MANNA Medically Tailored Meals

Who This Works For

Your mom just finished chemotherapy and she can’t taste anything. She’s lost twelve pounds and she’s not eating. Or your dad came home from the hospital after a stroke and he can’t shop or cook right now. He needs heart-healthy meals, modified texture, low sodium. Or your parent has end-stage kidney disease and needs meals carefully designed around their diet restrictions. They can’t figure it out alone.

MANNA delivers medically tailored meals for people in the Greater Philadelphia area dealing with serious illness and real nutritional risk. These are not standard senior meals. These are meals designed by registered dietitians around specific medical conditions.

This matters when your loved one is too weak, too sick, or too medically complicated to manage food on their own.

What Caregivers Should Know Before Asking for a Referral

You can’t just sign yourself up for MANNA. Your loved one needs both a qualifying serious illness and an acute nutritional risk factor. That’s the criteria.

A doctor, nurse, social worker, case manager, or discharge planner fills out the referral form and sends it to MANNA. If your parent is coming home from the hospital or rehab, that’s the time to ask. The discharge team should know whether your parent qualifies and can complete the paperwork right there.

MANNA describes the program as temporary. How long it lasts depends on your loved one’s individual needs. For many families, MANNA bridges a tough recovery period while you’re also applying for longer-term food support, SNAP, senior meal delivery, or other programs.

What They Offer

Medically tailored meals designed by registered dietitians. Meals modified for specific medical conditions.

MANNA works with people managing cancer, diabetes, heart disease, HIV/AIDS, kidney disease, liver disease, and other serious illnesses.

Diet modifications include kidney-friendly, low lactose, low fiber, mild spice, no seafood, no beef, no pork, mechanical soft (chopped), pureed, high-calorie, high-protein, vegetarian, diabetic-friendly, and heart-healthy options.

A newer client choice model lets your loved one pick from weekly menu options while still getting medically tailored nutrition.

Cost and Eligibility

To qualify, your loved one needs both a qualifying illness and an acute nutritional risk factor.

Qualifying illnesses:

• HIV/AIDS
• Diabetes
• Cardiovascular disease
• End stage renal disease
• Liver disease
• New cancer diagnosis

Acute nutritional risk factors may include:

• Extended hospitalization in the last 30 days (stay longer than 3 days)
• Recovery from recent surgery
• Active wound care
• Starting new treatment like chemotherapy or dialysis
• Significant unintentional weight loss

Here’s the practical part: have the medical team review MANNA’s requirements before your loved one leaves the hospital or during a follow-up appointment. If the provider agrees your parent qualifies, ask them to complete the referral form right then. If longer-term food support will be needed later, use MANNA as a bridge while you apply for other programs.

Service Area

MANNA serves the Greater Philadelphia area and Southern New Jersey. Confirm with MANNA that your loved one’s address is in the delivery zone.

Questions to Ask

• Does my loved one have a qualifying diagnosis for MANNA?
• Does my loved one meet one of MANNA’s acute nutritional risk factors?
• Can the doctor, nurse, social worker, case manager, or discharge planner complete the referral today?
• How long might MANNA meals last if my loved one qualifies?
• Can MANNA support my loved one’s specific diet needs, such as diabetes-friendly, kidney disease, pureed meals, high protein, or low lactose?
• Does MANNA deliver to my loved one’s address?
• What happens after the temporary meal period ends?
• Should we also apply for SNAP, senior meal delivery, or other food programs while using MANNA?
• Who should we call if the referral is submitted but we haven’t heard back?
• Can a caregiver help with follow-up calls and coordinating meal delivery?

Why This Listing Is Here

Food becomes urgent after serious illness, hospitalization, cancer treatment, dialysis, wound care, surgery, or sudden weight loss. Your loved one may be too weak to shop, cook, or follow a specialized diet alone.

MANNA fills that gap. Short-term nutrition support while your parent recovers, keeps up with medical appointments, and you figure out longer-term food or caregiving help.

This matters because the medical part of recovery fails if your loved one isn’t eating enough or eating food that works with their illness. MANNA solves that part.

Call MANNA directly to confirm eligibility, get the referral process started, confirm delivery to your address, and understand how long the program might last.

Last reviewed: August 2026

Information changes. Contact MANNA directly to confirm current eligibility, referral requirements, delivery area, diet modifications, program length, and service availability.