Silver Cuisine Review 2023: Can It Improve Your Golden Years?

Silver Cuisine Overview

Silver Cuisine is BistroMD’s line of chef-prepared meals designed to meet the nutritional needs of 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. 

My verdict: Silver Cuisine is a fantastic choice 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. 

Oh, and did I mention our special Silver Cuisine discounts?

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

Pros

• Diverse range of flavors and cuisines

• Wide range of diets for various needs

• Nutritionally balanced and filling meals

• Current deal – Free shipping on orders $99 or more

Cons

• No ability to swap or customize ingredients

• Shipping is expensive

• No contracts mean it’s easy to forget your re-ordering date

Silver Cuisine Is Best For

• Seniors and caregivers looking for a complete meal solution

• Seniors who find shopping and cooking physically challenging

• Seniors with health-related diet issues

Silver Cuisine May Not Be Great For

• Seniors who enjoy preparing their own meals

• Seniors feeding a household

• Vegan and vegetarian seniors

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. 

But with a rotating menu of over 150 choices, you should have little trouble finding entrees that suit you. And in addition to lunch/dinner entrees, Silver Cuisine also offers breakfast meals and snacks. 

Silver Cuisine offers Heart-Healthy, Gluten-Free, Diabetic-Friendly, Low Sodium, Low Carb, Menopause, Dairy-Free, Vegetarian and Mediterranean menus. (Its Vegetarian menu is actually pescatarian as it includes fish and seafood). 

Silver Cuisine Unboxing

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.

All Silver Cuisine meals are prepared fresh and then flash frozen. Meals will stay fresh in your freezer for up to one 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. 

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 six 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

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

Suitable for: Gluten-Free, Diabetic-Friendly, Heart-Healthy, Low Sodium, Menopause

Best Vegetarian Entree: Eggplant Lasagna Casserole

While Silver Cuisine isn’t a good choice for strict vegans, 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. 

Suitable for: Gluten-Free, Diabetic-Friendly, Low Sodium, Menopause

Best Burgers: California-Style Beef Sliders

Silver Cuisine’s California-Style Beef Sliders are a healthier take on the classic burger and fries. These cheesy sliders are supplemented with protein-rich and fat-free quinoa, while avocado provides healthy fats and sweet potatoes replace carb-heavy French Fries. It’s a tasty treat that comes in at 400 calories with just 410mg sodium and 27g of carbs.

Suitable for: Gluten-Free, Diabetic-Friendly, Low Sodium, Menopause

Best Splurge: Grilled Salmon with Champagne Sauce

For those special occasions, Silver Cuisine offers a 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 180mg sodium and just 3.5g of saturated fat.  

Suitable for: Gluten-Free, Diabetic-Friendly, Heart-Healthy, Low Sodium, Menopause

Best Dessert: Strawberries and Cream Cheesecake 

This cheesecake has the tangy-sweet goodness and mouth feel you love, but with less harmful fat and sugar. Silver Cuisine uses crushed strawberries and an almond-oat crust to make this dessert a tasty treat with just 8g of sugar, 9g of fat, and 180 calories in a serving. You can avoid added sugar without giving up taste. 

Suitable for: Diabetic-Friendly, Low Sodium, Menopause

Silver Cuisine 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. 

Silver Cuisine Subscription

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

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 our detailed BistroMD review

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. 

Customer Service

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! 

In addition to its webform, 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.

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 need you to subscribe, you won't have any problems cancelling. Silver Cuisine will refund for mistakes or errors, but you'll need to file a refund claim with FedEx for delivery-related issues.  

Prices

While a few breakfast entrees start at $6.49, most Silver Cuisine lunch and dinner entrees range between $8.99 and $11.99, with a few entrees coming in at a higher price. This is a typical price for prepared meals through a meal delivery service. 

Silver Cuisine’s $19.95 shipping fee is steep, but you can save money with our current Silver Cuisine discount: Free shipping on orders $99 or more.

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.

A senior living with medical issues can avoid complications with Silver Cuisine’s Heart-Healthy and Diabetic-Friendly plans. 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 $15.99).

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.