Silver Cuisine Review 2024: Great Senior Meals

Overview

Silver Cuisine is BistroMD’s line of chef-prepared meals for seniors and adults over 50. A senior-focused meal delivery service can be a great help to older adults, but is Silver Cuisine right for you?

As somebody old enough for an AARP card, I have a personal interest in this question. And so I’ve taken extra care when researching this article to see if Silver Cuisine is a good fit for seniors who want to eat better.

Silver Cuisine is great for older adults, especially those with medical dietary needs. Regular deliveries of chef-prepared and flash-frozen meals you simply heat and eat can be a great help for seniors and caregivers. And you can save money by taking advantage of our special Silver Cuisine discounts.

Read on and find out what Silver Cuisine can do for you.

What’s on the Silver Cuisine Menu

Silver Cuisine meals are prepared by chefs and designed by doctors. For example, the Silver Menopause diet focuses on lean protein and reduced carbs to help keep hormone levels stable. This planning ensures nutritional balance but leaves customers with little option to customize or swap out individual entrees.

With a rotating menu of over 150 choices, you should have little trouble finding entrees you like. In addition to lunch/dinner entrees, Silver Cuisine also offers breakfast meals and snacks.

Meal Options

If you thought specialized diets had to be bland and boring, SIlver Cuisine will surprise you. Its lineup includes sophisticated meals suited for special occasions as well as traditional favorites. Silver Cuisine’s meals are lower in calories than many prepared meal services, but they’re designed by nutritionists to be filling and nutritionally complete.

You can also supplement your meal plan with Silver Cuisine’s Essential and Tasty Snacks (EATS). These desserts are designed to be high in fiber and protein and lower in sugar, so they keep you full between meals.

Customization

Silver Cuisine offers 9 specialized diet menus:

• Heart Healthy

• Gluten Free

• Diabetic

• Low Sodium

• Low Carb

• Menopause

• Dairy Free

• Mediterranean

• Vegetarian

Each meal has a number of icons in the corner that represent menus. The Bacon and Egg Scramble can be found on the Gluten Free, Low Sodium, Diabetic Friendly, Menopause, and Heart Healthy menus. It’s also on the Low Carb menu, but for some reason, you have to sort for Low Carb entrees with filters rather than icons.

The Vegetarian menu is actually pescatarian, as it includes meals with fish and seafood. There’s a selection of vegan lunches and dinners available, but no vegan breakfasts. Seniors who are looking for a plant-based meal plan should check out our list of the best vegan meal delivery services.

Because Silver Cuisine offers prepared meals, you can’t swap ingredients. Each menu item lists all ingredients and offers warnings for common allergens like eggs, milk, and tree nuts. But there are no filters that’ll let you eliminate meals containing allergens, so you’ll have to check each meal yourself if you have allergies or sensitivities.

Unboxing

All Silver Cuisine meals are prepared fresh and then flash frozen. Meals will stay fresh in your freezer for up to 1 year.  And if you see a BistroMD box on your front porch, don’t panic! Silver Cuisine is part of BistroMD and uses BistroMD-labeled boxes and packaging.

Silver Cuisine sends out its meals in insulated coolers with dry ice to keep them frozen on their way to your home. The coolers are made using 60%+ recycled foam products, and the boxes are made from 100% recycled paper and printed using vegetable-based ink.

Cooking with Silver Cuisine

Since Silver Cuisine meals arrive fully cooked, you simply reheat them and eat. It really doesn’t get any easier. When using a microwave, your meal will be ready in 6 minutes or less. If you’re heating in a conventional oven, you should heat entrees to an internal temperature of 165°F.

Silver Cuisine recommends placing the next day’s meals in the refrigerator the night before. This leads to more even heating in the microwave or oven. Containers are oven-safe up to 400°F, but be sure to remove the plastic covering first!

Shortlist of My Favorite Silver Cuisine Meals

Here are a few Silver Cuisine meals that jumped out at me. These will give you a good idea of what Silver Cuisine has to offer seniors looking for healthy and convenient meals. 

Best Breakfast: Canadian Bacon and Swiss Omelet

Silver Cuisine offers several unique breakfast options. This omelet is made with egg whites and uncured ham, so it’s lower in cholesterol and sodium. It combines tasty Canadian bacon and Swiss cheese with a side dollop of stewed apples, cranberries, and walnuts. And with 22 grams of protein, this breakfast will stick with you until lunchtime despite having only 240 calories.

Best Vegetarian Entree: Eggplant Lasagna Casserole

Silver Cuisine isn’t a good choice for strict vegans, but it offers some tasty and healthy vegetarian dishes. This casserole layers eggplant with ricotta, parmesan, and mozzarella cheese and adds a side of vitamin and fiber-rich broccoli. With 260 calories and just 22g of carbs, this is an indulgence that won’t hurt your waistline. 

Best Splurge: Grilled Salmon with Champagne Sauce

Silver Cuisine has options for special occasions as well, such as this perfectly grilled salmon filet in a light champagne and tarragon sauce. The salmon is filled with healthy omega-3 fatty acids that help fight dementia, depression, and heart disease, and the whole meal comes in at just 400 calories with 180 mg sodium and just 3.5 g of saturated fat.  

Recipes Summary

Prices

While a few breakfast entrees start at $6.49 per serving, most lunch and dinner entrees range between $9.99 and $11.99, with a few entrees coming in at a higher price. (For example, the Salmon with Champagne Sauce pictured above costs $16.99). There’s no extra charge for meals on the specialized diet plans.

This is a typical price for prepared meals through a meal delivery service. But if you’re ordering 3 meals a day plus snacks, the cost can add up. To soften the blow a bit, we have a special Delivery Rank discount – Free shipping on orders $99 or more.

There is no minimum Silver Cuisine order, but orders under $99 incur a hefty $19.95 shipping charge. AARP Members save 25% and get free shipping on their first order of $99 or more and 10% on subsequent orders.

Shipping & Delivery

Silver Cuisine ships to the continental United States using FedEx ground. All shipments come out of BistroMD’s frozen distribution center on Mondays through Wednesdays. Transportation time depends on your location, but most orders will arrive within 2-5 business days. 

How Silver Cuisine Works

Silver Cuisine comes with no commitments, and you don’t need to worry that your one-time order will turn into a recurring charge. But that freedom comes at a cost, as setting up weekly Silver Cuisine deliveries can be challenging. 

How to Sign Up

Here’s how you place an order with Silver Cuisine. 

1. Create an Account

You provide your name, email address, phone number, billing and shipping addresses, and a password that lets you access your account. 

2. Choose Your Meals

Choose the breakfasts, main entrees and snacks you want. 

3. Check Out

Make sure you enter your AARP membership ID and any available promo codes before you click the orange Checkout button.

4. Enter your Payment Information

5. Confirm Order

Click the Confirm Checkout button and your order will be on its way soon.

Managing Your Subscription

Because Silver Cuisine doesn’t offer subscriptions, you’ll have to place a new order each week and pay with a one-time charge rather than a recurring payment. This gives you flexibility but can lead to complications if you forget to place your order on time.

If you want to set up a recurring order of your favorite Silver Cuisine meals, you have to contact Silver Cuisine by phone at 844-404-FOOD (3663) or through their contact form.

If you want a weekly menu with different choices, you need to contact BistroMD, Silver Cuisine’s parent company. My colleague goes through the process of subscribing to BistroMD in this detailed BistroMD review.

Customer Service

I was impressed with Silver Cuisine's customer support. Namely, I was confused about Silver Cuisine’s subscription (or, more precisely, its lack of a subscription plan), so I reached out using its webform and got the fastest response I’ve yet received in my meal delivery service career!

Silver Cuisine can also be reached by phone at 844-404-FOOD (3663). While the site doesn’t yet have live chat, my preferred means of communication, the lightning speed of Silver Cuisine’s email response more than makes up for it. And while it’s not as large as the FAQ sections of many other meal delivery services, Silver Cuisine’s FAQ answers many of the most common questions.

Because Silver Cuisine doesn’t have a subscription plan, there’s no need to worry about cancelation hassles. But while Silver Cuisine offers refunds for order mistakes or errors, you may have to file a refund claim with FedEx for delivery-related issues.

How Silver Cuisine Compares to Other Meal Delivery Services

• Silver Cuisine vs Factor: While Silver Cuisine offers meals tailored toward seniors with health concerns, Factor has a more generalized menu of prepared meals with a wider range of cuisines to choose from.

• Silver Cuisine vs HelloFresh: Silver Cuisine sends you prepared meals you simply heat up and eat, HelloFresh offers a wide range of meal kits that require some meal preparation on your part. 

• Silver Cuisine vs Purple Carrot: While Silver Cuisine offers a few vegetarian and vegan choices, Purple Carrot can provide vegan seniors with plant-based meal kits and prepared meals as well as vegan staples.  

The Bottom Line: Is Silver Cuisine Worth It?

While it may seem expensive, Silver Cuisine can be a great investment in your health. If you’re a senior who struggles with shopping and cooking, prepared meals from Silver Cuisine can help you age in place. If you’re a caregiver struggling to feed an older loved one, Silver Cuisine can provide tasty, nutritionally balanced food even for seniors with specialized medical needs thanks to menus like Heart Healthy and Diabetic Friendly. You can’t put a price tag on your well-being, and for seniors who need meal assistance, Silver Cuisine is worth it.

FAQ

How much does Silver Cuisine cost?

Breakfast items start at $6.49 per serving, with most entrees coming in between $8.99 and $11.99 and a few priced higher. (A splurge like grilled salmon with champagne sauce will set you back $17.99).

Will Medicare cover the costs of Silver Cuisine?

If you have a Medicare Advantage (Part C) policy, you may be able to get reimbursement for your Silver Cuisine meals. Meal delivery can be part of medical treatment for many qualifying health conditions, several of which Silver Cuisine covers.

Does Silver Cuisine offer AARP discounts?

AARP members get 25% off their first order and 10% off on subsequent orders. And if you’re not an AARP member, you can still take advantage of our current active coupon.