Available just in time to help anyone with a New Year’s resolution to eat more healthily, a low-carb special from ChefMeals features peppers stuffed with grass-fed seasoned beef tossed with sweet potatoes. The peppers are served over cauliflower rice with a side of salsa verde (not pictured). ChefMeals is a prepped meal and personal chef business that recently relocated to Hellertown.
If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to improve your diet, a new Hellertown business’s tasty meal options can help you achieve that–without spending more time in the kitchen.
ChefMeals takes the hard work out of meal preparation by offering more than a dozen different entrees, salads, soups and desserts each week. The meals are all prepared by chef-owner Joe Stout, who has set up his kitchen at Dewey Fire Co. No. 1 in the borough.
Stout will also be the fire company’s new caterer when it reopens its banquet hall and bar, both of which have been undergoing renovations since late last year. Information and progress updates are regularly shared on the fire company’s Facebook page.
Previously based in Phillipsburg, Stout said he is excited to now call Hellertown his home base for ChefMeals, to which he’s brought nearly two decades of restaurant experience.
He describes his overall approach toward cuisine as one that incorporates the principles of clean eating, which involves eating fresh, nutritious, unprocessed or minimally processed foods.
The way the ChefMeals service works is simple. Every Sunday, Stout emails his menu for the week to his subscribers, who then have until 10 a.m. Wednesday to select their meals for the following week. All meals are prepared from scratch and are available for delivery or pickup every Monday, with delivery from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and pickup at the fire company from 3 to 5 p.m. (There is a $40 minimum for free delivery, which otherwise costs $7. The meals–which are called ChefBowls–typically cost between $10 and $15, and Stout said many of his customers order them weekly for their weekday dinners.)
Chef Joe Stout’s Memphis Tenders are a featured ChefBowl, which is what he calls his heat-and-eat prepared meals. The meals are created at the Dewey Fire Co. commercial kitchen in Hellertown, which Stout recently took over. In addition to his ChefMeals business, he will be the fire company’s caterer once its dining facilities reopen following extensive renovations.
Some of the current meals available for order are:
- Memphis Tenders: Local PA non-GMO marinated chicken tender medallions served with roasted Italian vegetables over chili sriracha-roasted potatoes with “G sauce” (mild taste). ($12)
- Vegan Enchiladas: Stout’s in-house authentic vegan enchilada mixture includes seasonings, soy-curls, black beans, onions and peppers cooked down in his own enchilada sauce. They are served topped with vegan cheddar Daiya cheese over cilantro lime rice and a lemon pepper string bean & carrot medley. ($11)
- Roasted Vegetable Salad: Baby green salad topped with char-grilled and roasted vegetables served over mixed greens, carrots, red onions, tomatoes and feta cheese with a side Stout’s signature Roasted Garlic Balsamic Dressing. ($10)
- Click here to view the current full menu.
A featured ChefSalad is made with baby greens, fresh strawberries, almonds, feta cheese, red onions, grape tomatoes, cucumbers and roasted balsamic dressing.
Stout provides nutritional and allergen information for all his menu items, including calories, fat content, and total carbs and proteins measured in grams. Nutritional knowledge is something he can well appreciate, since Stout openly acknowledges that he at one time battled obesity. He said that while most of his ChefBowls are meant as single servings, they can feed two people if one or both of them have a lighter appetite.
For dessert, one of Stout’s specialties is a sweet invention he calls the Cupookie. A cross between a cookie and a cupcake, current flavors include Chocolate Chunk, Peanut Butter, Cookies & Cream, Oatmeal Raisin, White Sugar Puff and Pumpkin Maple.
One of the things customers enjoy about ChefBowls is that there is never a commitment to order, so customers can simply order meals when they need them.
More information about the ordering process can be found on the Google doc order form.
Chef and owner of ChefMeals Joe Stout is food allergen-certified and conscientious about providing his clients with the facts about what they’re eating. Nutrition and allergen information are included with all of the meals he prepares.
Although Stout is new in town, he is eager to give back, and has already launched a crowdfunding campaign to help feed local first responders his nutritious food for free.
Stout’s goal is to raise $8,000 via GoFundMe. He plans to use that money to feed 100 police officers, firefighters, paramedics and others each week for eight weeks.
“They put their lives on the line, day in and day out,” he said. “They may not be eating a well-balanced meal because they’re up for 24 hours.”
Over the holidays, Stout said ChefMeals fed local underprivileged families, which is something he plans to continue doing as part of an ongoing commitment to the communities he serves.
Stout said he also plans to upgrade the ChefMeals website in the coming months to help streamline the order placement process for his customers.
Other services ChefMeals offers include event and personal catering, cooking classes for kids, virtual cooking classes for adults, personal meal prep (including food shopping), pop-up food events, consulting and personal chef services.
For more information, visit ChefMeals.co, email Stout at happychefmeals@gmail.com or call 610-905-7413. Follow ChefMeals on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for regular updates, and sign up to receive Stout’s weekly menu in your email inbox.
Also look for ChefMeals to be part of the Hellertown-Lower Saucon Chamber’s upcoming Hellertown-Lower Saucon Winter Restaurant Week, which will be held Jan. 17 to Jan. 23.