Good Measure Meals

The concept of Good Measure Meals™ is simple: healthy food that tastes great at affordable prices. Open Hand, which owns GMM, invested over $100,000 in the development of an innovative menu that would be compliant with the healthy eating guidelines of the American Diabetes Association, the American Dietetic Association and the American Heart Association. Our Executive Chef works closely with our staff Culinary Dietitian to ensure that recipes are developed that deliver a “gourmet” quality meal while maintaining a healthy nutritional balance. Good Measure Meals™ is the only home delivered meal plan in Atlanta that combines healthy, balanced nutrition with a “gourmet” menu making eating healthy affordable and convenient. Vegetarian menu now available! We offer convenient delivery or pickup your meals from one of our 60 pickup locations in Metro Atlanta, Savannah and Athens.

In 2005 Good Measure Meals™ was launched by Atlanta nonprofit Open Hand. Good Measure Meals™ is part of a growing trend in the nonprofit world called social entrepreneurship. While GMM is a separate business unit, all profits generated by GMM go to support the work that Open hand does in the community: “helping people prevent or better manage chronic disease through Comprehensive Nutrition Care™, which combines home-delivered meals and nutrition education as a means to reinforce the connection between informed food choices and improved quality of life.”

For more information about our parent organization, please visit the Open Hand website at www.projectopenhand.org.

As the culinary registered dietitian responsible for the development of the Good Measure Meals™ menus, Ashley Ritchie creates and tests recipes and carefully balances the nutritional content of each meal using nutrition analysis software. ServSafe certified, she also provides food safety oversight in the kitchen. She joined GMM in 2006.

After earning her Bachelor of Science degree in Nutrition from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Ritchie worked as a nutrition analysis coordinator for the cafeteria menu in the Alexandria (VA) School System. She analyzed nutrient composition of the cafeteria menu to ensure compliance with government regulations for school nutrition. Ritchie also developed healthy recipes for the school cafeterias.

Ritchie leads the update our menu twice a year so we can incorporate fresh seasonal foods, new recipes and customer requests. This update is several months in the making and starts with a meeting of the chefs, nutrition services personnel, marketing, sales and customer service reps. Information is shared regarding customer comments, ideas for new recipes, best seasonal foods to incorporate, availability of healthy ingredients and how the meals look and taste when prepared.

Next there is recipe research, development and testing. Ashley does the nutrition analysis of each dish to be sure it meets the stringent guidelines we’ve established. The nutritional makeup of all GMM meals as to calories, protein, fat and carbohydrates is meticulously balanced by the day; not averaged by the week like some other plans are. Then the recipe trials begin. We cook, taste, test, tweak….and do it all again. After all this work is done the menu we’ve developed is healthy, fresh, innovative and varied enough to meet all our expectations and the expectations of our customers.