Charlotte boasts a vibrant culinary scene with numerous options for those seeking convenient and healthy meal solutions. Whether you're a busy professional, a health-conscious individual, or simply looking to save time on meal preparation, Charlotte's meal prep services and restaurants offer a variety of choices to meet your needs. This article explores the offerings of Get Fit Foods in Ballantyne, along with other meal prep services and restaurants in the Charlotte area that provide nutritious and convenient options.
Meal Prep Services in Charlotte: An Overview
To reduce the amount of money spent on eating out and the time spent meal prepping, several local meal prep options were tried, including Get Fit Foods, Nourish, The Good Kitchen, Project Lean Nation, and The Green Bunny. While each had something different to offer, they all made eating at home more frequent, reduced stress about cooking, and ultimately saved money.
Get Fit Foods: A Detailed Look
Get Fit Foods (GFF) has multiple locations in Charlotte, including one in Ballantyne Village Way, making it a convenient option for picking up pre-prepared meals. David Yermanos, the co-founder of Get Fit Foods, first opened the Ballantyne location in 2017 and then expanded to other local shops. The store offers easy, grab-and-go, individually portioned healthy food that’s affordable and surprisingly indulgent. With more than 45 meal options ready to reheat in the microwave or oven, GFF provides a wide variety of choices for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Popular Items:
- BBQ beef with mac and cheese
- Korean Connection (their take on Korean BBQ)
- Various salmon recipes
Pricing: Meals are priced a la carte, or through 3-day or 5-day plans.
- A la carte: $7-$9 per meal
- 3-day plan: $60 (small meals) / $75 (regular meals)
- 5-day plan: $90 / $120
Pros of Get Fit Foods:
- Convenience: GFF offers a brick-and-mortar location where you can walk in and pick up whatever food you want at any point.
- Variety of Options: GFF provides breakfast, lunch, and snack options, including protein muffins.
Cons of Get Fit Foods:
- Limited Meal Variety: The meals remain the same throughout each week, which may not suit those looking for constant variety.
- No Delivery: GFF does not offer delivery services.
Other Meal Prep Services in Charlotte
Besides Get Fit Foods, Charlotte has several other meal prep services, each with its unique focus:
Read also: High-Fiber Diet for Better Health
Nourish
Nourish is a long-standing meal prep service in Charlotte that offers plant-based, gluten-free, refined-sugar-free, and whole-foods-based meals.
Pricing: Nourish offers several meal plan options, including three- and five-day models. A popular option, just lunches, five days is $173 and three days is $104. They also have an a la carte menu here that rotates every week. Sides are as cheap as $7 and entrees average around $12-$14.
Pros:
- Everything is plant-based, gluten-free, refined-sugar-free and whole-foods based
- The deliveries are hand-delivered by Julia and her team. This is such a nice, personal touch.
Cons:
- Cost. While the food is next level - and I mean next level - it definitely is pricier than the other options.
- There are no labels with the nutrition facts listed on each meal. The nutrition information for each week is available online - just requires a bit more digging.
Project Lean Nation
Project Lean Nation focuses on goal setting, allowing you to meet with a team member to set goals before choosing meals. They offer various meal options based on your goals, and everything is flash-frozen without preservatives.
Pricing: Meals range between $7 and $9, depending on the chosen plan.
Pros:
- Their brick and mortar location has smoothies
- You can freeze all the meals.
Cons:
- There is a delivery fee of $10 if you cannot make it to their location in South End.
The Good Kitchen
The Good Kitchen provides fresh meals with organic grass-fed meats and wild-caught seafood. The menu changes weekly, and you can choose your meals or have them selected for you.
Read also: Supporting Detoxification
Pricing: Meals cost $14 each, and you choose the frequency and amount of meals delivered.
Pros:
- The food is wildly good
- Everything can be frozen for longevity.
Cons:
- Of the meal prep services I tried, this one was a bit more pricey.
- The meals all felt more like dinner to me rather than lunches, but that could have just been my preference.
Green Bunny
Green Bunny, located in NoDa, is run by chef and owner Ashleigh Easterling. She cooks everything fresh daily and sells meals on-demand or prepares weekly meals for clients upon request.
Pricing: Check their menu here - all prices are listed. It’s a pay as you go system. Ashleigh will offer discounts for bulk orders, as well on an individual basis.
Grab-and-Go Meals in the Ballantyne Area
For those in the Ballantyne area looking for quick and easy meal options, several markets and restaurants offer grab-and-go meals:
DeSarno’s Italian Market
DeSarno’s is a take-and-bake prepared meal Italian Market that offers homemade, Italian-inspired meals and catering services.
Read also: The Definitive Guide to Flourless, Sugar-Free Dieting
Popular Items: Meal Deals serve two to three people and come with a choice of classic Italian bread or Focaccia and a pint of one of their side salads for $19.95. The menu changes weekly and seasonally, but eggplant Parmesan is a Wednesday staple. Recent meal deals have included broccoli and butternut squash penne, Tuscan rosemary chicken, spinach and mushroom pasta and French onion pork chops.
Curbside pickup: Yes.
Carolina Meat & Fish Co.
Besides offering fresh seafood and meats, Carolina Meat & Fish Co. sells premade Italian meals exclusively from Pasta & Provisions and offers Lobster Rolls.
Popular Items: Their highly sought-after Lobster Rolls sourced from Maine are now sold every day, not just Fridays, due to command. Fall specials - The local oyster season takes place in the fall, and therefore it’s a great time now to purchase fresh Carolina oysters.
Online Ordering: Yes, for pickup.
The Butcher’s Market
The Butcher’s Market is known for its large meat and poultry cases, offering prepared meals or raw proteins with all the necessary fixings.
Popular items: Steak tips! Plus, marinated Joyce Farms chicken breast, thighs and wings. They have a 6-foot case of house-made chicken, pork and beef sausages. In the prepared food section, fresh and frozen options change throughout the week and contain meats and poultry from the case.
Switchin’ Kitchens
Owner Rachel Basile’s Switchin’ Kitchens takes the prep out of home-prepared meals.
Popular Items: Nana’s Chicken Pot Pie, Sweet and Sassy Meatloaf and Brunswick Stew. Single-serve options are popular too, especially for picky eaters and solo diners.
Tips: The store is currently closed to customers due to the pandemic, so call or order online. For the best selection and customization options, place an order online for future pickup. If you want to grab a few items on the way home to cook, call ahead. This way, Rachel and her team can begin thawing menu items for you and let you know if something is out of stock. You can also stop by and call from your car. Before pickup, clear out some room in the freezer for storage and think about the number of meals you might like to eat or serve in the coming days and weeks.
Pasta & Provisions
Popular Items: The bulk meals are a cross between takeout and catering. A pan of fresh, sliced chicken breast, for example, weighs 3.5 pounds and for $25 offers 10 servings, perfect for serving larger groups or taking several nights off from cooking.
Online orders: Yes, for catering only right now, which includes breakfast and boxed lunches.
Sanctuary Bistro
The vegan and dairy-free Sanctuary Bistro offers frozen meals and grocery items for takeout in addition to fresh gourmet dishes off the dine-in menu.
Popular Items: For frozen meals, try the Jambalaya, mac and cheese, BBQ jackfruit and Shepherd’s pie. Fall offerings - Vegan cheese is coming soon, including spicy-smoky cheddar that was a huge hit for them in California.
Curbside pickup: Yes, just let them know.
Additional Meal Delivery Services
MightyMeals
MightyMeals brings ready-to-eat meals straight to your doorstep in Charlotte, NC, taking the hassle out of cooking and helping you eat well with ease. Perfect for busy professionals or families gearing up for a weekend at Freedom Park, our meals eliminate the need for grocery shopping and meal prep.
Dietitian Tailored Meals
Enjoy expertly crafted, chef-prepared meals tailored by dietitians to meet your unique dietary preferences. Browse our rotating menu of 150+ chef-prepared dishes. Our skilled chefs take care of every detail, preparing fresh, flavorful meals. Perfectly-portioned with ca.
Counting Macros While Eating Out
For those tracking macronutrients, eating out can be challenging. However, some establishments provide nutritional information to help you stay on track.
Project Lean Nation
PLN is great because they actually have the macro breakdown on both their meals and their shakes. You can walk in, grab a meal or shake to go, or you can pre-order and pick up your meals for the week! The best part? Motivational messages on their smoothies.
CAVA
CAVA provides nutrition and macro information for their food, making it easier to order for pickup.
Persuasian
The chicken or shrimp (sometimes chicken & shrimp) steamers with brown rice. There are no secret ingredients in the steamers which is always the best when it comes to calculating macros - what you see if what you get. The dish is huge so I typically can only eat about 3/4 of the rice, 3/4 of the veggies and all the protein which equates to roughly 50C/10F/31P - a GREAT post workout meal.
Lincoln’s
Lincoln’s has several healthy items on their menu which I order religiously: The Came Together and Ham & Taters (at least that’s what I started calling it. Really it’s just the side of ham and side of potatoes on one plate). The Came Together is roughly 16C/28F/67P - great for days when you’re low on protein!
Verde
Verde provides nutritional info for all of their salads and wraps.