Lunch Lady Foods
A professional singer by trade, Amy Goff wanted to bring together her love of cooking and travel in a way that would share her talent and experiences with others. So, several years before COVID, Amy thought she’d put together a side hustle. Lunch Lady Foods, a prepared-food delivery service, represents the melding of her creative talents and endeavors.
How Lunch Lady Works
Once an order is placed via telephone or through the website, local delivery can be expected in one to two days (depending on her farmers market schedule). Patrons can also place an order for pick up at market.
Amy also brings a selection of soups and entrees to market each week—no preordering required. Examples of her market offerings can include options such as pasta fagioli, carrot ginger soup, spicy red lentil, quinoa with vegetables, and thai sesame noodles.
All of the food is made fresh and in small batches, and Amy will even customize orders if she is able. In addition to home delivery, Amy’s foods can be found at local establishments—with soups making an appearance at The Breezy, and her grain and rice salads are a huge hit at Heaven Hill with hikers that pass through.
Prepared with Quality Ingredients
The ingredients in Lunch Lady Foods are often local and organic whenever possible and practical. Amy takes pride in our local economy as well as the quality and sustainability of her ingredients. She offers a number of vegetarian and vegan options, as well as gluten-free choices, but makes note that her kitchen is not gluten-free.
Amy was inspired to create vegan/vegetarian options after realizing how hard they can be to find. Her husband is a vegetarian—and a professional drummer—a physically demanding job that requires solid fuel for him to stay healthy.
“That’s my wheelhouse…finding recipes that are healthy and don’t contain meat,” Amy said. “It’s hard when you can't rely on meat to make something taste good.”
Local Delivery and Connections in West Milford, NJ
As a professional singer, Amy lived in Manhattan for 20 years before relocating to West Milford about fifteen years ago.
“I love working here and meeting people here… I’ve made new friends, and people are super sweet and patient,” Amy said.
As with any new business, Lunch Lady was slow to get off the ground. Farmers markets helped get the word out, as well as get food into people’s hands, Amy said. The pandemic only drove the need for a local, healthy and homemade food-delivery service.
There really wasn't anything locally that's super healthy other than making it yourself, and I thought there was a niche that needed filled,” Amy explained. “I’ve done a lot of traveling, and I love food. I love cooking and being in the kitchen—I even love grocery shopping. My mom was an amazing cook and she and I loved to be in the kitchen together. It was my comfort zone.”
The Lunch Lady at Market
Find Amy each week at Market with a fresh, rotating selection of grain-based salads, soups and entrees. See what she has to offer and make meals easy (and healthy) this week.
