East Lansing Makers: Cooking for Life at the Abundance Cafe

Erin Meadows started her meal preparation and catering business, Abundance Cafe, while she was raising her children, wanting to make their food as healthy as possible.

“When [my son] was born, I made all his food,” she told East Lansing Info in an interview last week. “I’d grind up carrots, all the things. And I noticed throughout the years that my kids and I, we wouldn’t feel very good on the occasion that mom needed a break and we went out to eat. We’d feel kind of low energy and our digestive systems and bodies were not really happy with it.

“I was just like, why can’t you go out to eat and things taste good and make you feel good? Why is that not a thing? Why does nobody care that the food doesn’t make me feel good?”

Meadows said her mother made sure she always had balanced meals growing up, including a glass of milk with every meal.

“It turns out I’m allergic to milk now,” she said with a laugh. “But we didn’t always eat healthy, I remember having hot dogs, cut down the middle with bacon inside and cheese on top. Sounds delicious, but I don’t eat that way anymore because my body will not be happy.”

Now, Meadows sells healthy meals that can be picked up from All Saints Episcopal Church in East Lansing. She also delivers meals to homes and businesses, and caters for large group.

The ethos of Meadows’ business is simple: Those with allergies or dietary restrictions deserve delicious, beautiful food they can enjoy, not merely suffer through.

An engineer by training, Meadows said the pandemic pushed her to pursue even healthier eating habits. She gave up pork and beef and found that her body began rejecting gluten, soy and dairy.

“I had a time where I was breaking out head to toe and the doctors couldn’t figure out why,” she said.

A friend encouraged her to try clean eating, which helped her recognize which foods left her feeling depleted and which revitalized her.

In 2016, Meadows started preparing healthier meals for those who needed or wanted them. She said she initially wanted to open a cafe but began selling her food at farmers markets.

“I wanted people to enjoy this food and it to taste good and for it to make them feel good and give them good, clean energy to get them through their day. And I know that good food can help you feel emotionally better, too. It can help reduce anxiety and stress and depression. Food can be medicine or it can be poison.”

Meadows began working out of the commercial kitchen at Allen Neighborhood Center in Lansing. She said she didn’t make a profit during the first two years but was building a client base. She eventually outgrew that kitchen and two others before landing at All Saints Episcopal Church in East Lansing, where she now rents kitchen space throughout the week.

Meadows posts her menus on Wednesdays for the following week. They usually include a tossed salad, a choice of two soups (at least one vegan), an entree and a sweet treat.

“This week, it’s walnut lavender love cookies,” she said. “Sometimes it’s a muffin; last week it was granola bars. It varies.”

She said she cannot accommodate those with nut allergies because nuts are often used as a protein substitute in her dishes. Everything is offered without dairy, and eggs are used in a limited number of dishes.

Meadows tries to source as much of her food as possible from farmers markets and is excited to see Meijer and Kroger offering more Michigan-grown produce. Her recipes are sometimes inspired by things she finds online, but she said she always makes them her own.

“I love to get creative in the kitchen and experiment,” she said. “There’s a good balance of things I’ve just created on my own and then things that I find online. I take three or four recipes and kind of mix them up and make a recipe out of that.”

Meadows encourages everyone to be mindful of what they eat and put into their bodies, but she believes everything is connected and that diet alone isn’t responsible for a person’s well-being.

“What are you watching on TV?” she asked. “What are you listening to and who are you surrounding yourself with?

“We really need to limit and find the right sources [of information]. Everything has gotten so sensationalized [and] there’s so much violence. It’s fine to watch TV and movies but how is that making you feel.”