NDIS Meal Preparation and Delivery: What You Need to Know

The NDIS can fund meal preparation and delivery when your disability means you cannot prepare meals safely or consistently on your own.

What it funds is the labour: the support worker’s time, or the preparation and delivery component of a meal service. It does not fund the food or ingredients themselves, because groceries are considered an everyday living cost.

Below, we walk through what is covered, which part of your plan pays for it, how invoices need to be split, and how to get meal support written into your plan.

Does the NDIS fund meal preparation and delivery?

In many cases, yes, subject to your plan. Meal preparation and delivery is listed in the NDIS support lists under assistance with essential household tasks that a participant cannot do themselves because of their disability.

If cooking is unsafe, exhausting or simply not possible for you, this is a legitimate disability support. The line the NDIA draws is between labour and groceries.

What the NDIS can fund

• A support worker’s time to plan, shop for, cook and portion your meals
• The preparation and delivery component of a prepared meal service
• Support to eat safely, including assistance for people with swallowing difficulties
• Building your cooking skills where independence is a goal in your plan

What the NDIS will not fund

• The cost of food, ingredients or groceries
• Fast food, takeaway and general delivery platforms such as Uber Eats, DoorDash or Menulog
• Meal kit services that deliver raw ingredients with no preparation component
• Cooking for the rest of your household, or meals ordered purely for convenience

Which part of your NDIS plan pays for meals?

Meal preparation and delivery generally sits in your Core Supports budget, under Assistance with Daily Life. It belongs to the same category as personal care, domestic assistance and other household tasks, which is why these supports are often delivered together in a single visit.

Importantly, meal preparation and delivery does not always need to be a stated support. If it is reasonable and necessary for you, it can usually be purchased flexibly from your Core budget alongside your other daily living supports.

Some plans do list it as a stated support requiring a quote, in which case the funding can only be used for that purpose. If you are unsure which applies to you, your plan manager or support coordinator can check the wording for you.

There is a third scenario that catches people out. Sometimes a planner agrees to meal support during a planning meeting, but it never appears in the written plan. If that has happened, you can request your planner notes from the NDIA and share them with your plan manager so claims can be processed correctly.

How the invoice split works

If you use a prepared meal service, the provider must be able to separate the cost of the food from the cost of preparing and delivering it. Only the second part can be claimed from your NDIS funding.

As a simple illustration, if a meal is priced at a single amount, the invoice needs to show one line for the ingredients, which you pay yourself, and another for preparation and delivery, which may be claimed against your plan. The exact split varies between providers and is set by them, not by the NDIS.

Many meal services state on their website that they issue NDIS compliant invoices. If a provider does not say so clearly, ask before you sign up. Without an itemised invoice, the whole amount becomes an out of pocket cost.

Two ways to get meal support under the NDIS

There are two very different routes to the same outcome, and participants often do not realise they have a choice. One brings a person into your home. The other brings food to your door.

Option 1: a support worker prepares meals in your home

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A disability support worker can help with the whole mealtime routine, not just the cooking. That usually includes planning meals for the week, grocery shopping, preparing food safely, portioning and storing leftovers, and cleaning up afterwards.

This option suits you if you want meals that match your tastes, your culture and any texture requirements you have.

It also works well when meal preparation sits alongside other supports. Many participants have a worker assist with personal care, cooking and light housework in the same visit, which makes better use of both your time and your funding.

The support must relate to your own disability needs. The NDIS will not fund a worker to cook for your whole family or to take on general household catering. If household tasks are a broader challenge, our guide to using NDIS funding for cleaning explains how domestic assistance is funded alongside meal support.

Option 2: prepared meals delivered to your home

Meal delivery services prepare food off site and deliver it to you ready to heat or eat. Frozen, chilled and texture modified options are all available in Australia, including pureed meals and allergen conscious menus.

For these meals to be partly claimable, the provider must itemise the invoice as described above. Meal kits that send you raw ingredients to cook yourself do not qualify, because there is no preparation component being delivered. Neither do everyday food delivery apps.

Source: Unsplash 

Delivered meals often work best as one part of a wider arrangement. Some participants use a delivery service on days when no support worker is scheduled, or as a short term solution during illness or when a regular carer is away.

Which option suits which situation

Neither option is better in the abstract. The right choice depends on what you need help with and what you want your mealtimes to look like.

Many participants use both. A support worker might cook fresh meals twice a week while delivered meals cover the remaining days.

Kitchen equipment and appliances: what is fundable

This is where the rules become less intuitive. The general position is that mainstream kitchen appliances are not NDIS supports, because most households own them regardless of disability. Air fryers, microwaves, slow cookers, blenders and high end appliances such as a Thermomix are all treated as everyday consumer products by default.

There is a narrow exception. If an item is the most reasonable and necessary way for you to prepare food safely because of your disability, it may be considered. A blender or food processor for someone who needs pureed meals due to swallowing difficulties is the clearest example. So is an appliance that removes the need to use a stovetop when standing or lifting is unsafe.

In those cases, you will generally need written evidence from an occupational therapist or another allied health professional explaining why the item is disability related rather than convenient. Depending on cost, it may then sit under low cost assistive technology within Core Consumables, or under Capital Assistive Technology.

Adaptive kitchen tools are treated more generously, because they have no mainstream equivalent. One handed chopping boards, easy grip utensils, jar openers and kettle tippers are commonly funded as assistive products for household tasks.

Nutrition supports and modified dietary products

Separate from meal preparation, the NDIS can fund disability related nutrition supports. These include a dietitian preparing a nutrition plan, a nurse or trained support worker administering PEG or home enteral nutrition feeding, and dietitian training for the people who support you.

Products such as enteral formula, feeding equipment and liquid thickeners for dysphagia may also be funded with the right evidence. If you or a family member needs this level of support, our NDIS support for intellectual disability page outlines how nursing and daily living supports work together.

There is a boundary worth knowing. Nutrition supports related to weight loss, eating disorders, food allergies or chronic conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease are generally treated as the health system’s responsibility rather than the NDIS’s.

Building cooking skills with Capacity Building funding

If your goal is to cook more independently over time, that ambition can be funded too. Skill development around meal planning, safe food handling and adaptive cooking techniques generally sits under Capacity Building, Improved Daily Living, or can be built into the way a support worker delivers Core supports.

The distinction the NDIA makes is purpose. Learning to cook safely so you can manage at home is fundable. A recreational gourmet cooking course unrelated to your plan goals is not.

How to get meal preparation and delivery into your plan

Choosing a meal preparation provider

Whether you choose in home support or a delivery service, the same questions are worth asking.

• Can they issue an itemised invoice separating food from preparation and delivery?
• Can they accommodate texture modified meals, allergies, and cultural or religious dietary requirements?
• Are their workers trained in food safety and, where relevant, safe swallowing and mealtime assistance?
• Will you see the same worker regularly, which matters enormously for routine and trust?
• Can they work around your schedule rather than a fixed roster?
• Do they service your area, and how quickly can they respond if a booking falls through?

How Homage supports meal preparation

Homage is a registered NDIS provider delivering in home support across Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

Our Care Professionals assist with grocery shopping, safe meal preparation, portioning and eating support, often alongside personal care and light household tasks in the same visit. Bookings are flexible from one hour, and you receive a written visit summary after every service.

If you would like to talk through what your plan can cover, our NDIS participants page is a good place to start, or you can speak with a Care Advisor about a support plan built around your mealtimes.

Frequently asked questions

References