Healthy alternatives to fast food can be hard to find without knowing where to look.
Rick Pittenger is doing his best to get the word out.
While a pandemic was impacting the entire country, Patterson took the bold step in December 2020 to open the Healthy James Meal Prep (5541 Clinton Highway) in Powell.
“You’d be surprised at how many people in the Knoxville area care about health and fitness,” said Pittenger.
“You’ve got the gym members and the body builders, but you also have the single mom who works all day and wants something healthy for her and her kids.”
Pittenger is there to answer those needs. Healthy James Meal Prep has nutritious meals prepared by a chef available to buy in-store ala carte, online individually, or on a subscription basis.
“We can prepare your meals for a week,” Pittenger said. “Just put it in a microwave, an air fryer or the oven and in a couple minutes it’s ready to eat. If you can’t finish all your meals in a week, stick them in the freezer and have them later.”
Variety on the menu
Among the popular meals that are offered are fit steak and fit salmon. The preparation takes into account specific dietary needs like paleo, vegan, keto and gluten-free.
There is no licensed dietitian on staff, but transparency helps the customer make decisions.
“All our meals come with a full macro breakdown of everything that’s in it,” Pittenger said. “We list the carbs, protein, everything. We offer nutritional information online.”
Pittenger said there are between 45-50 meals available online, while 20-25 are available in-store.
A meal consists of a main item such as steak, salmon or other seafood or meat, a vegetable, and rice, sweet potatoes or another substitute. Cauli-rice can be used as a healthy option. Also, cauli-crust is used to give a healthy touch to pizzas.
Add to that natural healthy smoothies, smoothie bowls, wellness teas, iced coffee and other snacks and the franchise offers a wide range of food.
personal success story
Pittenger said that when the business started, 200-250 meals were prepared. Today, anywhere from 750-1,000 meals are made. Meals cost between $8.99 and $11.99. Buying in quantities of 10, 15, 20 and more brings the per-meal price down.
On a normal week, orders are taken by phone (865-247-6445) or online (healthyjames.com) by Thursday at 8 pm The chef does the meal preparation all day Friday. On Saturdays, packers get the meals ready for distribution or pickup. Most meals are picked up or delivered between 5:30 pm and 8 pm Sundays.
On Monday-Thursday (10 am-7 pm), meals are available for purchase ala carte at the store or online. The chef spends that time preparing what is necessary for the big cooking day Friday.
The 58-year-old Pittenger said that over the last three years, while working with the healthy options in his business, his weight dropped from 286 pounds to 216.
“I had been in the automotive business,” said Pittenger. “When I made the transition, I wanted to get involved in something that was health related. Not only has the business grown, but it also helped me.”
