Snap Kitchen Staff Favorites: Lindsay McCullough

We’re excited to introduce our Snap Kitchen Staff Favorites feature, where we’ll be highlighting some of our wonderful Snap HQ employees! We’ll showcase them from time to time to give you some insight into the home office, what they do at Snap & how they live the #SnapLife. We’re kicking things off with Lindsay McCullough, our Manager of Training & Development!

Tell us a little about yourself & what you do at Snap.

I’m a Midwesterner who decided to trade in my snow boots for cowboy boots & the quintessential Austin must-have, hiking boots! When I’m not hiking or enjoying Lady Bird Lake, I am strolling around one of Austin’s cool neighborhoods with pups that I dog sit, am playing some sort of adult recreational sport, or volunteering for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Texas. At Snap, I am the Manager of Training & Development, & I get the pleasure of helping people to develop into becoming their best selves. So whether it’s job-specific, skill-specific, or something else, I get to use my skills to identify gaps & provide tools that can help make it better.

What has your journey with food been like?

I love food, & so much of my family life revolved around food. Every night, we were fortunate enough to sit down as a family to enjoy each other’s company, as well as my mom’s delicious cooking, before my dad headed into work. But growing up in the Midwest meant that I usually had meat, potatoes, & vegetables with nearly every meal. And on top of that, I needed to clear my plate in order to get dessert. Sugar is my weakness, so I learned that in order to get that yummy bowl of ice cream, I had to eat past the point of being hungry. Years & years of that translated into the same behavior as an adult. After finishing graduate school though, I started focusing on better quality ingredients, & trying to better balance my meals. I started with organic foods, & really tried to bring more veggies into my diet. Though it costs me more, I have come to find that the quality of what I put into my body makes me feel better, & makes me more optimistic about my long term health. The investment that I make now will pay off in the long run (I hope!). I continue to work on incorporating better eating habits into my routine, but also give myself grace when I want to have something indulgent. Life is all about moderation, & I’d rather be happy than hungry.

What part does Snap play in your life?

Eating clean is something that I aspire to. Whole30 is what initially brought me to Snap after I moved to Austin. It’s what I like to call extreme clean eating – no sugar, no grains, no alcohol (seriously), no legumes (even hummus!!!), no dairy. When I explain this to people, they always ask what I can eat. Weeelllll, there’s a lot. And a lot that is delicious. But the trick is, it takes time, & preparation. If you’ve ever done food prep, you know how time-consuming it can be. Shopping, prepping, cooking, storing, cleaning…it’s something that I don’t always have time or patience for. Because Snap offers Whole30 Approved options, it makes achieving my goals so much easier. The hardest part for me is deciding what options I want to take home!

How do you Snap? Are you on a meal plan?

I started off with Snap by going into the store, but after about two weeks, I decided to try a meal plan. And to be honest, I’m never going back! Once a week, I take 10 minutes & I map out my time. Am I volunteering, do I have a game, am I going out of town? I pick which meals I want, I determine which #snaphacks I’m going to try for the week, & then I’m done. So my food prep is the EASIEST food prep in Austin because I don’t have to do any of it!

How has Snap benefited you?

Snap has me eating ingredients that I would NEVER have eaten before. I’m picky about textures & I’m biased against certain ingredients…basically, I have strange food preferences. Well, guess who now eats kale? That’s one ingredient that always got so much good press, but I was never willing to try. On a whim, I decided to give the Tessamae’s Avocado Ranch Power Greens Salad a try, & my food life has forever changed. I throw some of our “breaded” chicken (Whole30 Approved) on there, & viola! It’s delicious, & I know that’s it’s good fuel for my body.

What are some of your favorite dishes?

The Sloppy Joe Loaded Sweet Potato will always be my #1 favorite. I really enjoy the salad (mentioned above). The Red Pepper Egg Bites are delicious. ANNNDDD the Pop & Bottle Cold Brew.

Try the Whole30 meal plan today!