Natural Grocers adds good4u Meal Deals to retail roster

Natural Grocers has made its good4u Meal Deal program — introduced early in the COVID-19 pandemic to fight food insecurity — a fixture of its retail repertoire.

The Lakewood, Colo.-based specialty chain said Thursday that Natural Grocers good4u Meal Deals launched in April 2020 to provide customers with simple, affordable and nutritious meal solutions and recipes for themselves and their families. Originally intended to aid consumers hard-pressed by the pandemic, the program has received strong feeback and grown into a customer mainstay, leading Natural Grocers to make it an official part of its shopping mix.

Under good4u Meal Deals, members of Natural Grocers’ free {N}power loyalty program choose from a rotating selection of planned meals — including items for entrees and side dishes — at a range of price points. All of the recipes include protein and only organic vegetables to maximize nutritional value, the retailer said.

“A lot of people think that healthy means expensive. But at Natural Grocers, that is not true, and it has never been the case. We are committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of our communities with food and supplements at an ‘Always Affordable Price’. We always look for creative ways to give our customers even more value and avenues to support their health and well-being,” Natural Grocers Co-President Kemper Isely said in a statement.

Related:Natural Grocers' Q3 income, gross margin improve over 2020's results

“When the pandemic hit, we knew finances would get tighter for our communities, and our goal was to help ensure that our customers could afford to feed their families with nutritious, satisfying meals that were easy to whip up in their kitchens,” he explained. “With the positive response the program has received, we decided to keep it as part of our good4u commitment to our communities.”

Members of Natural Grocers’ loyalty program can choose from a rotating menu of planned meals at various price points. (Image courtesy of Natural Grocers)

Natural Grocers launched good4u Meal Deals with a grilled chicken deal that remains part of its rotating selections. Feeding a family of four for less than $13, the recipe includes a Mary's Free Range and humanely raised whole chicken with organic russet potatoes and organic seasonal vegetables (zucchini through Sept. 30 and changing to carrots in October).

Other Meals Deals being offered through Oct. 31 include the following:

• Burger Meal for under $12 with Thousand Hills Grass Fed 80/20 Ground Beef, Rudi's hamburger buns or Canyon Bakehouse gluten-free buns, organic red and green leaf lettuce, and organic beefsteak tomatoes. Customers can make it vegan for less than $16 by replacing the ground beef with Beyond Meat pea protein patties.

Related:Natural Grocers updates {N}power loyalty program

• Frittata Meal for under $12 with Natural Grocers-brand pasture-raised organic eggs, Niman Ranch pork breakfast sausage (or Field Roast Apple & Maple plant-based breakfast sausage) and Organicgirl baby spinach.

• Sausage & Veggie Bake for under $10 with Pederson’s kielbasa, fresh organic cauliflower and broccoli or Natural Grocers-brand frozen organic cauliflower florets and broccoli florets. Customers can make it vegan for less than $13 by replacing the kielbasa with Beyond Sausage original or hot Italian sausages.

• Chicken Drumstick Dinner for under $8 with Mary’s Free Range chicken drumsticks, organic carrots and organic russet potatoes.

All of those meals feed four people except the Frittata Meal, which feeds six. Past good4u Meal Deals have included chili, lentil soup, tacos, enchiladas and quinoa bowls, as well as special deals for Mother’s Day brunch and “Movie Night at Home,” Natural Grocers said. The natural and organic grocer noted that accompanying recipes can be found in its online recipe library.

“We want to make it easy to feed the ones you love, whether they are your actual family, your friends, your neighbors, your pets, etc.,” Isely added. “ All of our customers and good4u Crew members are part of our extended family, and we have worked hard every day for the past 66 years to give ‘Our Family’ the best food options at the best prices possible. Meal Deals are just another way we are able to do this.”

Overall, Natural Grocers operates 161 small-format specialty grocery stores in 20 states.