Clean Eatz in Coconut Creek {Photos by Han Okcuoglu}
Last month, Clean Eatz opened its roughly 100th franchise in Coconut Creek.
Originally from North Carolina, they propose a “transformative” lifestyle change with superior healthy food and bites and thousands of prepped meals cooked fresh at the location.
Franchise owner Robert Dolce was busy taking orders and helping explain all the options. Within minutes, I could tell he was sincere about wanting to change lives and watch people become healthy. Clean Eatz is pretty affordable once you average out each meal, especially compared to what you can buy for that same amount from maybe Whole Foods.
Rob explained that all the recipes are from the headquarters in North Carolina but homemade in their kitchen. There were so many options that it took me about five minutes of staring at multiple menus to figure out where to start.
Let’s start with the in-store dining options. We tried some smoothies, and although very tasty, there was a preponderance of the word “protein” on many selections. We discovered that meant a big glob of protein powder slowly muddying the bottom layer.
Each chocolate, berry, and strawberry/banana smoothie was quite good until that point, so a lesson learned: ask for less powder next time.
We ordered a lot of food and discovered we liked the meal prep options. I feared that with super-healthy eating, I had to sacrifice my taste buds for clean, organic food. For example, that was certainly the case with the wheat pasta mac and cheese that came as an optional side or the boneless chicken wing bites. But then other options, like the sweet potato waffle fries, were fantastic.
We tried a myriad of items with mixed results. The bison Clean Eatz burger with turkey bacon ($11.99) was beefy and had a great texture. The queso steak ($9.99) was a bit bland, even though there was a modicum of queso slathered onto the shredded beef inside the garlic herb wrap.
The chicken pesto ($8.99) also had turkey bacon and a phenomenal kale pesto dressing, which we loved. On the other hand, the turkey burger ($11.99) was again a bit bland and left unfinished.
My wife had the bang bang shrimp ($8.99) in a tomato basil wrap, and it was just bursting with flavor and a bit of heat. The cucumbers acted as a cooling agent. With everything, we felt full but not bloated.
We figured out quickly that the better items typically had one of their six homemade and exclusive sauces. CE Thai Chili was a sweet, spicy sauce for the bang bang shrimp. The Green Goddess was packed with shredded kale, lemon, and earthy goodness. The Epic Sauce, which includes seven ingredients, including local organic mayo, was a favorite of the kids. Rob explained that they used that as a substitute since ketchup is so high in sodium and sugar.
We also wanted to see how the meal prep service worked. Clean Eatz has an astonishing 3,000 recipes. Each week, they feature 6 to 8 meals. The staff cooks hundreds of meals and stores them in microwavable (or oven-ready) containers in the giant refrigerators behind the counter. You will never see the same recipe again for another six months. Incredible.
These are available both frozen and unfrozen. The refrigerated items are good for a week, while the frozen items are edible for over a month.
After one week of not being sold, they get moved to the Grab N Go meal plan freezer and get discounted by $1.00, where they sit for a maximum of two weeks. We also started grabbing tons of other single-use items from here, including five cheese cauliflower crust pizza and some Buffalo Chicken empanadas that were moist and flaky and way better than expected. The Grab N Go even offered family-sized portions called “shareable meals” for four people for only $20.99.
The food options range from health-focused (simple brown rice, veggies, protein) to keto, gluten-free, vegetarian, and seafood. The portions are not huge for big eaters like me, but I think that’s the point of eating clean and maintaining a healthy weight.
When you have 3,000 recipes, there is little chance that every dish will be amazing, but there were definitely way more hits than misses. Even at its worst, nothing tasted terrible, but certain meals were a bit bland, and we found the flavors lacking. We didn’t realize we could have and should have ordered the homemade sauces to go.
Several dishes, though, were outstanding. The A1 steak bowl had this A-1 lover putting down my bottle and opting for their shredded steak’s tangy and well-seasoned version. The gnocchi meatball marinara with broccoli started a scrum between the kids. The regular steak with green peppers and onions in a butter sauce was delicious. The ground beef taco bowl was ameliorated by the little bit of green goddess sauce we had left and turned into something quite tasty.
The more meals we bought, the lower the average cost per meal was. We bought above the 21-meal threshold, bringing our average down to $6.52 per meal (not including the extra $1.00 off the Grab N Go section). Rob mentioned that if we downloaded the Clean Eatz app, after 1000 points, we would get ten free meals.
We didn’t even get a chance to try their build-your-own-bowl meals, protein-packed dessert bars, cookies, and brownies with Stevia or low-sugar substitutes. I think we bought enough food for a while.
Again, with these many options, it’s impossible that everything will taste amazing or like the unhealthy version we might be accustomed to. But with this much variety, it’s also impossible not to find many fantastic, clean meals for a startlingly low price.
Clean Eatz
954-420-9559
4800 W Hillsboro Blvd Suite A10
Coconut Creek, FL 33073
Hours
Mon – Fri 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m
Sat – Sun 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
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