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DinnerTime Rewards Partners

Introducing…DinnerTime Rewards

Partner with DinnerTime

Employers, health plans, healthcare providers, clinicians, public health professionals and others now have an exciting new opportunity to significantly impact the health and well-being of the people they serve, reducing costs and improving health and productivity.

For more than a decade, DinnerTime has pioneered the field of highly personalized digital meal planning and sale-smart, health-smart grocery shopping, working at the intersection of health, nutrition, grocery, and wellness. While the company’s core DinnerTime.com service is consumer-facing and available as a consumer subscription, the primary business model has been B2B2C with partners who recognized the value of healthier nutrition and more meals-made-at-home through shopping at their local grocery store.

Employers and health plans have provided DinnerTime’s healthy meal planning and grocery shopping service to their employees and plan members, while grocers and food companies have contributed to making shopping for meals-made-at home as easy and delicious as possible with DinnerTime’s powerful AI capabilities.

And now DinnerTime, in partnership with Instacart Health, is introducing an exciting new “Food as Medicine” program, DinnerTime Rewards, which builds healthy meal planning habits and improved nutritional choices, promoting sustained long term weight loss and positively impacting chronic health issues and costs. 

DinnerTime Rewards program members who commit to 16 weeks of dedicated healthy meal planning earn $25 per week of free healthy groceries redeemable through Instacart delivery or store pickup. Each week that the member generates a meal plan with DinnerTime and sends their list to Instacart they are rewarded with $25 per week of eligible groceries, including produce, poultry, fish, and legumes.

Personalized Meal Planning + $25/week of Free Groceries + Nutrition Education.

In addition to healthy meal planning and weekly healthy grocery rewards, Rewards members are supported with a 20-chapter interactive healthy eating and nutrition course developed with insights from The National Institutes of Health, The American Heart Association, The Food is Medicine Institute at The Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Stanford, University of California San Francisco, University of North Carolina, Rockefeller Foundation,  American College of Lifestyle Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, and other leading global research institutions,  as well as practical insights on healthy and mindful eating, grocery shopping, food prep and storage, cooking techniques, and more. DinnerTime’s nutritionist support staff is also available to assist any Rewards member during the program.

Eligibility for HSA/FSA

While DinnerTime Rewards is available to any consumer or patient at a cost of $400 per 16-week cycle (plus 5% card processing fee), the program is especially attractive for members with Health Savings Account (HSA) or Flexible Savings Account (FSA) who have qualifying health conditions, such as:

Through an automated consultation with our partners at Flex, medically qualified HSA/FSA  members receive a Letter of Medical Necessity (required annually @ $20) enabling them to use pre-tax HSA/FSA funds to purchase the DinnerTime Rewards program, tailored to their specific health concerns.

Members Get $400 in Groceries While Building Healthy Habits!

▪         Commitment is rewarded financially, emotionally, and by improved health  

Members have the option to rollover to additional 16-week commitments, continuing the tax advantaged Rewards program, or may elect to simply continue using DinnerTime without the Rewards component. A member can also choose the annual program for $1,200 (plus 5% card processing fee), which provides a bonus 4 weeks of free groceries, adding even more savings beyond the tax-advantaged savings. Total free groceries = $1300 in this annual program, using pre-tax funds.

Food as Medicine

▪         Unhealthy eating is the #1 driver of death and disability,  chronic disease and rising healthcare costs

Poor nutrition and unhealthy eating habits are the #1 driver of chronic disease, the leading cause of death and disability in the United States. Unhealthy eating habits are the # 1 cause of rising healthcare costs, responsible for over $1.1 trillion in health and lost productivity costs. Seventy percent of Americans are overweight or obese, 6 in 10 adults already have chronic health disease, 4 in 10 have two or more chronic diseases. Children are alarmingly overweight and obese at earlier ages as well, with 25% of teens already with pre-diabetes.

▪.        GLP-1s and other pharmaceuticals are not a sufficient answer

Many Americans have turned to pharmaceutical interventions to help with weight loss, particularly new innovations such as GLP-1 agonists which have proven to be effective in reducing risks for diabetes and heart disease in obese patients.  Indeed, 13% of Americans have tried GLP-1’s and 50% are considering. And more than 70% are theoretically in need of an intervention of some kind to reduce their risk of chronic disease.

However, these very expensive pharmaceutical interventions have significant side effects, including bone loss, and do not appear to result in sustained weight loss once the treatment ends. Indeed, like restricted dieting, a yo-yo effect is observed, with most weight regained after 6-12 months. This is especially alarming as 75% of patients end their treatment before one year.

Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University recently remarked that if every American who would be eligible for GLP-1’s were to take them, even at discounted prices, it would cost more than $600 Billion a year, or more than 6 times the cost of SNAP (food stamps) per year and would be equivalent to the entire current spend in the US on pharmaceuticals per year. As Dr. Mozaffarian observed, this is clearly impossible and would bankrupt the healthcare system.

Dr. Mozaffarian goes on to say: “I think it’s clinically inappropriate, unethical, and economic suicide to prescribe GLP-1s without a wraparound program of nutrition and lifestyle.

▪.          Americans are increasingly tuned into ‘Food as Medicine”

The  good news is that Americans are increasingly becoming aware of the importance of nutrition and healthy eating for both preventing and treating health conditions. However, they are often challenged by how to begin to change the habits of a lifetime. This uncertainty is exacerbated by the perceptions of higher costs of eating healthy, concerns about taste, or access to fresh, healthy groceries.

The DinnerTime Rewards program is designed to reduce all of these frictions, making it easy to learn new habits, and is reinforced by education and financial rewards.Rewards members learn and save while enjoying delicious, culturally relevant meals the whole family will enjoy, at a cost the family can afford. The partnership with Instacart enables deliveries to virtually all zip codes, urban and rural, making access no longer an issue.

Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that the most important lever to addressing the chronic health issues plaguing our nation is changing our nutritional habits through more intentional meal planning. 

Behavioral science supports that planned eating behavior is far better than impulse behavior, and thus building the habit of planning is essential to improving outcomes on a sustained basis. Moreover, as these habits are built and new tastes are formed, impulse choices become easier to control as well. The “default” choice becomes the healthy, delicious choice more of the time. 

Whether through medically tailored meals or produce prescriptions, recent demonstration projects in various populations have shown significant reduction in weight and related health risk, including hospital readmission. Studies have also shown that meals prepared and eaten at home are more nutritionally dense and healthier than those eaten out, even when not specifically trying to eat healthy or lose weight. Furthermore, studies have shown that compliance with dietary counsel is better and more sustained when the rest of the entire family eats the same meals together.

DinnerTime’s meal planning system personalizes meal recommendations to meet each family’s unique needs, including health concerns, food allergies, time constraints, budget, tastes, culture, cooking equipment, number of servings, and more. All with the objective of making it as easy as possible for the home cook to accomplish making delicious meals made-at-home as easily and affordably as possible. The objective is sustained lifestyle changes that the whole family enjoys, making a substantial difference in eating patterns for a lifetime.

▪        The myth that healthy meals must cost more

One of the major concerns many families have about eating healthier is that it appears to be more costly. However, the typical American diet can be vastly improved without increasing outlay, indeed often with significant cost savings. Preparing meals at home costs less than a third of a comparable meal eaten “out”. And because DinnerTime automatically uses on-sale ingredients of the store chosen by the member (weekly sales are tracked at 85,000 stores nationwide), healthy meals are recommended that would usually cost substantially more.

The typical family of four actively using DinnerTime saves well more than $1000 per year, indeed some families report saving 40% on their family food budget. For instance, salmon plus two fresh sides can cost less than $5 per serving or bell pepper ‘nachos’ less than $3 per serving, both delicious and excellent for members with health concerns such as diabetes or heart disease. With more than 20 million potential meal combinations, DinnerTime can delight any family. 

And now, DinnerTime Rewards can save HSA and FSA members even more on their family food budgets, while learning to eat healthier.  

Members can even use SNAP eligible foods as part of the meal planning process to achieve extremely low cost per serving and DinnerTime’s partner Instacart accepts SNAP benefits as well.

▪ “Food deserts” and “food swamps” are now addressable too 

With over 70% of American adults and 35% of children overweight or obese, chronic healthcare costs continue to rise in this country. The issue is even more acute in underserved populations, whether urban or rural, where healthy food access and poverty make healthy eating much more difficult. Where there is no viable full line grocer within easy access (“food desert”) or where there are plenty of fast-food choices, but no heathy ones (“food swamps”), until recently healthy food access seemed to be an impenetrable problem.

However, with Instacart now delivering to nearly every zip code in the United States, reaching more than 99%, the access challenge to healthy groceries is no longer insurmountable.  

Moreover, both DinnerTime and Instacart Health committed to The White House Challenge to End Hunger and Build Healthy Communities (now known as CDC Foundation’s Hunger, Nutrition, & Health Action Collaborative) to reach Medicaid and SNAP eligible families. Instacart committed to online SNAP acceptance and is committed to provide free delivery to families in certain zip codes with minimum order sizes driven by DinnerTime. 

As a mission-driven company, DinnerTime is committed to providing its automated meal planning services through local partners free to Medicaid eligible families and to include SNAP in its planning algorithm when appropriate.  

These efforts collectively support the objective to make it as easy and affordable as possible for families of any income level to enjoy delicious meals together more often as a family. Research shows that more meals shared together as a family promote improved children’s school performance, higher self-esteem, and substance abuse avoidance, as well as an improved sense of work-life balance among parents. DinnerTime is committed to reaching every family with these tools to improve their health and wellbeing. 

We’d love to partner with you to reach and support as many people as possible.

Reach us at partner@DinnerTime.com

For consumers Learn More

Real User Stories

My mother lives with us and has type 2 diabetes and I had been recently diagnosed as pre diabetic. My husband and I both work hard to keep our two daughters healthy and happy, but money isn’t easy. This is a life-saver, both for healthy eating and for money saving. We love it and my daughters are even helping in the kitchen with their abuela !

– Sofia M (nurse)

“I have 2 little ones under 3 and I am a Type II diabetic, DinnerTime makes planning healthy and delicious meals fun!” 

– Lavada H (Blue Cross Blue Shield Member)

“My husband has high blood pressure and high cholesterol and I have struggled with weight loss too. Yo-Yo dieting just doesn’t work!  So, building healthy habits for a lifetime is a godsend for us. And my teenage daughter is even pitching in and learning with us!” 

-Jamella M (Blue Cross Blue Shield Member)

“I was diagnosed with high blood pressure this past  year.  Through my doctors office I have been seeing a certified nutritionist to help me on my journey to healthier life choices.  At my last appointment I showed her the DinnerTime website, we went through my profile and chose the best  options for myself and my family. She was very impressed and happy with the meal suggestions that DinnerTime offered for my profile. My family loves the meals!”

-Kirsten E (School Teacher)

“I am saving so much time in the grocery store and MONEY!!!!  I feel so much more relaxed about the week knowing that every night of the week I have a dinner plan and the food to cook it without having to make a run to the store for something. Thank you for helping me and my children!”

 -Yasmin K (Medicaid Program)

“I was diagnosed with hypertension and pre-diabetes, medically ‘obese’, so my doctor put me on a GLP-1 and recommended DinnerTime to help me eat healthier in a sustained way. I’ve lost 50 lbs and it’s staying off after stopping the medication. My blood pressure is down and A1Cs now normal! Best part is that my whole family is eating healthier now.”   

-Tom H (Manufacturing Employee)

“In addition to eating healthy but delicious meals, the savings are really amazing. I did an analysis of my family food budget and we’re saving close to 40% year over year by planning more meals made at home with on-sale ingredients instead of getting takeout or eating out. The new Rewards program will enable us to save even more on groceries using pre-tax dollars. Great idea!” 

– John S (Financial Services Employee)

 

About DinnerTime                                

Founded in 2010, DinnerTime is the leading meal planning and sale-smart grocery shopping technology company, serving members nationwide through B2B2C partnerships with employers, health plans, trade associations, health providers, grocers, and others. Combining artificial intelligence, nutritional science, and behavioral science, DinnerTime’s powerful personalization engine delivers an unparalleled consumer experience and proven benefits to sponsor partners. DinnerTime includes weekly sales at more than 85,000 grocery stores and has more than 20 million potential meal combinations with thousands of kitchen-tested, shoppable recipes to deliciously address every need, taste, and budget. 

  

About Instacart                             pastedGraphic.png 

Instacart, the leading grocery technology company in North America, works with grocers and retailers to transform how people shop. The company partners with more than 900 national, regional, and local retail brands to facilitate online shopping, delivery and pickup services from more than 75,000 stores across more than 13,000 cities in North America on the Instacart Marketplace. Instacart makes it possible for millions of busy people and families to get the groceries they need from the retailers they love, and for more than 600,000 Instacart shoppers to earn by picking, packing and delivering orders for customers on their own flexible schedule. Launched in 2022, Instacart Health is a new initiative focused on improving nutrition security, making healthy choices easier, and expanding the role of food in improving health outcomes.  

 

See how DinnerTime works!