Eating Well

Where Dallas busy bodies go for healthy and tasty pre-made meals

Pick up your meals at My Private Chef's Deep Ellum location or have themdelivered to your house.
Photo courtesy of My Private Chef
Fullosophie offers "farm to fork" meals that you can purchase ready-made or haveall the ingredients prepped to make the meal yourself.
Photo courtesy of Fullosophie
TruMeals makes fresh, calorie-portioned meals such as turkey sliders, availablefor pickup or delivery.
Photo courtesy of TruMeals
My Fit foods follows the 40-40-20 rule for a daily average balanced meal plan.
Photo courtesy of My Fit Foods

When it comes to eating right, we need (at least) a few hours to prepare — from grocery shopping to chopping the ingredients. Regretfully, we don't have enough time to cook for ourselves every day, but we still manage to nourish our bodies — with help from these services that prepare calorie- and portion-controlled meals using fresh, delicious ingredients.

My Fit Foods
Founded in Houston by personal trainer Mario Mendias, My Fit Foods offers healthy meals on the run. The menu focuses on lean protein, low-glycemic carbohydrates and healthy fats and follows the 40-40-20 rule — 40 percent protein, 40 percent carbs, 20 percent fat — for a daily average meal plan.

You can do a three- or 21-day challenge, order online, or simply stop by one of the Dallas locations and pull a few meals — breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks — from the well-stocked fridge. Options include Greek goddess salad, zesty shrimp and scallops, and flat iron tacos.

My Private Chef
Chef Holly Muller takes healthy eating to a new level with My Private Chef. You can start with the basic package, in which you receive three meals — high in protein and fiber, low in sodium and sugar — per day for five days.

Meals are prepared fresh and frozen prior to delivery or pickup at Muller's Deep Ellum location. Some of her clients' favorite dishes include spinach and Asiago quiche with truffle oil, tilapia cakes with mango relish and snap peas, and Tuscan chicken with great northern beans.

Simply Fit Meals
Simply Fit Meals makes all meals in-house, with low-glycemic carbs; lean meats; and 100 percent natural, local and organic ingredients. There are no added preservatives or sweeteners, and everything is sized just right in dishes such as cinnamon French toast, sesame teriyaki salmon, and turkey mac and cheese.

Stop by the Plano location and pick up as many portions as you like; just refrigerate and reheat when you're ready to eat. Simply Fit Meals offers delivery within 10 miles of its store, and a new location on Hillcrest Road in Dallas opens in February. Sign up for a house account and build up rewards.

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Ice Cream News

Global gourmet ice cream chain debuts in U.S. with 2 Dallas-area shops

Dumont Ice Cream

An ice cream concept from India has made its U.S. debut, right here in Texas: Called Dumont Creamery & Cafe, it's an ice cream chain founded in Hyderabad that now has two locations in the Dallas area.

Their first location was Frisco, which opened at 1951 FM 423 at the end of 2023; a second location opened in late October in Coppell at 1535 S. Belt Line Rd. #160.

Dumont was founded in 1999 by brothers Vivek and Bhashkaar, and currently has 23 locations in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Vijayawada listed on their website.

Bringing the concept to Texas are local franchisees and friends Sai Sashank and Tarang Tirumala, who moved to the U.S. in 2005 to attend college.

Both have successful consulting careers, but craved a taste of home.

Ice cream is the centerpiece at Dumont with more than two dozen flavors, ranging from gourmet to classics to flavors boasting global influences: from Italian-inspired sorbet to a New Zealand-inspired honey ice cream called "hokey pokey."

There is vanilla, chocolate, and mint chocolate chip — but also unique options such as cake and jam, an ice cream with a vanilla base, bites of cake, and spiced jam; and kheer, a coconut ice cream studded with dried fruits and nuts — a nod to the kheer rice pudding that's one of India's favorite desserts.

A single scoop is $4. They have cups and a cute version of waffle cones: shorter and fatter than usual, to provide a greater ratio of ice cream-to-cone.

In addition to ice cream, they have a beverage program with coffee and espresso drinks such as lattes, plus boba tea. There are also special drinks like falooda — an exotic Indian milkshake with rose syrup and vermicelli — as well as limited-edition drinks like iced kheer, a cool beverage version of that same popular rice pudding dessert.

Both locations are spacious, bright, and clean, with pale green banquettes at Frisco, and pale blue chairs and tables at Coppell. Both feature an astronaut theme with statues and framed photos and cartoons on the wall. The Coppell location also has a mural dedicated to great moments in Coppell history.