As I’ve already shared, eating during my chemo treatment was far from a delight, but I knew I needed to provide myself with as many nutrients to give me the strength and energy to keep fighting. It was hard to come up with ideas for meals as most of them had to be plain so that I didn’t get nauseous and so I could somewhat enjoy them. Breakfast and lunch were the worst especially while I was sitting at home all week after a chemo treatment. I never knew what to make and I rarely wanted to go out and get something. I also didn’t really have the energy to go grocery shopping so many times there was not a lot of food in the cabinets. Chemo days were actually the best for food because I actually had my taste buds back and things tasted normal. I enjoyed the morning egg sandwich and lunch with the members of my posse that kept me company at the infusion clinic. Eating as much as I could before I would get to dinner feeling nauseous and sense my taste buds changing again.

A friend of mine was really sweet and sent me meals from one of my favorites here in Chicago- Goddess and Grocer - a couple times for lunch. Another friend made Eric and I lasagna and joined us for dinner. This meant a lot to me to have them go out of their way to help with meals. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a meal plan set up so a lot was put on my husband because in addition to the food just not tasting right, I just didn’t have the energy to make elaborate meals. Eric (my husband) was amazing about making meals during the week, but after a long day at work sometimes that was the last thing he wanted to do.

Over the past few years, I have come across meal delivery services and platforms that I feel would have been very beneficial and helpful to both my caregiver (husband) and me. I’m honestly not sure if my family and friends knew about these services but now they will and I hope they share them! I’d like to share these with other thrivers, their caregivers and their support team so that the word can get out that helping with meals is really really important. Uber Eats, PostMates, Grubhub, and DoorDash were available as food delivery services at the time, but not as popular as they are now. I wish they were!

Culinary Care (Meal Service)

Culinary Care is a nonprofit organization bringing the nourishment of a meal, care, and joy to cancer patients and their families. It was started by a family member of a cancer patient who knew she never wanted to leave her dad but knew they both needed to eat. She paired up with local restaurants in Chicago to have meals delivered for free on chemo days to the cancer patient and whoever was keeping the patient company.

*The service of Culinary Care is only available at a few locations in the Chicago area. Also, meals have to be selected ahead of time so once there is a chemo schedule it can be sent over to the team at Culinary Car. Please see their site for more information.

Take Them A Meal (Frozen Meal Service)

TakeThemAMeal.com is an online tool for coordinating the delivery of meals to loved ones.

Lotsa Helping Hands (Meal Coordination)

Lotsa Helping Hands powers online caring Communities that help restore health and balance to caregivers’ lives. Their service brings together caregivers and volunteers through online Communities that organize daily life during times of medical crisis or caregiver exhaustion in neighborhoods and communities worldwide.

Other food services to share with your loved one:
Peapod (Grocery Delivery)

Grub Hub (Food Delivery)

Uber Eats (Food Delivery)

Postmates (Food Delivery)

Door Dash (Food Delivery)

*Giftcards can be purchased at all of the above.

Just as I have learned through treatment, I have been learning over this past year with my daughter that as much as the support team wants to help with keeping you company at appointments or at home, helping with the everyday household chores including getting groceries and making meals is really appreciated. I don’t want to sound ungrateful for all the times I had company at my appointments, visits from friends and care packages sent because all of those gestures meant the world to me. However, there were many times when I would open an empty refrigerator and remember that my husband and I still needed to eat. Food was the last thing on my mind especially with my nauseous stomach. Check out one of these food services to help support your loved one and their caregiver!

Dinner is served! Scheduled Meal Services