Busy lives often translate to feeding your family frozen dinners and highly-processed foods. That's exactly what Laurel Dunwoody wants to combat.
Dunwoody's new business, Love2Nourish, offers meal preparation and nutrition counseling services to help keep busy people healthy in the Jefferson City Area.
"People are working to get healthier, but the food is often what holds them up," Dunwoody said.
Dunwoody is a certified personal chef who has operated her own catering business for more than 15 years. She has worked previously at Capitol City CORK and Provisions and The Grand Cafe in downtown Jefferson City, as well as The Tiger Hotel in Columbia - she even won the judges' choice award in the first year of Jefferson City's SoupStock competition.
Her business partner, Nicci Howard, is a certified sports nutritionist and also owns HeartStrong Fitness on Industrial Drive. Howard will help customers select meals based on their own health and fitness goals for themselves and their families. A registered dietician also helps Dunwoody plan each meal.
Love2Nourish, located at 712 Jefferson St., specializes in preparing and delivering healthy meals for customers to reheat and enjoy on a weekly basis.
"It will be cooked, prepared - all they have to do is order a week at a time," Dunwoody said.
Customers order their week's meals online by Tuesday, and their meals are delivered to their homes the following Sunday. Dunwoody leaves specific reheating instructions for each meal, so they can be consumed throughout the week - "as long as you can use a microwave," she said.
Meal plans can be made specifically for customers' nutritional goals, whether those have to do with losing weight, gaining weight, eating within a certain diet or simply eating to feel healthier.
Meals come with calorie counts, and Love2Nourish can tailor meals to gluten-free, low-sodium and low-carb specifications.
Plus, customers can expect all meals to be made using fresh ingredients and without processed foods.
"It's not just for fitness, but for healthy eating," Howard said, offering as an example her own busy life as a mother and working professional. "On soccer practice nights, it would be so nice to have a meal prepared."
A sample menu offers dinner options including shredded pork tacos with guacamole and grilled pineapple salsa, pan-roasted tilapia with Mediterranean tomato sauce and roasted vegetables, and spanikopita burger with roasted sweet potato fries, as well as lunch options like a turkey, corn and sun-dried tomato wrap; a Tex-Mex black bean quinoa bowl; and chicken blueberry corn salad with feta.
Dunwoody plans to add healthy, protein-rich breakfast options soon.
One-serving meal prices will range between $6.50-$10, Dunwoody said, and all orders and payments will be handled through the Love2Nourish website, love2nourish.com.
Love2Nourish will open for business in early October.
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