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‘Full-time Noms’: Salmon Arm friends focus on nutritious meals for people on the go

The Nom Shuswap opens doors in downtown Salmon Arm
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Longtime friends Cassie Walters and Raelyn Lachapelle opened the doors to their new downtown Salmon Arm space for their business, The Nom Shuswap, on February 1, 2022. There, customers can pick up pre-ordered meals and grab-and-go meals, as well as smoothies and cold-pressed juices. (Lachlan Labere-Salmon Arm Observer)

A pair of Salmon Arm moms are on a mission to create nutritious, flavourful meal options for people on the go.

For about a year now, longtime friends Cassie Walters and Raelyn Lachapelle have been in business together preparing meals for people. Clients would order meals through a website for their business, The Nom Shuswap, between Monday and Thursday, they’d be prepped on Monday and available for pickup on Tuesday. Walters, a nutritionist, said she and Lachapelle used to do their cooking in a rental kitchen with little prep space.

That changed as of Feb. 1, when Walters and Lachapelle opened the doors to their new commercial space at 350B Ross Street in downtown Salmon Arm. The space offers a wide open kitchen area for the two self-proclaimed “foodies” to create an array of healthy pre-ordered and grab-and-go meals. Smoothies are also made on site as are fresh cold-pressed juices.

“I’m a nutritionist so everything is based around being healthy but also delicious…,” said Walters. “We’re trying to bridge the gap between sitting down in a restaurant… We have a lot of those in the Shuswap that are amazing – and fast food/ drive-thru.”

Walters explained the idea for The Nom Shuswap came from work she was doing as a nutritionist with her previous business, Shuswap Holistic Wellness.

“I was doing online meal plans for people and I would send them recipe books and guide them through healthier eating, and the only complaint I would get was, ‘I wish you could cook my food for me, I don’t have time,’” said Walters. “After three years of that, I was like, I have to do something.”

Enter Lachapelle, who Walters described as having a culinary flair for flavour.

“Together we smashed it,” said Walters.

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Walters said meal prep begins with plants and is built up from there based on demand.

“We have people coming in that want chicken for protein and that’s what they grab,” said Walters, noting she and Lachapelle source their food through DeMilles’ Farm Market and try to buy local, and organic, as much as possible.

“The biggest goal for us was the meal prep, but we’ve always had the vision of having our own space and it being kind of like a holistic wellness collective,” said Walters. “Eventually, we hope to host some type of wellness classes in here.”

Having gone from “full-time moms to full-time Noms,” Walters and Lachapelle are pleased to be a part of what they see as a growing “food culture” in downtown Salmon Arm.

“It’s really awesome to see just the food culture in Salmon Arm growing and to be a part of that, we’re so honoured and grateful,” said Lachapelle. “Really, what we’re doing anyone can do, but we are a busy people, we’re a busy culture, so we can add value in that somebody can come in when they’re having a busy day… and grab something nourishing to feed them and to just help them.”

For more information, visit shuswapsimplewell.com or The Shuswap Nom on Facebook.



lachlan@saobserver.net
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