Dinner preparation company debuts nutrition labels for entrées through Web site
Tampa, FL – According to nutritionist Christine Miller, the trick to eating out isn’t getting a good deal or a large meal. Rather, it’s finding dishes that contain quality ingredients that are both delicious and nutritious.
Heavy workloads and extracurricular activities are driving more and more American families to fast food drive-thrus and casual restaurants like McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Chili’s for meals most days of the week. But many aren’t aware of the amount of fat and calories they’re consuming each time they dine out for dinner.
“The biggest challenges to dining out are the larger portion sizes, as well as the hidden fat, sodium and calories,” Miller said. "It is not unusual for a restaurant meal to contain more than 2,000 calories for bread and butter, a salad doused in dressing, an entrée, starch and vegetable.”
For Marni Poe and Melissa Slack, these options weren’t acceptable. Both the mothers of two toddlers, the longtime friends felt that there was a need for a sanctuary where parents like themselves could simplify the dinner-making process and put healthier and tastier food on the table. So, instead of searching for a solution, they created one.
Let’s Eat! – which Poe and Slack opened in Tampa in 2004 – is a meal preparation business that is simplifying the dinner preparation process for Americans while providing nutritional and flavorful meals that can’t be found at most restaurants.
Miller, a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator for the top-rated diet and health Web site eDiets.com, helps make that possible for Let’s Eat!.
Let’s Eat! is like a combination of an immaculately designed commercial kitchen and a TV cooking show set. The space includes 14 food preparation stations with all the ingredients, utensils and accessories customers need to prepare their meals from the Let’s Eat! menu which changes monthly. In a two-hour session, customers can make eight to 12 dinners, all of which can be frozen and cooked later. Each dish serves four to six people at about $3 per serving. Twelve meals cost about $199. Today there are 10 Let’s Eat! locations in Florida, from Orlando to Sarasota.
As the resident nutritionist for Let’s Eat!, Miller is responsible for compiling the nutritional value of all the entrées Let’s Eat! offers to customers. That information has recently become available to consumers via nutrition labels posted on their Web site, www.letseatdinner.com.
“Very few restaurants provide nutrition information for all of their entrées,” Miller said. “Though some chain restaurants do provide some information, often it is limited to lower-fat dishes. Although many fast food restaurants do provide the nutrient information for menu items, only a handful of fast food selections can be considered ‘healthy.’”
At Let’s Eat!, entrées like the Roasted Pork Loin with Pineapple Orange Glaze contain 8 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat and 85 milligrams of cholesterol and sodium. A typical Let’s Eat! meal contains less than 25 grams of total fat.
A Food and Drug Administration ruling that took effect the first of the year requires that all foods sold on retail shelves carry labels that disclose their trans fat contents.
Trans fats are partially hydrogenated vegetable oils prevalent in much of America’s processed food supply. Trans fats were once considered healthy alternatives to saturated fats like butter and lard. But in the last 10 years, studies have revealed that trans fats increase cholesterol levels and the risk for heart disease.
Although the labeling law does not apply to restaurants or meal assembly establishments like Let’s Eat!, Poe and Slack wanted their customers to have access to the nutritional information they need to make meal choices that fit their lifestyle.
“Most of the dishes offered at Let’s Eat! are superior from a nutritional standpoint when compared to restaurant foods because Let’s Eat! uses fresh, wholesome ingredients and does not use excessive amounts of fat or salt in a majority of its dishes,” Miller said. “They are also free of trans fats. By having these facts and figures, people can make appropriate food choices and avoid having to guess or calculate this information on their own.”
The nutrition labels at Let’s Eat! are particularly helpful for those customers who have health conditions including diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease and food allergies.
“Consumers can choose to delete certain ingredients from Let’s Eat! dishes which provide even greater flexibility for those with special needs,” Miller said.
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Media Contact:
Krista Zilizi
Quantified Marketing Group
407-936-1010
706-627-3204
kzilizi@quantifiedmarketing.com
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