In April 2020, LaTreal Strickland started her meal prep business for local truck drivers and hospital employees who were working around the clock.
Strickland owns DSD Boards, Meals, and Treats, which serves healthier versions of popular dishes, desserts, and charcuterie boards. DSD stands for Do Something Different. About a month ago, her business joined OPP Kitchen, a shared kitchen space located at 359 Furys Ferry Road in Martinez.
One of the meals she serves is chopped steak with smashed cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes.
“You’ll never know it’s cauliflower unless I tell you,” Strickland said. “I have a version of shrimp and grits that isn’t grits; it’s cauliflower.”
Her charcuterie boards are made with whole wheat crackers and fruits and vegetables that have lower sugar content, such as watermelon, strawberries, broccoli, and cucumbers. Strickland’s desserts include keto versions of red velvet cake and blueberry muffins.
She got the idea to start her business after one of her friends, a truck driver, died on the road. She knew truck drivers often eat fast food, and many healthcare workers don’t have time to eat healthy foods and instead rely on snacks from vending machines. Her business grew through referrals from those clients.
“It was for the people I know who can’t stop and eat,” Strickland said. “I wanted to give them the option of eating healthy.”
She said her favorite part of owning DSD is seeing her clients achieve their fitness goals.
“Some of my clients have lost hundreds of pounds from eating my food alone,” Strickland said.
One of her clients told her his body fat decreased by 3 percent in only three weeks.
“Before he started, he wasn’t eating correctly,” she said. “I just gave him the nutrients.”
Besides her meal prep business, Strickland also teaches science and social studies at Hephzibah Middle School. She said juggling both jobs hasn’t been particularly difficult, but that wasn’t the case when she returned to the classroom after schools were closed due to Covid.
“The first two months were pretty rocky,” Strickland said.
But she currently maintains a structured schedule that allows her to teach and serve her clients. Strickland posts her menu on Wednesday, and customers have until Friday at noon to place their orders.
“I prepare all the meals on Friday afternoons,” she said.
Strickland offers both a standard menu and a specialty version. In the future, she hopes to open her own storefront, which she said would be similar to Clean Eatz, a meal prep business located on Crane Creek Drive in Augusta.
Strickland’s clients pick up their orders from OPP Kitchen, where she also offers grab-and-go meals.
“OPP Kitchen is a home for my food,” Strickland said. “It’s a way to meet people I probably never would’ve met.”
For more information, visit the DSD Facebook page, which has a link to her website.
