Covered by Medicaid · New York 1115 Waiver
If you have a health condition that food can help, you may be able to receive cooked meals or grocery boxes at home at no cost to you. We deliver across Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan, and MBD Care arranges the assessment, the delivery schedule, and the paperwork. Food is where most families start — we can also help with housing, cooking supplies, appliances and transportation.
This is a Medicaid benefit, not a food pantry. There is no application fee, and using it does not affect your other benefits.
What we deliver · Brooklyn · Queens · Manhattan
Fully prepared meals built around your diagnosis by a registered dietitian — lower sodium for heart conditions, carbohydrate-controlled for diabetes, softer textures where chewing or swallowing is difficult.
See how ready-made meals work →
Our ready-made meals program →
Prepared meals for households that need consistent, balanced food but not a condition-specific plan. Often the right fit for families with young children or a recent hospital stay.
See how ready-made meals work →Our ready-made meals program →
Fresh produce, grains and pantry staples delivered for you to cook at home, with guidance from our dietitian on what to make with them.
See what’s inside a box →
Our grocery box program →
What gets delivered
Depending on your health needs and how you like to eat, we deliver a weekly food prescription box to cook with, or fully prepared, cooked meals. A registered dietitian helps you choose.
Each weekly box carries the ingredients to build 21 balanced meals per enrolled member — breakfast, lunch and dinner for seven days.
Protein+Grain or starch+Fruits & vegetables
Available halal and kosher. Every box is reviewed and approved by a registered dietitian as clinically appropriate for the member’s nutrition needs.
Chicken, fish, meat, eggs, beans, lentils or tofu.
Bread, rice, pasta, oats, cereal or potatoes.
Fresh, frozen or low-sodium canned.
Fresh, frozen or canned in juice — never heavy syrup.
Milk, yogurt, cheese or plant-based alternatives.
Approved oils, herbs, spices and cooking basics.
Quantities are split across the food groups so items combine into complete meals, not stacked into one category.
Halal, kosher, diabetic, renal, low-sodium and texture-modified needs can be accommodated. Tell us about allergies and restrictions.
Items and brands vary with the season, availability, your dietary needs and approved substitutions.
Fully prepared, cooked meals delivered to your door — just heat and eat. No shopping and no cooking.
Planned by a dietitianHalal & kosherDelivered to your door
Every meal plan is set by a registered dietitian after an assessment of your health needs.
Built around a diagnosis: carbohydrate-controlled for diabetes, lower sodium for heart conditions, softer textures where chewing or swallowing is hard.
Balanced, consistent meals for households that need reliable food but not a condition-specific plan, such as families with young children.
Meals arrive ready to reheat. If a home is missing a refrigerator or microwave, we can look into that too.
Your meals follow your diagnosis and the dietitian’s plan, not one menu for everyone.
Halal and kosher meals are prepared to that standard from the start, not adjusted on request.
Our ready-made meals program →
How meals are prepared
Not every household needs a condition-specific plan, and many keep halal or kosher. Where they do, the meals are prepared to that standard from the start — not adjusted on request. Close to half the meals we arrange are halal or kosher, so this is how the kitchens we work with are already set up.
Halal & kosher certification
Certificates are available on request, before you enrol.
Beyond the meals
The same Medicaid benefit that covers food also covers other supports that keep a household stable. If you are already working with us for meals, ask — there is no separate application, and we handle the paperwork either way.
Help finding stable housing, and help keeping it — navigating applications, working with landlords, and connecting to the right housing programmes.
Pots, pans, knives, storage and the basic equipment a kitchen needs, so that a grocery box can actually be cooked.
Where a household is missing something essential — a refrigerator to store fresh food, or a microwave to reheat prepared meals — we can look into it.
Rides to medical appointments, dialysis, and the social care appointments that go with them, arranged alongside your other services.
Eligibility
Most people we enrol meet all four of the following. If you are unsure, call us and we will check for you — it takes about ten minutes.
Your Medicaid needs to be current, and you need to be in a Medicaid health plan. No plan yet?
Which plans qualify →The boroughs we currently deliver to. In the Bronx, we help connect members with services through SOMOS.
Such as diabetes, heart or kidney disease, pregnancy, or a child at nutritional risk.
Pregnant or postpartum? →A short conversation, in person or by phone, that we arrange for you. Your first delivery follows within a week.
That is called Medicaid fee-for-service (FFS). For many people it is only a starting point. Food and the other supports on this site are for members of a Medicaid health plan. Most people with New York Medicaid must join one, and it is free. If you get a letter asking you to choose and you don’t, a plan will be chosen for you, so it is better to choose yourself.
Any regular Medicaid health plan works, including HARP, and MBD Care does not choose a plan for you. Have Medicare, other full health insurance, emergency-only Medicaid, or a spenddown (you pay part of your medical bills each month)? The rules are different, so call us and we will check.
Step-by-step guide →Other health conditions can qualify, and so can people who use Medicaid services often, such as frequent emergency room visits or hospital stays. These usually need a short attestation from your doctor. We provide the attestation paperwork for your doctor to sign.
How qualifying with a doctor’s attestation works →More questions? Read our questions and answers about Medicaid food benefits in New York — who qualifies, halal and kosher options, what else is covered, and how to start.
Our partners
MBD Care is a contracted provider with Public Health Solutions, the lead entity for the Social Care Network in our region under the New York 1115 Medicaid Waiver, and is also contracted with SOMOS. That is why there is nothing for you to pay and no separate application — the benefit comes through your Medicaid coverage. How the Social Care Network works · Information for care managers