Austin’s Healthy Eats On the Go

Daily Greens
Breast cancer survivor Shauna Green established Daily Greens with her main goal being to get as many people as possible to consume their “daily greens” through one of her juices. Martin credits much of her strength and complete recovery to her daily green juice regime; thus, sharing the life-changing benefits of juicing is an effort very close to Martin’s heart. Each one of Martin’s juices contains nine servings of raw fruit and vegetables and is the perfect combination of leafy greens and wholesome fruits. What sets Daily Greens apart from its competitors is that it uses an HPP cold-pasteurizing technique, which gives each drink a 60-day shelf life and over triple the amount of nutrients than standard juice drinks. Daily Greens offers five different juices to choose from and is available at local farmers’ markets all around Austin.

Daily Juice
Daily Juice was born in 2003 and offers juices, smoothies, cleanses, and on-the-go eats that are all of the local and organic variety. Daily Juice uses no chemicals, preservatives, or chlorine in any of their products, maintaining an all-natural menu in the truest sense of the word. On their website, you can even search the menu options by their benefits, such as awareness, calmness, and energy. If you’re simply looking for something tasty and sweet or healthy and green, you can also search their menu options by ingredients.

Snap Kitchen
Snap Kitchen has a variety of different menu options for nearly every diet restriction, including gluten free, Paleo, non-dairy, and carb conscious, to name just a few. Snap Kitchen’s nutritional plans are a bit more flexible than most pre-made meal programs and allow for a “free day” during which you get to choose one meal yourself. One of Snap Kitchen’s philosophies is that your lifestyle plan should not only be healthy but also livable and realistic (translation: You deserve that piece of pie every once in a while). Every meal is ready to eat or just needs a quick microwaving, so it’s always quick, easy, and, most importantly, healthy. Snap Kitchen also provides curbside service so you don’t even have to get out of the car when you want to pick up a meal or two. Meals last up to five days refrigerated, and, if you don’t have time for pick up, they can also deliver straight to your door.

Photo by Brian Fitzsimmons

My Fit Foods
My Fit Foods was founded in the apartment kitchen of personal trainer Mario Mendias, who began cooking healthy meals for his clients who were too busy to shop for and prepare clean eats on their own. One year later, Mendias created My Fit Foods to provide people like his fitness clients with fresh and healthy foods on the go for a reasonable price. The My Fit Foods menu focuses on a balance between lean proteins, low-glycemic carbohydrates, and heart-healthy vegetables and spices. My Fit Foods also offers three-day and 21-day challenges for those who are looking to shed a few pounds, gain lean muscle mass, or simply find an energy kick. The three-day program is an introduction to the 21-day program, which includes full service meal planning and an education program for clients. More than 90 percent of the menu items are gluten-free, made fresh daily, and include meals ranging from chicken Parmesan to shrimp gumbo. They also have a variety of snacks including truffles, cookies, and trail mix, so there is something to cure just about every craving. In addition to visiting a My Fit Foods location, meals can be picked up at various H-E-B stores around Austin.

Photo by Brian Fitzsimmons

Beetnik
Beetnik is a local company that provides high-quality frozen food for delivery all over the United States. David Perkins founded the company based on his love for great-tasting and wholesome food. None of Beetnik’s foods contain MSG, high-fructose corn syrup, artificial color, flavorings, hormones, or antibiotics. In addition, Beetnik also works with environmentally friendly packaging companies and farms around the world to provide their high-quality foods. Although they specialize in gluten-free and Paleo options, Beetnik still offers a wide variety of delicious meals, desserts, and snacks. They have scones, cheesecakes, pancakes, and gluten-free pastas, as well as a variety of homemade sauces. All of their beef is grass fed and raised in pastures as opposed to feedlots; their chicken is also pasture raised and organic. Beetnik believes that great food comes from great ingredients, which is why their entire menu focuses on organic and homegrown resources.

Beetnik is located on the east side of Austin, in a circa 1940s Craftsman-style bungalow that’s seen renovation, remodeling, and expansion. Perkins rents out the kitchen to chefs (it’s seen the preparation of 60 thousand cupcakes that were handed out by a corporation as gifts) but it’s primarily used to test Beetnik’s recipes, which provide a tasty introduction into a Paleo-based diet.

Photo by Brian Fitzsimmons

“We want to control all aspects of our food production,” explained Perkins when AFM came for an introduction to (and tasting of) Beetnik’s grass-fed beef. That means they start by looking for quality ingredients and fair practices, and they’ve partnered with Jacobs Bastrop Ranch and Dewberry Hills Farm (located in Bastrop and Lexington, Texas, respectively); in a press release, Perkins stated, “We’re fanatical about the whole food supply chain, all of which starts on the land. We place a high importance on taste, supply relationships, and the nutritional and environmental impact of the choices we make for our customers—people who care about these issues—and we appreciate that.”

Perkins talked knowledgeably about food preparation while he prepared an array of beef for tasting, explaining that the leaner meat requires 30 percent less cooking time and, therefore, overcooking can be a common mistake. He laughingly spoke about “organic food…or what your grandmother used to call ‘food,’” while he discussed the need to step toward more healthy and nutritious ingredients. Perkins also talked about modifying his mother’s recipe for cheesecake crust, explaining that it needed to be “reengineered” and he experimented with nuts, butter, and sugar until he got it just right. (And AFM can vouch for having gotten that recipe just right—the individual cheesecakes are delicious.)

Photo by Brian Fitzsimmons

Perkins clearly loves cooking; he left a career in the technology field to follow his passion and study at Le Cordon Bleu for three years. He then applied his business knowledge to what he’d learned about food preparation and he opened Beetnik in July 2012. The company celebrated their anniversary at the end of August with a “Chef Throwdown” cooking event at headquarters; Perkins challenged Kyle McKinney, the chef at Barley Swine, to prepare a whole beef shank. The crowd was the clear winner, as everyone got to sip on beverages, smell the smoke from the grills, listen to live music, and then sample each chef’s presentation. There were additional Beetnik dishes on hand to savor and the chance to mingle with various partners, such as Jacobs Bastrop Ranch CEO and co-owner Pati Jacobs.

In addition to ordering from Beetnik online, Austinites can pick up their beef and assorted dishes and desserts at Royal Blue Grocery (the Nueces and Congress locations), Fresh Plus, Westlake CrossFit, and Whip In. During the month of November, there are special Thanksgiving and seasonal options, so you can easily entertain family with roasted turkey, Brussels sprouts, and pumpkin scones; there’s even osso buco for a cold night. Or perhaps you’ve wanted to test a Paleo-based diet; you can try the new Ten-Day Challenge the company is debuting in the middle of the month (available online and for pick-up at CrossFit gyms in Austin). And don’t forget the cheesecake!