Hello, my name is Jeff, and welcome to Great Veggie Bites!
Great Veggie Bites began out of my desire to support my two middle daughters' interest in following my lead to becoming vegetarian. They were willing to eat this way, but only if it was as easy for them at home with their mom, as it was when they were with me. I am a divorced father of four, and it was a challenge to determine how to encourage their interest during the time that they were with their mother. She isn't vegetarian, and has a very busy workload with her career; and found it difficult to juggle meeting everyone's needs and desires when it came to meals.
Enter my unique talent; with my very diverse background, I knew I would be able to come up with a solution. In addition to studying hotel and restaurant management in college, I also had over 10 years training and cooking under the direction of many great chefs, where I also helped to run the back of the house operations. After leaving the culinary industry I studied wholistic* medicine including massage, acupressure, and also did much research into the important role that nutrition plays in supporting overall health. I ran a successful practice, for almost 12 years, incorporating those skills, before moving on to find new adventures.
Which is how I ended up here; with plenty of knowledge, and tons of real-life experience in both culinary arts (cooking and developing recipes/menus) as well as formal training in wholistic* health and extensive self-study of nutrition, as well as my daughters asking for help in making the transition to vegetarianism.
So, I did what any good father would do; I began preparing extra meals in my downtime; working to perfect something that the whole family could enjoy. With the intention that when I dropped my girls off, I could send them with meals that would easily go from freezer to table, with little fuss; especially after a long day at work; that everyone could enjoy!
Naturally, I realized that we weren't the only family experiencing the challenge of one or more family members no longer wanting to eat meat, yet not knowing what to feed them. After some field research.... (basically talking to other moms and dads ;) ) my suspicions were indeed confirmed and Great Veggie Bites was born.
Cooking has always been a passion of mine. I remember, at 7-years-old, standing on a stool in front of the stove stirring a white sauce and canning veggies with my mom. When I was 11 or 12 years old, my mom went to culinary school at the Skylon Tower in Niagara Falls to become a chef; and I read every one of her cookbooks and manuals, from cover to cover. Every weekend I was the first to wake and cooked breakfast for the whole family. My dad taught me the art of grilling and making classics like liver and tuna casserole which I always felt needed lots of ketchup to be enjoyable. :P
I take great joy and pleasure in cooking, especially for others. It is an absolute honour to be able to share this lifelong passion with you and your family.
I have always loved the classics; roast beef, roast turkey, meatloaf, shepherd's pie, pot pies, mashed potatoes, gravy, etc. These were my true comfort foods and after years of enjoying a plant-based diet, and lots of work tweaking these recipes I am now able to bring all of those old classics back to life again in a revamped, healthier version that fits the plant-based lifestyle!
... and then along came Heather ...
... and then along came Heather ...
Heather is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist, with a passion for helping people to create their happiest, healthiest lives by guiding them to establish sustainable habits, and permanent lifestyle changes, one baby step at a time.
Her passion stems from noticing the health-improving changes she experienced herself simply by paying closer attention to her own eating habits and lifestyle choices.
Her approach to incorporate the daily habits that support and nurture the body, mind, and soul, places nutrition, and more specifically digestion, as that first building block. She advocates that eating a plant-based, whole foods diet is best suited to supporting your happiest, healthiest life!
Heather joins us as my partner in life, as well as in the business, and as Great Veggie Bites' Nutritional Expert.
She is our very own in house quality assurance; ensuring that we continue to create the products that provide you and your family with delicious, AND nutritious meals!
It is very important to us that we use REAL FOOD to create REAL MEALS!
As much as is possible, we use locally grown organic produce that is free from GMOs and artificial chemicals, in addition to the love and care with which we prepare your meals!
We don't use fillers, artificial stabilizers, gums nor other additives in our meals.
If we wouldn't feed it to our family ... we won't offer it to yours.
Bon appétit and happy, healthy eating!
Jeff and Heather
Great Veggie Bites
Plantbased Living Made Delicious
{*Wholistic refers to the whole, a whole item or whole body of a person or thing. The word defines the consideration of the entire structure or makeup, which includes the body, mind and the spirit in the case of a human being}