Today we’d like to introduce you to Denise Power.
Hi Denise, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When my son was born in January of 2012, I left my job as a Denton ISD middle school teacher, began creating clean, organic, essential oil-based products to use in our home with our new baby, and “accidentally” started my own company, Lil’ Monsties (later rebranded to LM Organics).
I grew that business, from our home, for the next 8+ years until it got bigger than I was willing to work with while still having elementary-aged kiddos at home who deserved more of my time and efforts than the business was allowing as it continued to grow.
I sold LM Organics in March of 2020 and continued working with women around the nation through meal planning, budgeting, and recipe creating/sharing, which I had done some of through LMO over the years. The platform used to share this information after separating from LMO was called Joyfully Managing Life.
In the fall of 2020, I decided to dive back into full-time work while both kiddos were in school during the days, and took on a full-time position as the Social Media Marketing Manager for a local business, and loved being able to really dive into the marketing creation that I enjoyed learning and doing through the years with my own businesses.
The next summer, I left that position to pursue a new venture: Power Meal Prep. I have always loved creating recipes and meals for myself, friends, family, and anyone else who would let me feed them! It seemed like a great next business attempt to try my hand at actually preparing and selling the meals that I create instead of simply sharing and selling the recipes.
I took a few months over the summer to acquire the necessary licenses, training, supplies, and commercial kitchen space in order to really jump in with both feet, and in the right (re: legal) way. I can’t say those parts were particularly fun, but as with most things in life, it’s a freeing feeling, later on, to know that things were done the proper way up front instead of having to go back later and fix things when your time and energy could be better used elsewhere.
Over the last 6 months or so, Power Meal Prep has really evolved as I try different things to see what the local population really needs and wants. I started out preparing a menu of fresh food items weekly, such as 6 signature salads, protein bites, and family-sized meals like our lemon garlic salmon over rice with asparagus or chicken parmesan with roasted broccoli.
I also began providing custom meals for clients who have very specific dietary needs (some transitioning to plant-based, and some who have auto-immune diseases and struggle with the time and energy required to make their own meals each day because of how many things they must avoid).
In October, we introduced a monthly Freezer Meal menu option available for pre-orders. Surprisingly to me, the monthly freezer meals have really become the most popular part of our business since then.
We post a new menu each month on our social media pages with a specific date and time window for pickups, and people simply DM or comment with which of the meals they want to order, how many of each, and an email address where we can send their invoice. We have plans for a much more streamlined system for ordering the freezer meals, but it requires me to have the time to implement the switch-over of ordering platforms, and I’m busy enough (thankfully) that I simply don’t have the time to finish that project currently. So, we’re making do with what we have for now!
We also introduced some new Whole30 approved menu items this month, and it’s been fun to work with clients to create meals that they need/want for themselves and their families.
It’s really a joy to be able to flex my creativity in order to create these menus and freezer meals each month and the fresh meals each week. I truly do have the most incredible clients, and knowing that me doing what I enjoy actually helps them feel less stress and makes their lives easier is just icing on the cake. I really believe that I have the best job ever, even though my clients regularly tell me that they don’t know HOW I do what I do because the thought of being in the kitchen that much gives them anxiety!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
To be honest, most of the struggles I’ve encountered have been a result of me overcommitting myself.
I have what my mother referred to as “alligator eyes” when we were serving food as children. If something sounds interesting/fun, I have a tendency to dive into research mode, figure it out, then become a little obsessed with doing it, which then suggests to me that I should turn that into a business venture. I suppose that’s just what some refer to as the “entrepreneurial bug,” though.
My husband calls me the “little black cat” sometimes because of my tendency to plan for perfect circumstances (i.e.: not planning for traffic, so I’m late to something, or not ordering backups of something because I only need a specific number and don’t consider that something might break or be lost, etc.).
All of this said, I have been told on many occasions that I’m extremely resourceful, and I do love to problem-solve, so even though it may look chaotic and messy at times, I’m an optimist, and it really takes a lot to cause me to quit something once I’ve set my mind to it. I’m definitely grateful for these qualities as an entrepreneur!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I think I probably wrote too much in the first question because most of this is in there, but one thing that I didn’t mention before is my Prep Together events that I host a few times a year. Those who purchase a ticket (they’re very limited due to space) gather in a local kitchen (with lots of wonderful counter space/islands), and we prep 10-12 freezer meals altogether.
Participants just show up ready to have a great time, and I provide everything needed: ingredients, storage bags, cooler bags, meal labels with reheating instructions printed, recipes, snacks, etc. I even pre-chop the veggies so that we can save time while prepping.
It’s such a great time of fellowship with each other, and we walk away – in about 3 hours or so – with cooler bags full of healthy, delicious meals to fill our freezers/crock pots and feed our families!
Our next Prep Together Even will be coming up in the next few months, so definitely follow along on social media to be among the first to know when those tickets are available bc they fill up quickly!
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
North Texas is such a unique place to live. You can drive 15 minutes and encounter a completely different culture of people and businesses. Dallas vs. Denton vs. Ft. Worth, etc. Living in Denton, I feel like we are never more than 30 minutes away from any sort of entertainment, food, or experience that we could think of. It’s such a different reality than where I grew up (very small-town East Texas).
Dislike: After living in Madrid, Spain for a bit, I came to realize that we are very much missing out on the joys of public transit the way Europe (and large US cities like NY) enjoys it! There’s just something wonderful about hopping on the Metro and zipping from place to place, all on foot!
Pricing:
- Freezer Meal Pre-Orders serve 4-6+ each: $35 each
- Custom Meal Plans vary greatly and depend on meal requirements – usually specialty items, so they end up around $15-$18 per 1-2 serving meal or $50-$75 per 4-6 serving meal.
- Protein Bites: $12-$15 per box
- Prep Together meal prep events: $350
- Signature Salads (serve 1-2): $12 (Salad Club Membership also available. Pricing depends on number of salads per week.)
Contact Info:
- Email: denise@joyfullymanaginglife.com
- Website: www.PowerMealPrep.com
- Instagram: @PowerMealPrepTX
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PowerMealPrepTX/
Image Credits:
Brenda Turrubiarte
Darby McFall
