ordering from Green Chef, you know you get quality! The company makes sure to use USDA-approved high-quality premium ingredients that come pre-measured and prepped, saving you time and effort. All you have to do is follow an easy step-by-step recipe card with photos.
The best meal plan that supports cancer patients’ needs is the ‘Balanced Living’ plan, with a diverse and flexible weekly menu, offering plenty of choices of seafood, chicken, and vegetarian dinners.
A Few Meal Options We Suggest to Get From Green Chef:
- Honey-citrus glazed salmon with Mangos, jerk-spiced carrot fries with almonds, roasted broccoli – pescatarian gluten-free meal
- Barbeque chickpea bowls – plant-based ingredients, full of healthy proteins.
- Rosemary-roasted chicken with Kale salad with herb-roasted potatoes, dried figs & pistachios
- Sesame-ginger shrimp bowl with fried eggs, zucchini, boom boom sauce & sesame seeds – 20 min pescatarian and gluten-free meal
- Plant-based protein flautas – A protein-packed filling that’s purely plant-based
4. Balance by BistroMD
Healthy Prepared Meal Delivery Service With Easy Ordering
Balance by BistroMD is a fully prepared meal delivery company, offering ready-to-heat and eat meals to be delivered to your home. This company is offering a better way to eat with no cooking required!
Choose from various nutrition entrees and snacks cooked with high-quality ingredients, free of chemicals and additives. The healthy recipes are designed by an internal team of registered dietitians, focusing on healthy eating.
The Balance by BistroMD service offers a flexible option to order on a one-time purchase. You can order as much or as little as you need, on your schedule and frequency: no minimum order and no memberships required. The meals are designed for one person.
Recommended Meal Options You Would Want To Try From The Menu:
- Lunch or dinner meal – Barramundi seabass with sweet coconut pineapple sauce –
- Lunch or dinner meal – Grilled Chicken Pesto with Farro Salad
- Breakfast meal – Caramelized mushroom and onion frittata
- Breakfast meal – Greek omelet with fruited Quinoa and almonds
- Lunch or dinner meal – Grilled salmon with light champagne tarragon sauce, paired with french green lentils and whole green beans
- Lunch or dinner meal – Gluten-free and Vegetarian roasted cauliflower and Lentils with charred red pepper sauce
The Balance by BistroMD menu supports many diets like vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, heart-healthy, diabetes-friendly, low-calorie, and more.
Benefits of Using a Meal Delivery Services for Cancer Patients
Using a meal kit delivery service has a wide variety of benefits when you’re dealing with exhausting cancer treatment.
Ease of Use
The ease of use relating to the meals is probably the most prominent benefit. You can create fantastic nutritious and healthy meals in a matter of minutes due to everything being pre-prepared for you. This can save you a lot of time and effort in the kitchen, leaving you more free time for rest.
No More Meal Planning and Grocery Shopping
On top of that, you no longer have to concern yourself with planning the meals you would like to have or even go grocery shopping every week. Fresh, high-quality products or meals are delivered to you every week, eliminating the need for these time-consuming and mundane food-related tasks.
Balanced and Health-Centric Meals
The meals you are provided with are also balanced and have all the necessary nutrients you might require, especially as a cancer patient. The meals are portion-sized and contain the highest quality ingredients, ensuring that you receive only the best meals.
Varying Your Meals
Meal delivery services supply home meals that feel like restaurant-quality food, with a diverse menu that keeps changing every week.
Our Final Notes
The meal delivery services listed above offer the best food options in our eyes for people undergoing cancer treatment.
Knowing that your meals are taken care of allows you to have more freedom and time to go about other, more important tasks while knowing that you will receive tasty and nutritious meals throughout the day.
You can sign up for any of the recommended home-delivered meals services and browse their menus to determine which of them is most suited to your liking and health needs.
When you make an order, make sure to use our excellent promotion codes for new customers.
Related FAQs
It’s easier to think ahead when going through cancer treatments, so you have handy meals ready when you’re not feeling up for cooking. Some cancer patients cook large portions on days they’re feeling good, and they defrost the meals for an easy dinner on more challenging days. If you want a home-cooked meal, it can be helpful to have that prepped and ready.
Cancer patients find it handy to keep foods around that are very easy to eat and require no preparation, like baby carrots in a bag or protein bars. Taking a multivitamin can be helpful as well to ensure that you’re getting all your vitamins daily.
Some people with a cancer diagnosis find that relying on meal delivery kits is a convenient, healthy way to plan tasty, quick meals.
Many meal delivery services offer meals that are prepped and ready to eat – just heat them in the microwave or oven. Sun Basket is our favorite meal delivery kit for cancer patients because all the food is entirely organic, the ingredients are fresh and high-quality, and each dish is packed with protein and nutrients.
Sun Basket will deliver ingredients to your door, or if you prefer, pre-made meals with tons of flavor and variety. This can make it easier to plan your weekly meals as a cancer patient since you may not feel like cooking some days.
Having food delivered through a meal delivery program can help keep your diet focused on lean meats and veggies, which provide the protein and nutrients you need. And, it’s all delivered directly to your door. These home meal deliveries can be a great way to plan your meal schedule when you don’t have the energy to cook.
Having your groceries delivered is also a great tip for many cancer patients. Most grocery delivery services allow you to select items online beforehand, so your “shopping cart” can be from your computer or phone. So if you’re tired or feeling sick, this is a great way to make sure you get all your shopping done without leaving the house.
As part of your cancer care, don’t be afraid to ask for help – getting your meals taken care of is one less thing to worry about.
Although you may not feel like sometimes eating during your cancer treatment, getting all vitamins, minerals, and nutrients is essential to keep your body strong. Good nutrition is vital to support your body through cancer treatments.
When you don’t feel like eating, it may be helpful to find a liquid source of nutrition, like fortified protein shakes or smoothies, to get in a helping of fruits and veggies.
The American Cancer Society recommends a diet full of fruits, veggies, healthy grains, and lean proteins – and be sure to limit red meat, sugar, and processed food. Your oncology nutrition plan should include a full range of vitamins, minerals, nutrients, and calories, along with plenty of hydration. The American Cancer Society also recommends staying at a healthy weight, so be sure to eat enough calories so you can stay strong and energized.
The American Institute for Cancer Research recommends focusing on beans, legumes, whole grains, fruits, and veggies as part of a cancer-fighting diet.
We also suggest that you try to eat smaller amounts throughout the day more frequently. This is a great way to ensure you get a steady dose of nutrition without getting overly full. Eating snacks throughout the day can help you meet the full scope of your nutritional needs.
Meal delivery may be helpful during cancer treatment because you can select meals online. Meal delivery services like Sun Basket, Diet to Go, and Green Chef will deliver fresh ingredients or pre-made meals right to your door, so you don’t have to worry about it.
Consider what foods you love and sound appetizing to you. Center your meals around them, and try to avoid foods that aren’t your favorite or might not smell good to you during this time. Cancer or treatments may have impacted your taste preferences, so try to lean on foods that smell and taste good to you now. Treatment side effects may include nausea, so avoid overly salty foods or have a very strong smell.
If you’re feeling extra hungry one day, try to take advantage of that feeling and have a big meal! This will help you get some nutrition and calories, even if you’re not feeling super appetized later in the day.
