Business takes on planning, prep work of healthy eating

Knowing that not everyone has time to prepare healthy meals, Snap Kitchen offers customers the chance to eat right without visiting the grocery store or cooking.

Customers use Snap Kitchen in a variety of ways, whether it be to grab lunch, restock the fridge, buy prepared meals in lieu of going to a grocery store or use the company's juices for a cleanse. Meals are pre-portioned and designed to eat cold or heated in the microwave in BPA-free plastic containers.

"We put an emphasis on quality and nutrition," spokeswoman Laurie Berson said. "All meals are chef-designed and -conceived and dietician-approved."

Owner Martin Berson, who is not related to Laurie, opened the first Snap Kitchen location in 2010 at the Triangle at Lamar Boulevard and 45th Street. Laurie said the concept took off, and Martin opened a second Austin store and launched in Houston.

"Austin is a busy city," Martin said. "When people aren't working, they're out on the trails, in boot camps, doing yoga, on the lakes. Snap Kitchen does the work that active lifestyles don't leave time for."

Now Snap Kitchen has five Austin stores, including one near the Arboretum that opened in 2012, and a mobile food trailer.

Snap Kitchen uses locally grown ingredients when possible for a variety of reasons, one being that food has more flavor when it's fresh, Laurie said.

"We prioritize that over organic, but we do use organic when feasible," she said.

Grass-fed beef, bison, organic quinoa—a type of grain that is high in protein—as well as an absence of butter or white flour are a few ways Snap Kitchen keeps meals healthy.

"[We offer] the convenience of grab-and-go food that doesn't skimp on flavor or nutritional value," Martin said.

Snap Kitchen programs

Snap Commit

• This program is designed to help customers get a fresh start to a diet.
• Schedule a free 30-minute consultation with one of the company's registered dieticians.
• Create a 21-day meal plan to meet your goals and lifestyle.
• Pick up meals every three days.

Snap Clean Start, Recovery or Go Green

• These juice programs, often referred to as a cleanse, include a mix of six juices for 1,100–1,200 calories per day.
• Juices are cold-pressed, meaning the ingredients pressed into a pulp to exert the juice. Each bottle contains about 2 pounds of produce.
• Clean Start ($47 per day, 1,200 calories daily) is designed as an introductory to juicing and includes a combination of fruits, vegetables and nuts.
• Recovery ($48 per day, 1,200 calories daily) is for people who need to replenish essential electrolytes, such as after holidays, and return to eating more healthfully.
• Go Green ($52.25 per day, 1,100 calories daily) is for people wanting to take juicing to the next level with extra greens.