Tess Bates decided to make things easier before her second child, daughter Harper, was born – she began freezer meal prep to feed her husband Tanner and son Gunner. “I didn’t like so much of the stuff on the grocery shelves that included MSG, salt and sugar so I kept specializing my recipes as Harper got older. I thought ‘I can sell these!’ and over a year’s time I opened my business.” Tess began rigorous testing in November 2018. She got so excited and prepared a large number of recipes. She opened Low And Slow To Go in October 2019. Her menu changes every two months and keeps the favorites on the list. The Mississippi Roast is a favorite and the Hatch Chili is a second favorite of shoppers. Tess added Paleo options in January. Tess is excited to be busy as a one-woman-shop and she hit the ground running. “It has been really fun!” State and city mandates that she have three licenses: a commercial kitchen manufacturing license; a frozen food warehousing license; and a local license with the city health department. The business is inspected regularly and it always passes inspections. She gets products from River City Produce as well as buying healthy ingredients in bulk. Everything is made from scratch, including the creamy bases, dressings, spices, and soups. There is no MSG or food dyes in the products she uses. Tess’s cream of chicken includes only four ingredients she makes from scratch as well, not from cans.
The vacuumed-sealed package label is divided into four categories. It describes the meat you’ll need, any additional ingredients if desired, instructions for crock pot cooking, and serving suggestions. It also has an elevated section of possible ingredients you might want to add to the basic kits. All ingredients in the package are listed on the back. So it is easy to start a shopping list of the needed items.
Her latest creations when interviewed were Lemon Pesto Chicken, Kung Pao Chicken and Creamy Ranch Chicken. The website has photos of the finished crock pot dishes and blogs about Tess and the business. Order online at lowandslowtogo.com. Pick up orders on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. at 28720 IH-10 West, Suite 410, Boerne. Tess credits joining the Boerne Chamber and HCWIB for her early networking success.
Tess is from Kerrville and is a Tivy graduate. She attended Texas Tech and met her husband after she graduated. He was raised in Lubbock and they stayed there for ten years. “Work moved us back to the Hill Country and we’re able to raise our kids here. We’ve been here a year and we love the area.”
