Table for One
I love to cook and entertain — dinner parties, al fresco garden harvest meals in a field, and somehow, I find a way to host picnics all year long -- even in the snow. If I am cooking for a crowd, I couldn't be more excited about the process from start to finish, with the result of pleasing others through food, drink, and conviviality. I enjoy selecting the guest list, coming up with the menu, sourcing local food, picking out the linens, arranging the centerpieces, and creating a signature drink that goes with the theme. But, as a single woman who lives solo, I don’t really enjoy cooking for one. This is when Tuesday Foods comes into play to make my daily life easier, more sustainable and my diet healthier.
To cook for one person takes so much time and energy - and, when I cook for myself, I typically just go through the motions and make the same simple, easy things over and over -- which definitely aren’t as healthy or as creative and interesting as they could be. I weigh out the time = money clause, and to be honest, cooking healthy, vegan, gluten-free, organic meals for one person takes a ton of time and energy.
What is fun and worth my time, is saving my cooking skills when I have people over for a planned dinner party or coming up with beautiful appetizers, salads, entrees, desserts, and picnic food to share. In my everyday life, I need a good food plan, or I end up making unhealthy eating decisions, like takeout or going out to eat too much. The TF smoothies are great for meals on the go. The rest of their food is super easy to heat and serve within minutes.
On my last trip to Telluride for Blues & Brews, it was a breeze to bring my Tuesday Foods prepared fresh vegetables and flavorful vegan dips. In the afternoon at festivals, I like to throw a picnic and invite my local friends to join me by the river so that we can enjoy the music wafting over from Town Park. The crudités kits from Tuesday Foods are so beautiful in presentation and they add such a healthy aesthetic to the arrangement of store-bought bags of chips, tubs of hummus, packages of cheese, and boxes of crackers that are normally purchased for a party. Where else could one find rainbow radish, jicama, miniature peppers, and such colorful, creative plant-based dips? So compact and diverse, the crudités kits are great to bring as hostess gifts, in your backpack on hikes, as well as on picnics by the river.
Another bonus of Tuesday Foods is that I cut down on my personal food waste. When you shop for one -- you end up with so much produce and leftovers that you cannot eat. I mean, how is one person really going to eat a whole head of cabbage or a bunch of parsley in 5 days? With the measured-out meals in jars, I get a bounty of diverse vegetables, fruits, grains, proteins, carbohydrates, herbs, and spices -- and no food goes to waste. The ‘Let’s Do Lunch’ option provides five different meals, plus the option to add on additional entrees, soups, baked goods, chia puddings, crudités + dips, and smoothies. There is no possible way I could buy and use all of the ingredients and have the time to cook all of the different meals that come in a week's worth of Tuesday Foods.
For my work week of solo dining the delivery of Tuesday Foods is just the right amount -- thankfully it’s not too much that I have to turn down parties or dinners out on the town. Sometimes I even freeze the soups or dishes that don’t require immediate consumption. My favorite Tuesday Foods dishes include the chickpea salad wraps, Tikka Masala, Bolognese over polenta, forbidden rice noodle stir fry, broccoli cheese soup, the Greek salad, and my all-time fave is the fudgy almond brownie. It is so true -- salads, soups, and healthy food all taste better if someone else makes them for you (and delivers them right to your door!)
When there’s a buzz around a cool, new brand or event, especially in the areas of arts, food, libations, wellness, philanthropy, travel, and nature, there’s a good chance Lucy ‘Lea’ Tucker is involved. As a senior public relations professional focused on growing, guiding, and managing the perception of emerging brands, she’s first-rate when it comes to launching new ideas, creative concepts, and products.
In addition to freelance writing and art projects, Lea’s client base includes like-minded, forward-thinking, sustainable brands that do things their own way, including Marble Distilling Co. & The Distillery Inn, Aspen Shakti, Pro Skier, Kim Reichhelm, Aspen Film, DanceAspen, Aspen Public Radio, Challenge Aspen, Galerie Maximilian, and Tuesday Foods.
When she’s not building creative communication and business development campaigns for her clients, Lea can be found playing in the great outdoors: skiing, hiking, camping, and en plein air watercolor painting. Lea also dabbles as a wildflower identifier, gourmet-backpacking chef, beachcomber, reader, and writer. Hailing from all parts of the country, Lea stays true to the motto “a rolling stone gathers no moss” in her travels around the globe. While at home in the small mountain town of Aspen, she also enjoys time in exotic big cities, the European countryside, and anywhere with water and sand.