Life situation

Updated 3 March 2026

NDIS and grocery planning: what your plan can cover

How NDIS participants can use their plan for meal planning support, what is covered, and how to keep grocery costs down.

What your NDIS plan can cover

Most NDIS plans include funding for "Assistance with Daily Life" or "Increased Social and Community Participation." These categories can cover a support worker who helps you:

• Plan your meals for the week
• Write a shopping list
• Go to the supermarket with you
• Help you cook meals at home
• Teach you cooking skills over time

If you don't currently have meal support in your plan, you can ask your support coordinator to include it at your next plan review. Mention that it helps you participate in community (shopping independently), manage your health (eating well), and build life skills (cooking).

What your NDIS plan cannot cover

Your NDIS plan does not fund the cost of groceries themselves. Eating is considered a basic living expense that comes from your personal budget (Disability Support Pension, earnings, or other income).

If you're on the Disability Support Pension, you're receiving about $1,020 per fortnight. Groceries need to fit within that.

Making the most of support worker time

Support worker time is valuable and costs money from your plan. You can stretch it further by preparing before they arrive:

• Do your meal planning yourself (or with a free app like Pinch) before the support worker arrives
• Use their time for the shopping trip and cooking, not the planning stage
• Batch cook meals together: in one 2-3 hour session, prepare 4-5 meals, then freeze them for the week
• Have your shopping list written out before you leave home

This way, you build independence while getting expert help with the parts that matter most.

Realistic grocery budgets for NDIS participants

On a tight budget, aim for $60-90 per week for groceries. That's about $8-13 per day. Here's what works:

• Buy staples at ALDI: rice, pasta, tinned tomatoes, lentils, flour, oil
• Choose frozen and tinned vegetables over fresh: they last longer, reduce food waste, and cost less
• Buy bulk proteins (chicken thighs, mince, eggs) when they're on sale and freeze
• Make your own bread if you have support worker help with baking

A typical week might look like: pasta with lentil bolognese, stir-fry with frozen vegetables and rice, curry with tinned chickpeas, omelettes with spinach, slow cooker stew.

Meal delivery services vs cooking support

Some NDIS plans cover ready-made meal delivery services for people who can't cook independently. These cost $8-15 per meal, which adds up to $200+ per week.

Home-cooked meals with support worker help cost about $2-4 per meal (because you're buying raw ingredients). Over a week, that's $40-70 for groceries, plus your support worker's hourly rate for 2-3 hours of cooking time.

Most people find cooking with support is more affordable long-term and builds more independence than meal delivery.

Tools that build independence

You can reduce the amount of support worker time you need by using free price-tracking tools. Before you go shopping, use Pinch to see which supermarket has the best prices on your regular items. This way, your support worker isn't spending time comparing prices in store, or you can decide on your own which store to visit first.

Small time savings add up, especially if your support worker is paid hourly from your NDIS budget.

How to add meal support to your plan

At your next NDIS plan review, mention meal support as part of your goals. Frame it around:

• Participating in community activities (shopping independently)
• Building life skills (cooking, budgeting)
• Managing your health (nutrition, reducing food waste)

Your support coordinator can add "meal planning and cooking assistance" as a line item in your plan. Give it a budget based on how often you want help, for example:

• 2 hours per week: about $2,000-2,400 per year (depending on your state and worker rates)
• 1 hour per week: about $1,000-1,200 per year