If cooking nutritionally balanced meals isn’t high on your priority list but you want to live a healthy lifestyle, The Unrefined Bite might be able to help.

The Unrefined Bite, a personal chef service, opened Jan. 1 and offers nutritional meals prepared and served at home.

Rachel Colthorp Roening, owner, does all the grocery shopping, prepares, serves and stores five meals – 20 servings – or more in the client’s home.

She brings all her own pots, pans, storage containers and cooking supplies – and cleans up the kitchen before leaving.

From serving one person to serving a large dinner party or family gathering, Roening does it all.

"It’s a great service for people recovering from surgery, going through chemotherapy, or those who just don’t have the energy or time to cook, like new parents," Roening said.

One client, she said, is a widowed man who admitted to eating nothing but cans of Spaghetti-Os for three weeks.

Roening uses fresh, locally grown and organic produce whenever possible. The average American meal is estimated to travel about 1,500 miles to get from farm to plate.

"It’s said that if every household in the U.S. ate one meal per week that is locally grown, it would save 1.1 billion barrels of oil per week," she said.

With a bachelor’s degree in natural health sciences and a master’s in acupuncture and Oriental medicine, Roening specializes in serving clients with specific dietary needs such as diabetes, celiac disease, food allergies, hypertension, illness, cancer treatment and finicky taste buds.

Besides running The Unrefined Bite, Roening owns and operates an acupuncture business she started in 2004 out of her home in Port Angeles.

Prior to pursuing higher education and moving to the peninsula, she lived in northern Maine and worked at an outdoor guide service restaurant.

Food, she said, "is my family."

"The more I treated people, the more I realized their problems had to do with their diet," Roening said about her acupuncture business.

"I’m trying to combine my two loves – food and natural science – so that people can eat better without stress."

Roening also offers cooking classes for adults and Eating and Cooking Healthy 101 for teens.

"Girls’ night in?" she asked. "Gather a group of friends and I will come to your house and teach a fun cooking class."

Personal chef service caters to individuals

The Unrefined Bite, a personal chef service owned by Rachel Colthorp Roening, serves clients in the Sequim and Port Angeles areas.

For more information or to schedule a consultation, call 460-2227 or go online to www.theunrefinedbite.com.

Ashley Miller is available at ashleyo@sequimgazette.com.