Meal prep companies are all the rage, and chances are you’ve tried a few. So has Castle Rock resident and chef Brandon Cant.
“I've tried several different meal prep services, and there's always been something about each one of those that I didn't like. I hated that I still had to cook dinner. so that didn't last long,” Brandon says.
"And then I tried the pre-cooked ones, which are closer to the space we're in. I felt like it was a glorified frozen meal, and you never know where it was made, and by the time you get it, it isn’t nearly as fresh as when they made it. I wanted something that was fresh and local.”
So began Coast2Coast Meal Prep, a Castle-Rock-based delivery (or pick-up) food service that creates gourmet, chef-inspired meals that honor cuisines from around the United States. Think southwest chicken enchiladas, steak gorgonzola, and pork medallions in garlic cream sauce—for about half the cost of a restaurant meal. Brandon feels his key to success is that he knows how to cook food that he knows is going to be reheated. “For example,” Brandon says,” we cook salmon rare. So by the time it comes out of the customer’s microwave, it is perfectly cooked.”
Born and raised in Orange County, California, Brandon and his family moved to Castle Rock about five years ago. “Like most people who live in California, we couldn’t afford to live there and I wanted to get out of there have a better life.” With a passion for cooking and 20 years of restaurant experience, Brandon launched a YouTube cooking show, “Coast2Coast Cooking,” in early 2018. “For every episode, We made an iconic dish from each state.
“I got about six months into that had gone through about 25 states, and the idea popped up that I should turn this whole concept into a food truck. So six months later, we opened the Coast2Coast food truck with the same concept of regionally iconic food.”
And then the pandemic hit. We had to pivot and change the way we did things. And we made it through the pandemic, but towards the end of it, the whole food truck industry had changed.”
In January of 2021, Brandon launched his meal prep service. Serving freshly prepared meals to the hungry citizens of Castle Rock, Coast2Coast also delivers to Larkspur and Parker, with plans to expand north into Lone Tree and Highlands Ranch.
Ready to eat? Simply go to coast2coastmealprep.goprep.com, select your meals (the menu changes every six weeks), and place your order. With a quick zap in the microwave, you’ll have a fresh, locally prepared, chef-inspired meal. Yum.