Low Sodium Meal Delivery for Seniors

This is a term that can have different meanings, depending on who you quote. The most important definition you should follow would be the specific advice you receive from a doctor. There is no specific limit, but we will share with you some guidelines:

One of the biggest sources of high sodium meals comes from eating out. Americans today average three to four restaurant meals a week, and one of those meals can easily exceed the daily sodium intake recommended by the USDA.

If you've ever watched any cooking shows on TV, you'll see over and over again chefs adding "seasoning," salt and pepper to almost everything they prepare.

In this section we will make our recommendations based on the published low sodium limits posted at meal delivery websites, and our own experience in eating the food. We believe this will give you a great head-start in finding the perfect low sodium prepared meals for your needs and budget.

DineWise - As of this writing, the DineWise low sodium meal section contains over forty low sodium meals. They define a low sodium meal as between 50 mg and 550 mg of sodium, and meal plans between 1,000 mg and 1,500 mg of sodium per day.

Unfortunately, we found meals in this section that exceed their own posted guidelines, and some by a lot. For example, the Potato Crusted Pollock has 780 mg, but most of the meals in this section average about 350 mg. Some of these out-of-spec meals can appear in the low sodium meal plans, so be sure to read the nutritional labeling for each meal before you purchase if you're on a very strict low sodium diet.

We didn't find any complete meals with 50 mg of sodium, but the Buckeye Oatmeal is listed at 15 mg, which seems kind of unrealistic. A serving of plain oatmeal is low in sodium (about 75 mg) and that wouldn't include toasted almonds, syrup, and cinnamon apples this meal comes with.

We have tried all the meals in section and found the lunch and dinner selections to be generally above average in portion size and quality. 

As previously mentioned, DineWise offers seniors a choice of two discounts:

Magic Kitchen - Magic Kitchen defines their low sodium prepared meals as: "Our Low Sodium Meal Packs are designed to provide meals that support a standard 2000 calorie per day diet."

This doesn't make any sense to us.

The amount of sodium is 2,400 mg on a standard USDA 2,000 calorie a day diet. This is not considered low sodium. Some meals have as much as 650 mg, which would be 43% of a daily 1,500 mg sodium diet, any single meal that exceeds 20% sodium is considered high sodium.

The low sodium meals are only available as packages, which limits your buying options and order customization. You will have to read the nutritional information for each meal you are interested in and determine if the package fits into your personal dietary guidelines.

We have purchased meals from this section and found the meal plans to include prepared meals from Traditions Meal Solutions. The two meals pictured above are from Traditions. This company produces low-cost and low-quality meals for Medicaid, Meals on Wheels, and even prison facilities. We didn't care for any of them.

The best meals on this website are found by looking in the entrees and sides sections, but you have to read the sodium levels and find the best meals that fit your budget and diet. 

EasyLife Meals - EasyLife Meals makes diabetic meals that can also be low in sodium. They have a little slider you can use to filter their menu based on your specific nutritional needs. When we set the slider to 490 mg of sodium per meal, 20 meals became available. There are certainly enough to make a compelling menu.

Overall, we found these meals to be above average in quality.