New Takeout: Get Healthy Food-to-Go at Made Foods
It has three locations, 44 seasonal menu items and nutritionists to help you.
Made Foods’ Braised Beef Risotto with butternut squash, kale and broccolini.
Photos courtesy of Made Foods
If you’ve ever been on a deadline and a diet at the same time, you know it can be difficult to balance healthy eating with grab-and-go options available in the city, something Made Foods co-founder Blake Ducharme can relate to. “The idea [for Made Foods] came because I live a pretty busy lifestyle and I saw the need to come up with this concept,” says Ducharme. This past October, Ducharme, along with partner Chris Dobson and head chef Andrea Harling, launched their boutique-style restaurant, which currently has three Calgary locations – West 85th, Garrison Woods and Willow Park Village –Â and will be launching a fourth one in the next two months.
Shying away from the concept of fast food, the company offers healthy meals-to-go from its seasonal, 44-item menu. That menu includes snacks and smoothies as well as a variety of options for breakfast, lunch and dinner, including smoked brisket tostadas, spicy bison meatballs and barley mushroom risotto.
Photo Courtesy of Made Foods.
Made Foods’ Spicy Bison Meatballs.
All meals are portioned for the calorie conscious and made in-house using local ingredients from companies including Greens Eggs and Ham, Galimax Trading and Canadian Rangeland Bison and Elk.
If cooking isn’t your forte, you can order a week’s worth of meals at a time through its website. A quick turnaround means morning orders are often available for pick up on the same day. Made Foods also offers catering services for those hoping to avoid the typical “pizza and take out” staff meetings.
Just because the food is meant to be taken on the fly doesn’t mean there’s no reason to stick around the restaurant. In addition to seating, heating stations and free Wi-Fi, Made Foods also offers consultations with a staff nutritionist to help customers better understand dietary needs. “We’re here to educate our community,” says Ducharme. “We provide that service so everybody can come in, meet with a nutritionist and understand exactly how to make themselves healthier.”
120, 20 Westpark Link S.W., 587-483-9937; 3534 Garrison Gate S.W., 587-483-9853; Willow Park Village, 564, 10816 Macleod Tr. S.E., madefoods.com