Currently, Ivie said, Preppy Meals is serving some 400-600 meals for families on a weekly basis.
Many of the meals’ seasonal ingredients are sourced locally.
“I am hoping as I continue this I can work with more farmers, either with greenhouses or outside of New Madrid,” she said. “My goal is to keep it all as local as I can.”
It is the ingredients available which inspire Ivie’s recipes. She will create then taste, striving to find a perfect balance of sugars, carbs and proteins in her offerings.
“Right now I have a strawberry spinach salad because it is strawberry season, and there is a pineapple salsa chicken. In the fall I will do more nuts, sweet potatoes and chickpeas, because it is a hardier season. I will be doing soups. I like to keep it seasonal just because it seems like our bodies kind of navigate that way anyway,” she said
But her customers are adamant about keeping their favorites, including the chicken, bacon ranch wrap and bowl, on the menu.
“I don’t keep anything on the menu that I don’t personally like. I think that helps because I can be honest and say, hey, I eat that. I love that. It is great,” she said, then pauses and admits she isn’t a fan of avocado but it still has a place in several recipes.
However her customers are fans and their comments are positive Ivie said.
“I have so many clients whose goal is weight loss and they are noting that they are steadily losing weight, that their blood pressures are lowering,” Ivie said. “That is my goal all along. I just want people to eat a really well-balanced whole meal.”
Currently Preppy Meals can only be found on its Facebook page, where Ivie details the instructions for ordering and payment options. Meals can be picked up or delivered to customers in East Prairie, Kewanee, Matthews, Marston, New Madrid and Portageville.
Ivie said she hopes to create a website in the future. Her big dream is to one day have her own storefront in New Madrid.
Until then, Ivie stays busy balancing her busy life and her new enterprise.
“My goal here is not to reinvent the wheel,” she said. “I just want people to know that it doesn’t have to be boring or bland to eat whole ingredients that are nourishing your body. I’m here to help others discover how small, sustainable changes can lead to a healthier, more vibrant version of themselves.”