This Just In
First, thank you all for your patience as we made more meals. The initial response was so overwhelming, and shows what a need there is in our tube-fed community for easy access to real food.
The meals are being produced on May 20th and will start to ship later that week. All backorders will be fulfilled first! If you want to receive your meals this month, please order now as any order placed after May 15th will not ship until early June. (This is because the long-distance carriers that are moving our meals from the manufacturer to the fulfillment center needs time to travel!)
Save on shipping
Because you have all been so patient with us, we’re extending the $9.95 flat rate shipping on all backorders. If you order before May 15th, your entire order will ship for only $9.95. Our meals are shelf-stable for 3 years, so stock up!(There is no limit on how much you can order this time!)
Changes
Although the response to our meals was overwhelmingly positive, we did alter the quinoa version s
lightly to make the blend a little thinner. The chicken blend has a slight change to the nutrition profile from the first batch as well due to sourcing a different cut of chicken (to help avoid any particulant matter that could clog a tube.) Salmon meals have remained unchanged.
You will notice that the meals will not have the outer box / carton. We wanted to cut down on our carbon footprint and shipping weights, so all the information is printed directly on the pouches.
Insurance Update
I know many of you are eager to have insurance billed for these meals. Please know we are working on it and dedicating every free moment to establishing the necessary relationships with DMEs and distributors that supply hospitals, institutions and DMEs with enteral nutrition. These talks are going very well, but take time. For more information about getting insurance coverage and reimbursement, click here. Make sure you are signed up for our emails in order to be notified as we start to partner with DMEs to bill your insurer directly.
So much of our early success is due to our customers sharing our meals with other caregivers, tube-fed people and their medical teams. Although real food as an option for tube-feeding is growing in popularity, we still need your help getting the word out that real food is a viable option for many on tubes, and that our meals can make it easier than every before.
Blenderized Recipes for Feeding Tubes
Real Food Blends offers 6 different meals that have a wide variety of whole food ingredients. However, if you are looking to add even more variety, you can do so by checking out our Recipe Book, which includes recipes featuring each of our meals.
Our Recipe Book also includes some easy add-ins for extra calories and sources of calcium. We are always here to support blending at home and we hope these recipes can help you do that.
If you’re new to Real Food Blends and are looking to try our meals for the first time, our Trial Pack is a great place to start! Have questions? Feel free to reach out to us by email or by calling 888-484-9495.
To Your Taste
Pizza & beer anyone?
Our customers have surprised us with their ingenuity and lengths they will go to for real food. (Coming from a mom that lugged a Vitamix on a plane with two kids, a double stroller and two carseats, this is really saying something!)
We’ve received so much positive feedback to our meals, right out of the pouch. That easy access to real food was my ultimate goal of starting Real Food Blends. One of the coolest parts of this feedback, to me, has been how some of you are customizing your meals to fit your needs. Quinoa meal too thick? Adding some almond milk helps it flows through the pump. Salmon too thin? Blended up (in a regular ol’ blender) with a banana and voila – thicker blend to help with reflux. Some are adding oil to bump the calories, mixing with formula to trial real foods, or adding ½ cup kefir to make a larger serving.
My goal with Real Food Blends was never to create a one-size-fits all formula. I knew every meal wouldn’t be perfect for everyone as is, and that’s okay. (Can you imagine if a restaurant didn’t offer condiments or cooked their eggs only one way??) This is your body. These are your meals. Personalize. Customize. Feed it all, feed a little, mix with formula, strain for a pump, use as a base for other blends, whatever works for you or your tubie.
Another goal of mine was to de-medicalize the process of tube-feeding. Instead of a ‘feed’, have a meal! Every single caregiver we surveyed that normally feeds a formula diet said they ‘felt better about’ feeding a Real Food Blend meal. A psychological lift along with 100% real food? What could be better?! I know I instantly felt more like AJ’s mom, and less like a nurse, once I started making food for him. I’m happy to be able to pass on some of those good vibes!
Along these same lines, Marsha Dunn Klein, the author of the “Homemade Blended Diet Formula Handbook” and an advisor to Real Food Blends, tells a fantastic story about a family whose father had a tube and he really hated it. He was a real “man’s man” / salt-of-the-earth type. Marsha asked him if he would feel better if the family blended up pizza and a beer? He thought about it for a minute and replied, emphatically, YES! So the family did. The dad had pizza and a beer and felt a little more normal. (Not that we’re advocating blending alcohol, but you get the point.)
If we help one family feel a little better about having the tube, or one tubie feel a little more included in a family meal-time, we consider that a major win.
(This is not medical advice. Always consult with your medical team before making any changes to a tube-fed person’s diet.)
(Almost) Sold Out
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Our Chief Inspiration Officer is not happy about selling out either. Photo: Euphoria Photography
2/27/14 Update: We are completely sold out now. Please stay tuned here (you can sign up for emails here) and on Facebook for our updates. You can still reserve your meals now to have the fastest access. Thank you for understanding.
If you’ve tried to place an order for our salmon meals or sample pack, you will notice they are backordered and will not ship until May! We have officially sold out of the salmon cases and sample packs; inventory levels are VERY low on the quinoa and chicken meals. If you want them in the next 10-12 weeks, I encourage you to buy now.
Our community has spoken loud and clear that people with feeding tubes deserve real food. I’m so excited to see how our feeding tube community, medical professionals and nutritionists have embraced Real Food Blends. We are heading back into production in April and will be producing a much larger amount of meals, now that we know you all want them!
As the CEO of Real Food Blends, selling out makes me happy for the business. As a mom of a tube-fed kid, I know how disheartening it can be to not have easy access to real food. Please know we’re doing everything we can to get these meals out quickly. In the meantime, we will be working on making the insurance process easier for our customers, having our meals available at hospitals, and adding new meals / products to make life with a feeding tube a little easier.
You will be able to reserve cases of Real Food Blends meals now for shipment in May with the same promotional $8 flat rate shipping. This will guarantee that you will get the meals as soon as possible.
Thank you again for your support and patience.
Julie
Insurance Update
We are pleased to announce that Real Food Blends™ products have been approved by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) for code B4149. The code B4149 applies to enteral formula, manufactured blenderized natural foods with intact nutrients, includes proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, may include fiber, administered through an enteral feeding tube, 100 calories = 1 unit.
So what does this mean to you?
Having a HCPCS code does not imply automatic reimbursement but it does indicate recognition of the product as appropriate for consideration for reimbursement in the tube feeding category. This is a first step toward gaining other insurance coverage for our meals, which we know is so important to many tube-fed people. This HCPCS code is used by hospitals, long term care institutions, and home care businesses for medical reimbursement requests. Other payer sources may look to the HCPCS coding as a “stamp of approval.” While the code itself does not guarantee payment, it hopefully makes it easier to gain consideration We are continuing to seek additional agency approvals to help facilitate other providers consideration for reimbursement coverage. Stay tuned here for more updates on insurance coverage & reimbursement.
When seeking reimbursement be sure to work with your provider representative to understand your eligibility and required documentation. See our reimbursement page for hints and tips regarding insurance and reimbursement.
