Have you ever visited a location and they just have everything on the ball? Everything they plan and carry out is for customers, everything is so organized, creative ideas are happening, and it’s just a total package. I’ve found that place in our community. This location is Balance Food Company off Benjamin Way in Dalton. It’s right off Walnut Avenue and so easy to find. There’s tons of parking, so visiting them is a piece of cake.
Balance Food Company is a meal prep shop; in fact, its motto is “Meal prep made easy.” And, boy, do they make it easy. No subscription is required. There are so many things they do. I’m not sure where to begin.
On their website you choose the meals you’d like to purchase for the week, then submit the choices by 5 p.m. on Sunday. The owner will even send a text as a reminder. The orders will be ready to pick up on Monday between 1 and 5:30 p.m. If you order after 5:30 p.m. on a Sunday your order will be ready on Monday of the next week.
Meals are priced at $10 each, and if you preorder you will receive a discount on the price. You can even get your meal orders customized. Family meals are available, too, which can feed four, six or eight. When you pick up the orders (each meal is portioned), you simply take them home, refrigerate, and when you’re ready, heat them and eat and enjoy. They deliver for orders of $100 or more.
The website shows the five different meal plans and foods offered, how to order, the cost, how they got started (they opened in 2022) and nutritional information, including calories. You can even order a gift card online. Plus, the website shows photos of the mouthwatering foods available. Be sure to check out the reviews from customers. After seeing the site, you will be hooked.
Visiting is OK
If you want to just pop in the store like I did, that’s perfectly fine, too. Don’t feel like you have to preorder to visit. Five percent of her foods sold are preordered, and 95% sold are from the grab-and-go cooler.
In the beginning, only food preordered and pickups were available. There would be a few items in the cooler for customers to select right then.
The owner is as sweet as pie and will answer all your questions and explain what she has to offer. (The owner and her sister were former students of my hubby in middle school.) The store is open Monday–Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The food can be heated there and eaten on the patio or eaten inside at an inviting seating area.
Everything you will need to enjoy the great food is offered: eating utensils, beverages and amazing conversation with the owner and her staff. Food items in the grab-and-go cooler change daily. But don’t worry, it will be loaded with goodness, and you will have trouble deciding what to select. Their social media pages will let you see what will be available each day, so you can plan ahead for your selections. Fresh items are added daily to the grab-and-go cooler. The variety each day is very good.
The food containers are labeled for customers with sell-by dates, ingredient lists, calories, carbohydrates, fat and proteins, and how long to cook the foods. A note on the label even tells if the food is good frozen. What a complete list. You know exactly what you are eating. Color-coded hearts are displayed on the packing to easily identify foods high in protein, low in carbs, gluten-free foods and balanced meals.
A passion to serve
The owner has always had a passion to own her own business and to serve people. She loves playing a tiny part in helping people to eat well, and to even help with their weight loss journey. I know that in my eating habits I tend to overeat, and portion-sized meals help customers like me control eating too much that I really don’t need.
Many of the shop’s customers are empty-nesters, single households and health-conscious patrons. Ninety-five percent of customers follow the shop online, or information is gained by word-of-mouth. Some customers drop in for lunch to meet friends, or some are known to have a small lunch meeting in the shop. A local gym is next door, so many of the members stop by for lunch or a snack after working out, and many were looking for high-protein foods, so foods were added to meet their needs. The owner added many items to the menu based on what customers were asking for and what they wanted to see in her shop.
Best-sellers
Some of the best-sellers of the meals are the loaded BBQ potato (seasoned pork, BBQ sauce, butter, sour cream, cheese, chives on a baked potato), chicken teriyaki (grilled chicken, brown rice, roasted broccoli, in a homemade sauce), chicken casserole and a loaded sweet potato.
Other menu items are varied and you can select from a huge choice. Some are chicken pot pie, Cajun shrimp and rice, lasagna, salads and turkey burgers. Sides offered are carrots, black beans, Brussels sprouts, green beans and more. Breakfast foods include overnight oatmeal, casseroles, waffles and a frittata. Snacks are always a hit, especially by moms wanting to store up for the week for their children after school or practice, and some choices are chocolate chip power bites and protein muddy buddies. Desserts are also on the menu, but don’t look for sugar-free; all the desserts feature traditional ingredients. Which is just fine with many customers.
The above items are listed on the preorder menu, and you can locate them in the grab-and-go cooler in the shop. Foods rotate weekly. The grape salad with homemade granola is featured daily in the cooler, as are chicken salad, pimento cheese and a high-protein Lunchable, which contains cheese, a boiled egg and fruit with crackers. The staple dessert in the grab-and-go is their Biscoff tiramisu, which features the owner’s own special touch. You will find two desserts daily in the cooler, and one might be the very delicious salted caramel chip bars. Yes, they are as good as they sound. This fall, be on the lookout for the pumpkin whoopie pie and snatch one quickly if you find it. It’s very good, too.
Sampling what’s available
I just had to sample several foods on my visit. I enjoyed a meal there, then took the rest of the food home for supper for the next few days.
The pot roast with carrots and potatoes was excellent. The tender roast has such a fantastic taste, and the vegetables were seasoned perfectly. I also tried the chicken casserole, which was full of chicken and is a huge amount for a meal, plus the yummy cracker topping was plentiful, which I love. The salmon with the rice and roasted broccoli was perfect. The salmon was flaky and tender, with such an amazing taste. The BBQ potato had the best taste with the tender and juicy pork. The topping mixed so well with the potato.
The pimento cheese was so, so tasty and smooth. We Southerners are picky about our pimento cheese. The chicken salad was heavenly. The perfectly blended ingredients make for another amazing taste for me. The grape salad with the granola topping was to die for. The grapes were cut and not served whole, which could absorb more of the tasty yogurt. The desserts — pumpkin whoopie pie, the Biscoff tiramisu, salted caramel chip bars and the chocolate chip power bites — were very delicious. I’m dropping by again for more tempting desserts. Moms stock up on the power bites for their kids for after school or practices. Moms know good things!
Love for the community
Mondays are the busiest day of the week. That’s when the majority of the food prep is happening. The food is made in the shop, and the open kitchen allows the customers to see what’s going on and make contact with the staff. Throughout the rest of the week, other items are added to the grab-and-go so customers will have fresh selections until the end of the week. On Friday afternoons, all food left is donated to a local mission. What love for our community.
As if all of this is not enough, punch loyalty cards are part of the shop. Visit 10 times and receive a free dessert. Free Food Fridays are held, and customers’ names for the week are placed in a drawing and the winner each week receives a $10 gift certificate to use in the shop.
Each fall, Russian tea can be found. Samples are offered on Fridays, and customers can purchase the homemade tea in attractive jars. Even decaf Russian tea is available. Check out their social media to see what other amazing specials are happening.
A dream
Balance Food Company is a perfect example of someone who had a dream and made it happen. From 2018 to 2020 the owner was doing meal prep in her home. The current location was empty for five years, and then became available. It took the owner and her husband one year to renovate the space by working nights and weekends and building the kitchen with equipment that was purchased from various locations at great prices.
When opening, meals were prepared, placed in Tupper totes, and picked up by customers. Fast forward to 2024. So much progress has been made, from preordering meals online to a grab-and-go cooler to steadily growing through these years. The owner is perfectly pleased with the size of her business and has no plans to expand. Things are going just fine with her. The owner wants the community to know that it’s meal prep made easy, and you can eat good food and still feel great about yourself with portioned meals.
When you visit this wonderful location you will see just how special the owner is about getting the best food prepared for her customers. It shows in everything she does each day. Hours and hours of planning and work have gone into making her business what it is – perfect! The food is so delicious, and you feel at home stopping by for her made-with-love foods.
When you shop at Balance Food Company, the owner and her staff will plan the meals and sides, do the grocery shopping, prepare the food and even clean up the dishes. I really don’t think you can beat that. Balance Food Company is homemade at its finest for each customer.
Sandra Derrick, a lifelong Daltonian, is a retired educator who taught home economics for 30 years in Whitfield County Schools.