Our products give you the best advantages for maximizing heat retention; but, performance will always depend upon your unique circumstances and the care you take to conserve heat at every step. Was the carrier stored at room temperature or in a cooler space before loading? (While preparing the meals, you can pre-heat the carrier with a plastic jug of hot tap water.) Plastic trays can be pre-heated in a warm water bath before placing food in them. Do you use our Heat Units, Electric Bag Heaters or some other supplemental heat source during delivery? How hot was the food to begin with? How long did it sit before going out? How cold is it outside? What’s the temperature in the car, or the room where it was sitting before taking the food en route? For other heat maintenance strategies, give us a call!

For most stains, a houshold cleaner such as Lysol Basin, Tub&Tile Cleaner is adequate. It is often possible to remove more difficult stains, such as indelible marking pens, using rubbing alcohol or denatured alcohol (for your safety, this must only be done in a well ventilated area or outdoors and away from any potential source of flame or sparks). Take special care with electric models. The area around the control panel should be cleaned only with a slightly damp cloth, wrung out thoroughly. Moisture which gets trapped in electrical components may short circuitry and destroy thermostats. Denatured alcohol will also help remove grease from around the control panel on the electric models, but it may remove print from the panel. Do not use rubbing alcohol around the control panel since it contains water which may get inside and harm the electric circuitry.

Generally, no. Although our Nutri-Systems® Thermal Bags are the best on the market, no bags compete with the heat retention qualities of our own One and Two-Compartment Meal Transporters. The positive tradeoff of the Thermal Bag is its light weight and flexibility. However, our Electric Thermal Bags produce sufficient heat to maintain appropriate temps as long as the bag is plugged in.

Most likely, an insulated bag you find at a discount store is manufactured with the cheapest possible materials. While such a bag may be good for recreational purposes, it is unlikely to retain heat anywhere nearly as well as our Thermal Bags. And cheap materials don’t tend to last very long.

Please refer to the product information pages on this website for details on capacities.

Each Regular Thermal Bag includes one liner, one Bottom Tray, and one Insulated Pad/Divider. Our Electric Bags have a liner and bottom tray. If you require additional Thermal Bag accessories, they are all available separately. See our Products > Accessories page.

The Heat Units are filled with a wax-like material that absorbs heat when it melts at about 154oF. They’re placed in boiling water for about twenty minutes or until the material melts. As they cool down, the material re-solidifies giving off heat. The cooling units are similar to “Blue Ice”™ , but they are more durable for the repeated use of a daily meal delivery program, and they are designed to fit in with the meal trays.

You may order as many or as few as you like. We ship them out in boxes that hold two, four, six, ten, and twelve; but you may order just one or any other number.

Leeds Trays are made of the same high impact material as fighter jet window canopies, have a low temperature range of -40º to +260ºF, All our trays are microwave safe, freezer safe and dishwasher safe. Of course, when re-thermalizing a frozen meal, the meal should be defrosted first before heating the tray in order to prevent cracking. The defrost setting of a microwave may be safely used to speed up defrosting.

First of all, disposable trays are not cheaper. Over a two-year period, disposables can be 2.5 to 5 times more expensive than REusable Trays. Since you can re-use our trays, they’re more economical in the long run–usually paying for themselves in 6 to 9 months compared to disposable trays. You’ll also find that our three-compartment REusable trays afford a visually pleasing meal presentation. Further, unlike most aluminum trays, our trays are microwave safe. And they’re better for the environment!

We send free samples of REusable trays and soup & salad bowls to any nonprofit meal program that asks. Call for details.

No. All sales are direct from the Meals on Wheels Store. We keep your cost as low as possible by not using sales representatives or distributors. However, we do attend the Meals on Wheels Association of America (MOWAA) and National Association of Nutrition & Aging Services Programs (NANASP) conferences every year, so you can see our complete line at those shows. For links to those associations and others see our Resources > Useful Links page.

We do not require advance payment or credit references of government or non-profit meal delivery programs. We do ask that first time customers call to set up an account (1-800-332-6566). For-profit enterprises must call to make arrangements. We accept orders by e-mail, phone, fax and post. We will send you a bill at the same time we ship your order.

We ship by U.P.S. ground service to all locations in the “lower 48” United States and most locations in Canada. Nutri-Systems Meals on Wheels Store is located in Massachusetts. The closer you are to us, the sooner your shipment will arrive. Depending on where you are located, your shipment will arrive in between one and six business days unless we are out of stock of something you ordered. Shipments to Alaska and Hawaii are sent by US Postal Service. Next day and second day air service are available to most locations on request, but this can be costly.

Unless you are a for-profit organization in Massachusetts, we don’t charge tax. We do pass UPS charges along to the customer, which are calculated according to package weight and the customer’s zip code. Some states may require you to pay taxes on mail order products. Check local sources for such information.

All Transporters, Thermal Bags, Reusable Trays and Electric Bag Heaters are warranted for materials and workmanship for one year. Defective items will be repaired or replaced. Return shipping is customer responsibility.

Any item that is unused and in re-saleable condition may be returned within 30 days for a refund or exchange/credit. Shipping is customer responsibility.

Between 30 days and 6 months, any unused item in re-saleable condition may be returned for store credit only. Shipping is customer responsibility.

No returns accepted after 6 months.