When the first text from the courier pinged on my phone, it was a photo of a bulging tote bag propped against my front door. Thirty seconds later, just before the Tuesday Foods delivery van scooted off to its next destination, a second message (“Enjoy!”) arrived with a link to the week’s Good Clean Food menu, and I leaped from the couch to claim my bounty.

Such was my inaugural delivery from Tuesday Foods, a plant-based meal delivery service headquartered in Carbondale with service to the Roaring Fork Valley, the Vail Valley, and the Front Range. I opened the insulated tote (“made from paper pulp sourced from responsibly managed forests”) with the anticipation of a kid opening presents on Christmas. Inside was five days’ worth of gorgeously packaged meals brimming with veggies. 

As I migrated everything to the fridge (and three smoothies to the freezer), I cross-referenced each jar and container against the menu. Did I want black bean soup garnished with cilantro and pepitas for lunch? Or save that for dinner, and dig into the ginger-hoisin lettuce wraps instead? There was even a hunk of gluten-free apple-pecan coffee cake for dessert and crudites with cilantro-jalapeño pesto dipping sauce for snacking. I was giddy.

Unlike boxed meals from established delivery services with national distribution that arrive via mail, bounty from Tuesday Foods, which began servicing the Vail Valley in January, is sourced from within 200 miles. Everything about the service—from the online menu to reusable glass jars that are swooped up when you’re finished with them—is sustainably minded. “We joke that it’s like the old-school version of the milkman,” says co-founder Lisa Cohen.

Since each menu item features ingredients packed with macro- and micronutrients (“The antioxidants, fiber, protein, and carbohydrates in black beans make this delicious soup a nutritional powerhouse…”), you eat well and feel like a superhero. And that’s the point. When Cohen first dreamt up Tuesday Foods in 2019, she was working as a nutritionist in private practice. When it came to healthy eating, her clients had lofty goals and good intentions, but not always the follow through. “They knew what to do, it was the execution. Yes, I know you can make a salad, but are you going to make a salad with 10 different superfoods, a perfect combo of protein, fat, and carbs, with toppings for texture and homemade dressing?” she says. “I focused my attention on filling that gap.” And she enlisted the help of co-founder Kelly Hollins, a health coach and a vegan chef who also is a gluten-free baking whiz.

Now the company delivers weekly (always on Tuesdays!) to upwards of 60 clients who order online by Friday from a menu that’s available in either entree or lunch-size portions, with add-ons like smoothies or once-a-month juice cleanses. And, voila, healthy choices abound. “When your delivery comes, your fridge is packed with beautiful food for the week,” says Cohen. “You don’t have to chop [vegetables], go to the grocery store, or figure out what to make.” 

The lunch option (five 16-ounce servings) starts at $215 a week; the signature program (five 32-ounce servings, plus treats and crudites with dips) starts at $425. 

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Seasonal Fare from Second Nature Gourmet

When Marla Leblow relocated to the Vail Valley to work as a private chef, she was already steeped in the fundamentals of terroir—the characteristics that soil, the environment, and other hyper-local factors impart to food and drink. Through a storied culinary career that took her to Asheville, Palm Beach, Martha’s Vineyard, and Seattle, Leblow had learned to cultivate a sense of place by using freshly harvested ingredients with every dish she prepared. In 2016, after tying in with local farmers and producers in the valley and beyond, she started Second Nature Gourmet, a catering company and meal delivery service based downvalley in Eagle.

Her locally inspired menus and dishes—casseroles, pot pies, salads, soups, and dinner entrees—caught the attention of Lake Creek’s Knapp Ranch, which acquired Second Nature Gourmet in 2022 but left Leblow as its head chef. Leblow also continues to cater events (“from 2 guests to 200,” she says), while also finding solid footing in the meal delivery business. Customers, many of whom are second homeowners, order online from seasonal menus and receive meals on Tuesdays and Fridays. There’s no minimum order, but note delivery fees are based on location, not the number of dishes. –AMF