To some, 45 years in an industry sounds like a lifetime. But to Chris Ideson, it’s a passion. In the center of a small plaza in Southeast Portland, CI Lifestyle Meals holds its business. This local meal prep company has been up and running for nine years, serving households as far as Ridgefield, Camas, Banks and Wilsonville with delicious food made from scratch.
Ideson grew up in Minnesota, immersing into the food industry at an early age. He’s traveled around the country, opening and managing restaurants in New York, Colorado, Arizona, Washington and California. His list of qualifications is endless. He moved to Oregon in 2001, working as an executive level leader in establishments. Being a single dad at the time, this grew to be challenging, with his son having a health scare being his sign to open his own place and spend more time at home.
CI Lifestyle Meals holds their service, food and delivery to high standards, focusing on shopping local for produce, meat and grains and delivering meals for free to doorsteps twice a week. Their menu changes frequently, adding variety to people’s plates and making meal selections enticing. CI Lifestyle’s family meal package comes with plates for up to four members, pricing at $52. Their breakfast meals are $10 a plate, entrees at $16, protein snacks at $3-4 and bulk protein, starch and veggies at about $6 per pound depending on seasonality.
For every 10 meals that are sold at CI Lifestyle, one meal is donated to people in need. Ideson partners with Recovery Gym and Unbroken Strength who offer free crossfit to recovering drug and alcoholics, and Underground PDX, who offers crossfit to at-risk youth, tutoring and once a month hosts a family night where Ideson makes food, feeding about 150 people. “If you’re going to believe in me and spend money at my business, I’m going to give it back to the community and try to help where I can,” said Ideson.
In a world where time is limited and health is put on the back burner, families are left wondering where quality meets affordability. Idesons' two greatest passions are food and fitness, transferring into his food and his business. His goal is to give time back to families with his pre-made meals without the sacrifice of nutrients. “It’s so easy today. The cheapest things in grocery stores are bad for you,” said Ideson.
Some of the meals that CI Lifestyle offer are chocolate chip oatmeal cookie protein pancakes, a chicken sausage, caramelized onion and butternut squash egg bake, overnight oats, breakfast burritos, a beef and broccoli buddha bowl, a sesame ginger chicken thigh bowl, a blackened salmon caesar, grilled shrimp diablo and pork dragon noodles. Meal sizes are four, five, six and eight ounces and can be upgraded to family plans. You can create your own meal plan, choosing how many breakfast and entree options you would like, can pick their standard plan which comes with five breakfast and 10 entree options, or you can choose their entree only plan which provides you with a minimum of 10 meals a week. You can add extra protein onto your meals, choose to have less carbs on your meal with vegetarian options available. Customers can order meals through a subscription, where meals will be delivered weekly or through an a la carte option.
CI Lifestyle makes about 5,500-10,000 meals a month with little to no food waste and uses packaging that is 100% compostable. “I give the best quality,” said Ideson. In the long run, Ideson wants to grow his partnerships with local businesses and possibly expand to another location. At the moment, Ideson is focused on making quality food, helping his community, and is actively finding programs to donate to. His goal is to serve people who want to save time whilst eating healthier– and after nine years of successful business, it’s safe to say that Ideson is thriving.
"If you’re going to believe in me and spend money at my business, I’m going to give it back to the community"