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help B Y C wanted
H R I S T I N E R . G O N Z A L E Z
S E E K I N G I N S P I R A T I O N F O R D E L I C I O U S M E A L S A T H O M E
At the end of a long day, dreaming up something good for dinner can zap your last ounce of energy, especially if
you neglected to stock the pantry or fridge recently.
Local chefs, eateries, and national meal delivery services are acing the job of providing dinner by whatever suits
customers best. Heat-and-eat meals can be picked up or delivered, online all-inclusive food kits can be delivered to
your door, and a personal chef can transform at-home mealtime into a delicious event.
There are a variety of options worth exploring that will plummet the grocery store rotisserie chicken to the
bottom of your go-to list.
PREPARED MEALS
One local café burgeoning with the prepared meals option is Clean Eatz.
Now a national chain with about 100 locations, the original restaurant on
Racine Drive in Wilmington was founded by bodybuilders Don and Evonne
Varady.
Each Thursday a menu is posted online for the next week’s order. There
are five dinner options and one breakfast item each week to consider. Recent
selections included Balsamic Peach Chicken, Boneless Asian Sticky Ribs, Steak
Totchos (made with sweet potato tots), Queso Beef Bowl and PB&J French
Toast. Each meal sells for approximately $7.60, with slight decreases in price
with larger orders.
Clean Eatz manager Sam Hines says the menus change every week and are
available to pick up Sunday or Monday. Each fresh meal is sealed and micro-waveable,
or easily transferred to a pan for oven or stovetop heating.
“They are completely ready to go, no prepping, no cleaning, no grocery
shopping,” Hines says. “And there is never any obligation to order each week,
you just order online when you want.”
There is a minimum of five meals required to order and increases are done
in multiples of five. The Racine Clean Eatz location offers pickup-only service
for the weekly meal plan. A delivery option is available with similar meals
through the Clean Eatz Kitchen website.
Another ready-to-go option comes from Raleigh caterers LadyFingers.
Their frozen Gourmet to Go items are sold at Blue Moon Gifts and include
three-cheese mac and cheese, casseroles, lasagna, soups, chicken enchiladas
and more. Dishes come in medium and large quantities. A lasagna to feed
2-4 people sells for about $18 and a whole pie quiche is $22. Dozens of
boutique and novelty stores sell their frozen products throughout the
Southeast, and direct buying online is also available.
Another local premade meal service with multiple Wilmington pickup loca-tions
is Green, Lean, Clean (GLC). It offers a variety of serving sizes and has just
added soups and bowls to the health-minded array of offerings.
Each GLC meal provides a lean protein, green vegetable and clean starch,
such as quinoa or red potatoes, in equal portions. The meal plans cater to a
variety of diet styles, including high protein, vegan, or vegetarian, and will work
with customers who have food allergies.
good to go
Top to bottom: Selections including Creole surf and
turf pasta (plated) and chicken lasagna are on the
meal plan menu at Clean Eatz. Frozen ready-to-go
meal options like Mediterranean skillet chicken are
available from LadyFingers at Blue Moon Gifts.
COURTESY OF LADYFINGERS AT BLUE MOON GIFTS ALLISON POTTER
60 august 2021
WBM