Meet the Maker: Nurture Life

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Nurture Life is the meal delivery service of our dreams, offering fresh, healthy, nut-free meals that are ready in two minutes or less. The Founder, Jennifer Chow, not only manages her own food allergies but is also an allergy mom. Wanting to spend more time with her kids and less time in the kitchen without sacrificing serving healthy, delicious meals, she created this one-of-a-kind meal delivery service. Nurture Life is the only fully-prepared (no cooking!) meal delivery service made in a dedicated peanut- and tree nut-free facility. We couldn’t be more excited to share the Nurture Life story and provide an exclusive special offer of $25 off your first four orders (a $100 value!).

In partnership with our friends at

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Her dream is now ours

I was working in a demanding tech job and wanted to spend as much time as possible with my son when I wasn’t working, so I would stay up late after we got him to bed to make healthy, balanced meals for him. I searched for meal delivery options, but couldn’t find any geared towards families that met my nutrition and ingredient standards that were also safe for our food allergies.

I started Nurture Life because I knew I couldn’t be the only parent looking for ready-made meals using real, clean ingredients that were healthy and delicious. We make meals that you can feel good about giving your family—each meal is nutritionally balanced, focused on organic produce, antibiotic free meats and poultry and whole grains and has a full serving of veggies. No more asking what’s for dinner, shopping, cooking or cleaning!

Tell us about that nut-free facility!

We wanted to control the entire process of creating our meals. While nearly all other meal delivery services use a co-packer (someone else’s facility) to make their meals, we were committed to having our own kitchen and facility. Because I’m allergic to shellfish and mushrooms and our older son has a peanut allergy, our facility is dedicated free of peanuts and tree nuts, except for coconut. We are also a shellfish-free facility but offer one dish that contains oyster sauce, our Chicken and Vegetable Dumplings with Edamame. Oysters are classified as a molluscan shellfish and they do not require special labeling because molluscs are not considered part of the top 8 allergens in the United States.

We control the entire process of cooking our meals from start to finish, including what comes in and out of the building. Our procurement team sources from suppliers that are peanut- and tree nut-free (except coconut) and our team members are not allowed to bring any foods that contain peanut or tree nuts into our facility, even in our breakroom.

Just Right 

Nurture Life meals are seriously delicious, fresh, never frozen, and nutritionally balanced. Our ingredients are real, clean and include organic produce, antibiotic-free proteins, ASC-certified fish and whole grains. You choose your meals—we even have allergy filters—and our chefs do the rest.

We are great for families because we offer a variety of meal types including baby, toddler, kid, teen and adult meals. Our meals are portioned for each age and stage of development. We also have portable meals that are meant to be served cold, so no heating is required and they’re perfect for school lunches, wherever school is these days!

Something for Everyone

We cater to all palates from picky eaters to the more adventurous. Even in traditional kid favorites like mac and cheese, the health factor is seriously amped up. Our cheese sauce has a full serving of butternut squash blended in for a full serving of veggies and we use whole wheat pasta. Our Chicken & Vegetable Dumplings with Edamame is packed with chicken, tofu, cabbage and leeks. The ingredient list for our Chicken Bites with Mashed Sweet Potatoes & Green Beans is all things you’d use in your own kitchen, nothing hard to pronounce that belongs in a lab! Even our delicious mini cornbread in our BBQ Pulled Pork with Carrots & Cornbread meal is whole grain.

Clean ingredients and labels

We know firsthand how important allergy labelling is! We list ingredients, nutrition facts and allergen information on both our site and on each meal package. We follow best practices for allergen handling to avoid cross contamination and share on our packages that our facility does process egg, dairy, wheat, fish (only salmon), soy and coconut.

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Allergen Protocols

We have strict allergen control procedures in our facility, including allergen segregation and thorough cleaning between each meal that’s produced. At the end of production days, overnight sanitation includes comprehensively cleaning all production rooms and food contact surfaces, and taking apart and cleaning all equipment. 

Best way to order with food allergies?

We have allergen filters including gluten, egg, milk, fish, soy, coconut, sesame, and pork to help you quickly find meals free of those allergens. We don’t have a peanut or tree-nut free filter because all of our meals are always peanut- and tree nut-free (except coconut)—we also have a reminder in the filter.

You can also set your allergen filters and dietary preferences during the signup process and those allergens will be excluded from any future meals you receive unless you specifically select and add a meal with one of those allergens. If you choose the “help me build my box” option during ordering, a short quiz will ask you the age, allergies and dietary preferences for each member of your family. We also welcome you to contact our customer experience team at [email protected] or 877-988-8851 for help.

Dinner in under 2 minutes?

All of our meals are ready in less than 2 minutes. They can also be heated in the oven in 12 to 15 minutes. Our meals stay fresh in the refrigerator for a week after arrival and have use by dates on the packaging. They can also be frozen for up to 90 days, except for our portable meals, as long as they’re placed in the freezer before the use by date.

Going Green

We don’t stop at healthy meals, we also put a tremendous amount of care into the packaging we use. All of our packaging, except for the interior of our gel packs, is recyclable and much of it has already been recycled. Our box is made from 94% post-consumer recycled corrugate and our insulated liners are made from recycled plastic bottles that can be re-recycled again. Our food packaging is made from the highest quality food grade plastics available and they are BPA-, PVC- and phthalate-free. We minimize food waste at our facility and all extra meals are donated to local food pantries.

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How does it work?

Nurture Life is a subscription service and the order minimum is $39, which is about five toddler meals or four kid/teen/adult meals and they can be any combination you choose. We know families need flexibility (we have one too!) so while our deliveries are weekly, you can skip a week or pause whenever needed. Using the Spokin-exclusive offer, you can get $25 off each of your first FOUR orders ($100 off total). With an order value minimum of $39, you can try Nurture Life with this exclusive code for as little as $14 or $3.99 per toddler meal.

Spokin-Exclusive Offer

Nurture Life is sharing a Spokin EXCLUSIVE offer of $25 off each of your first 4 orders (a $100 total value) with code SPOKIN. Code automatically applies at checkout. Order minimum is $39 and free shipping on all orders over $59 (based on the order value before the discount is applied)

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What about fish, shellfish and sesame?

There are some allergens that we have in single dishes, so it’s worth noting. The only fish we currently use is salmon and it’s in one dish (the Teriyaki Salmon with Rainbow Veggie Rice.)

The only meal that contains sesame is the Chicken and Vegetable Dumplings with Edamame. Sesame is one of the options in our allergen filters as well. 

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Do you ever cook now?

Our kids eat Nurture Life meals on weekdays for both lunch and dinner, so I mostly cook on the weekends. As anyone with a family knows, not everyone loves the same meal. With Nurture Life, everyone can eat what they love. Our oldest son loves the Bolognese Penne and the Butter Chicken with Peas, Rice & Mini Naan. Our younger son’s favorites are the Chicken Meatball Slider with Carrots & Pear Slices, the Mac & Cheese with Butternut Squash and the BBQ Pulled Pork with Carrots & Cornbread. I love our Minestrone Stew and we also offer finger foods, so I’ll eat two of our Mini Falafel, Carrot & Rice Plates for lunch. My favorite for dinner is definitely the Teriyaki Salmon with Rainbow Veggie Rice.

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