Meal prep service now offering student discounts

Story by Katlyn Mackie, Staff writer

 

A new meal-prep and delivery service has come to Murray and is providing meals for those seeking an alternative for healthy eating in western Kentucky.

Maple Street Market is home to Fitmeals, properly-proportioned meals for people working toward health and wellness goals. Meals are prepared using farm fresh, local ingredients to promote higher quality and less-processed foods.

AnneMarie Tanner, owner and founder of Maple Street Market, said the meal-prep service started in January 2016 when she leased a kitchen at the Murray Banquet Center to cook meals for her friends at the gym. She called it Fitmeals Murray.

Tanner said she wanted to try something different because of her love for working in food service.

She said she told her friends she would cook them meals if they bought the groceries and the first week she prepared 15 meals. A month later she had 30 people on her waiting list.

“That’s when I was like ‘This is it, this is what I want to do, this could be something,’” Tanner said.

In December 2016, Tanner said she found an official location at a storefront in Murray and rebranded Fitmeals Murray to Maple Street Market with the Fitmeals being the product.

Tanner said she and her staff plan the menu, do the shopping, cook all the meals, portion them appropriately and deliver them. The meals come chilled with nutrition information on each container.

“We found it’s really great for people working two jobs or is a busy mom or someone working third shift,” Tanner said. “There are not enough hours in a day to eat healthy or cook healthy because it does take a little more time so we try to facilitate that.”

Tanner said she tries to use locally-grown goods such as fruits, vegetables and meats from the local farms and believes it is more nutritious to eat food grown from the area you live in.

According to the Fitmeals Murray website, the core of the menu is fresh meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, little starch and no sugar with a focus on lower sodium, lower fat and less heavy carbs.

Maple Street Market also offers cooking classes twice a month for $20 that features a range of foods from pizza to sushi.

Tanner said although she has considered franchising and even has an offer to do so, she wants to stay local because she likes the idea of a small business because she can maintain a real quality.

“We really want to work with the community here in Murray and I’m really happy with it,” Tanner said. “I like knowing my customers and knowing what their needs are. Me staying small is a part of who we are.”

She said her customers’ ages have a broad range, from high school students to her oldest customer, a 101-year-old woman who didn’t like the food in her nursing home.

A customer, Diana Ross, said she orders four to seven Fitmeals every week to eat throughout the week and does so because it is easy and quality nutritious food that helps her watch what she eats and lose weight.

“It is cheaper and less time consuming than having to go out and buy all the ingredients I would need to make this meal,” Ross said.

The director of development in the college of science, engineering and technology at Murray State and faithful customer, Jennie Rottinghaus, said she eats at Fitmeals for the convenience, the delicious options and to support the local farmers.

Like Ross, Rottinghaus said she could not buy all of this and make it taste this good and have it be convenient.

Regular size meals with 4 ounces of protein and sides costs $8 each. Large meals with 6 ounces of protein and sides cost $10 each, which are available for pick-up or delivery. Discounts are offered to Murray State students.

For more information or to order call 270-681-5015 or visit their website at FitmealsMurray.com.

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