Don’t stress about dinner — these Charlotte meal prep and delivery spots can help
We have all been there.
Consumed by the day-to-day, rushing from one place to another, trying to find more time in the day for important and often critical tasks.
Life is already chaotic as is; preparing healthy, balanced meals for yourself, family or friends shouldn’t be.
For those who feel like they never have enough time in the day, let alone time to shop for and prepare a meal, many local businesses hear your frustration and understand the struggle.
Maybe you are one of those people who never knows what to cook or buy at the grocery store, often resorting to a quick microwavable meal to avoid wasting ingredients. Good news — local businesses are looking out for you.
Here are some businesses in the Charlotte area to make your life less hectic.
Meal Delivery and Pickups:
(1) A la Minute
9545 Pinnacle Drive or4326 Woodland Ave.
A la Minute is French for “in a minute,” which sums up this store’s mission pretty well. A la Minute started in 2017, with a goal to create fresh, seasonal menu items perfect for people out-and-about. Its meals are made fresh and heat in the microwave in five minutes or less. A la Minute offers a diverse menu and allows customers to customize meals specific to specific dietary needs.
The deadline to order each week is on Friday at midnight, and its team delivers the food on Mondays. The delivery process includes a text system that will alert customers when meals are close to home with an approximate delivery time — you don’t have to be at home when your food arrives.
(2) Chef Alyssa’s Kitchen
4001-C Yancey Road #100
Chef Alyssa, an executive chef who has worked at some of Charlotte’s favorite restaurants, created her own kitchen due to her passion for cooking and living a balanced lifestyle. From Braised Beef Pot Roast to Seared Salmon, you can have a full spread with just a 12-hour notice. Chef Alyssa’s Kitchen offers Family Table Meals, which are fully-cooked meals, ordered and packed in advance and ready to be picked up.
The small meal option includes four individual mains (chicken, pot roast, salmon or eggplant), two family-style sides and four dinner rolls. The large option includes eight individual mains (chicken, pot roast, salmon or eggplant), two large family-style sides and eight dinner rolls. Gourmet food with minimal effort; great for impressing your friends at your dinner party, in-laws in town for the weekend or anyone else, for that matter.
(3) Chop and Chisel
200 S. College St., Suite #316
Chop and Chisel is a locally founded and owned gourmet delivery service and grab-and-go shop. Its focus is on making healthy eating enjoyable by reverse engineering its recipes to transform popular dishes, such as Chicken Parmesan and French Toast Sticks, into healthier meals options. Customers can walk into one of its locations and shop from the coolers in the brick-and-mortar store. For those on a tight schedule, Chop and Chisel also has a weekly ordering platform on its website, where customers can order by Thursday night at midnight for a Sunday cooler bag delivery or pickup.
The shop offers a variety of different chef specialty menu items like soups, salads and wraps, heatable entrees and other snacks. Chop and Chisel delivers locally once a week and offers bulk prep for those who simply want their ingredients by the pound.
(4) Get Fit Foods
14825 Ballantyne Village Way, Suite #175; 4425 Park Road, Suite #130; or 311 Pecan Ave.
Get Fit Foods has several locations in the Charlotte area, and its mission is to provide healthy, handcrafted meals to those on-the-go. From Pesto Shrimp Pasta to Egg Frittata, Get Fit Foods has a variety of pre-prepared meals to choose from. The company also offers three- and five-day meal plan options.
(5) The Good Kitchen
Charlotte-locals Amber and Carter started The Good Kitchen (originally called modPALEO), a frozen prepared food line that has everything from pre-made grass-fed meats to quick meals for kids. As CrossFit coaches and health-conscious individuals, Amber and Carter started embracing a paleo lifestyle to enhance their performance in the sport.
What started as a small operation of selling premade balanced meals to their friends in 2011 quickly turned into a larger business where they began selling to gyms across Charlotte and surrounding cities. Now, The Good Kitchen is available at Walmart stores across the country, as a part of Walmart’s new health-forward initiative for fast, nutrient-packed meals for families. In 2020, The Good Kitchen plans to make its way into additional retail stores.
(6) Green Brothers Juice Company
2230 Park Road, Unit 103; or 101 S. Tryon St., Suite 1
Green Brothers Juice Company is a locally owned and operated juice and smoothie shop in Dilworth and Uptown. For the on-the-go customers who want a smoothie at their own convenience, Green Brothers sells pre-packed smoothie bags you can whip up at your leisure. Green Brothers values local and organic ingredients from farmers and strives to make products as available and convenient as possible — even when you are unable to make it to the store.
(7) Nourish
1421 Orchard Lake Drive, Suite F
Nourish is a prepared food delivery service in the city that offers healthy meals, such as Butternut Mac and Cheese and Power Bowls. Everything Nourish prepares is plant-based, vegan, gluten-free, processed sugar-free, whole-food based, all while striving to be as locally sourced and organic as possible.
Every Friday at noon, Nourish team members post a new menu. Order before Thursday at noon for the following week’s delivery. Prepared meals are available in meal plan options or a la carté. As part of its Green Kitchen Initiative, Nourish uses 100% recyclable and biodegradable packaging and reusable delivery bags.
(8) Pasta & Provisions
1528 Providence Road or 4700 Park Road
Pasta and Provisions has been serving the city of Charlotte for about 26 years now (and counting). However, did you know they also have meals for those on-the-go? Pasta and Provisions offers large-format entrees and lasagnas that can be taken home and either served to your guests right then and there or frozen and thawed out for another occasion.
Pro tip: Pick up your favorite bottle of wine from the shop before leaving with your pasta.
(9) Santhoshi’s Kitchen
3500 Latrobe Drive, #300
Chef Santhoshi Radhakrishnan has been cooking Indian food for over 15 years and has brought her passion and skills to the meal delivery game. Santhoshi’s Kitchen creates meal kits that contain precisely measured ingredients and a tested recipe sheet with each order. Popular menu items include Butter Chicken, Chicken Tikka Masala and Chana Masala, along with many others.
Santhoshi Kitchen currently delivers meal kits to Charlotte, Pineville, Mathews, Tega Cay, Fort Mill and Rock Hill residents. However, if you are not within the delivery limits but are craving authentic Indian cuisine, a pickup option is also available.
Local Foods at the Market:
If you do want to take the time to cook and you still want to support local, check out these Charlotte-based companies selling food in nearby stores:
(10) Beverly’s Gourmet Foods
1515 Harding Place
Beverly’s Gourmet Foods offers over 400 products and creates about 40 different meal items in its commercial kitchen daily. The foods, which are vegan and vegetarian with many gluten-free options, range from tomato basil pies, quiches, soups, casseroles, salads, chili, various dressings, vegan burgers and other baked goods.
Two times a day, a delivery drops at the Mecklenburg County Market; however, customers can also find Beverly’s products in various spots around Charlotte, such as Whole Foods SouthPark, Reid’s Fine Foods, Rhino Market and Deli and The Common Market.
(11) Unbelievabuns
After six years of perfecting the recipe, Unbelievabuns were created by Charlottean Jerrod Adkins. If you one of those people that ask for a burger without a bun, this might be for you. Unbelievabuns are the world’s first high protein and low-carb burger bun that has the same taste and texture as a gourmet bread bun.
The buns are made using ingredients such as flax, oat and almond meal and contains 119 calories, 17 grams of protein and only 1.8 net carbs. You can find the buns at Rhino Market and a few nutrition stores in the area. Adkins said the buns will also be sold in local grocery stores in the near future.
Editors note: This story originally published on Nov. 18, 2019.
