Sometimes the nature of disability means you might need extra support when it comes to your meals.
For some people, it’s support to identify and follow a nutritious and healthy eating plan. For others, it’s upskilling in the kitchen, which could range from needing support to shop for ingredients through to preparing the meal itself.
And sometimes, it’s organising a delivery of ready meals which you can keep in your freezer and simply heat and eat.
So, when can you use your NDIS funding and when do you need to pay for things out of your own pocket?
NDIS funding is for meal preparation, not ingredients
The NDIS website is very clear in saying you can’t use your NDIS funding to pay for food or ingredients. This is because everyone in Australia has to pay for ingredients to cook their own food, or for ready meals, eating out at restaurants or buying takeaway food.
Having said that, you may be able to use your funding for support workers to help you in the garden so you can grow as much of your own fresh produce as possible. It means you’d use your own money to buy seeds or seedlings, fruit trees or raised garden beds and then use your funding for a support worker to support you to maintain your garden with watering, pruning fruit trees and harvesting the fruits (and vegetables!) of your labour.
Meal kits for the kitchen
You might wish to use your own money to order meal delivery kits and then use your NDIS funding for a support worker to help you cook, plate up and serve the meal (and to help with the clean up afterwards or with cleaning as you go).
Are you ready for ready meals?
There may also be times where you can’t do the cooking and you need to organise a delivery of ready meals.
If you have meal preparation supports included in your NDIS plan, you have the flexibility to decide which provider supports you to prepare your meals. This support comes from your Core Supports budget and is flexible. It also means if you have a temporary change of circumstances, you can change to meal preparation and delivery without changing your NDIS plan.
Some meal delivery providers will itemise the cost of ingredients, so you pay that cost directly from your own pocket. For example, some divide the cost of their meals into the NDIS rebate portion (meal preparation and delivery) and a participant co-payment (which is the cost of ingredients). You pay the co-payment separately, using a debit or credit card.
Is every NDIS participant eligible for these supports?
Some people who are already receiving funding for Core Supports (Daily Activities) in a Supported Independent Living (SIL) or short or medium term accommodation (respite) setting may not be eligible for meal delivery unless their regular support team is unable to support with meal preparation, for example due to sickness.
People who are struggling to understand or maintain a healthy, nutritious eating plan, may be able to access NDIS funding to engage a dietician to design a delicious meal plan to support them.
What about other forms of nutrition?
If you require nutritional support like Home Enteral Feeding (sometimes provided by a nasogastric tube or NGT, or directly into your stomach via a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy or PEG), you may be eligible for disability-related nutrition supports.
These could include:
However you get your nutrition, there’s lots of support available. The NDIS website offers information, and you can talk to My Plan Manager at any time to find out what your options may be – we’re here to help.
Bon appétit!
