Meet the Owner
Hi! I’m Emily Pope, Owner and Executive Chef of Red Apron Meal Prep Kitchen.
If you’re here because you’re trying to eat healthier, lose weight, get back on track, or simply make better choices a little easier—I get it.
I feel like I’ve been trying to lose weight my entire life.
My first real attempt was at 16, when I spent an entire summer riding my bike five-plus miles a day while basically starving myself. I lost weight, but there was absolutely nothing healthy about it.
That started a cycle that followed me for decades: lose the weight, gain it back, find the next diet, pill, program or solution—and start all over again.
In my twenties, I discovered the gym and ephedra-based appetite suppressants. I dropped from around 230 pounds to 155 and became obsessed with exercise and staying thin. I looked healthy, but my motivation had very little to do with health. I was simply terrified of gaining the weight back.
When ephedra was banned, the weight eventually returned. Over the years, I tried Weight Watchers, prescription appetite suppressants, injections, countless diets and eventually bariatric surgery.
Actually, I had two weight-loss surgeries.
I lost significant weight after my first surgery, but it came with serious complications. Years later, that surgery had to be reversed and converted to a gastric sleeve. I was convinced this would finally be the thing that fixed my lifelong struggle with weight.
It wasn't.
After two surgeries and decades of chasing the next solution, I finally had to accept something I really didn't want to hear:
There was no magic fix.
I needed to find a way of eating and living that I could actually sustain.
And That's Where Red Apron Comes In...
In early 2018, I was working as a Human Resources Director and meal prepping my own lunches to help myself stay on track.
My coworkers started noticing my meals and asking me to cook for them, too.
And suddenly I had an idea.
I spent my spare time teaching myself how to start a business. I built a website, formed an LLC, created a logo and figured things out as I went. Then, after 15 years in Human Resources, I did something most of the people around me thought was completely crazy:
I quit my career to cook meals for people.
On February 18, 2018, Red Apron Meal Prep Kitchen was born.
Why I Still Believe in Meal Prep...
Today, I have a much healthier relationship with food—but I'm still human. I still have days when I get off track. My goals still change, and healthy eating isn't magically effortless for me.
What I've learned is that I do much better when I set myself up for success before I'm hungry, tired, busy or stressed.
For me, that means opening my refrigerator and having a healthy, portioned meal already waiting. I don't have to make a good decision in that moment because I already made it.
That's what meal prep does for me, and that's what I want Red Apron to do for you.
This business is deeply personal because it grew out of my own lifelong struggle with food, weight and body image.
For most of my life, I was desperately trying not to be the fat girl.
Now, I'm much more interested in being the healthy girl.
And that's a very different goal.
So if you've started over more times than you can count, tried every diet imaginable, fallen off track or wondered why healthy eating seems so much easier for everyone else—trust me, you're not alone.
After all the extreme things I've tried over the years, one of the simplest has also been the most sustainable:
Have good food ready before you need it.
That's what we do at Red Apron Meal Prep Kitchen—and I'm incredibly proud that something I started to help myself has grown into something that helps so many others, too.
– Emily