Prepped and ready

Tyler and Kiara Diamond believe in taking care of their bodies, and for them, a large part of that is making sure to eat right. The two met in early 2015, when Tyler, originally from Oroville, was living in Sacramento and working as a professional mixed martial arts fighter. He and Kiara, a bikini model living in Paradise, spent only weekends together and she would prep meals for both of them. Friends and family started asking if they could buy-in on their prepped meals, and before long, the two had all the workings of a business. They married this past August, and after a brief honeymoon, opened Diamond Dash Meal Prep and Delivery Service. They make all their meals fresh on Sundays out of Souper Subs Cafe’s kitchen in Oroville, where customers can pick them up, or for a dollar per meal, have them delivered that evening to Oroville, Chico, Durham or Paradise. Find more online at diamonddashmealprep.com, where you can check out their weekly menu or place an order.

How did you first get into meal-prepping?

Tyler: I’m a professional athlete; I’m a fighter. She [did] bikini competitions, and so obviously diet is a super important part of what we do.

Kiara: I cooked for him every Sunday because he lives out of town Monday through Friday, and I knew he wouldn’t cook healthy meals for himself. I would post little pictures of them and people would always comment [on] how good they looked, so that’s kind of how the idea rose.

Tyler: We had people hit us up all the time and say, “Dang, those look so good! Do you sell those?”

Kiara: One of his teammates was like, “Hey, could we pay you guys, and you start cooking for us?” We kinda just did it for them, and we charged super cheap and he’d drive them down to Sac on Monday mornings, and then it just got bigger and bigger.

Tyler: We kinda thought it was a little weird at first, but then we were like, “You know what? There’s a huge demand ….”

How has your business grown?

Kiara: Before we were just cooking out of a house kitchen, and a lot of it was actually during the fire, so I was living in a hotel and we were doing it out of his mom’s kitchen. And it was hard, you know? One stove; four burners. The most we did in-home was probably 100 I think.

Tyler: We just did the most meals we’ve ever done today [Jan. 5].

Kiara: We just did 400 [today], and that’s the most we’ve ever got.

Do you still work other jobs?

Tyler: I’m a free agent right now, but I’m looking to either get back into UFC or get signed with any other major organization right now.

Kiara: I just finished up the teaching credential program [at Chico State] and got a job up in Paradise at Paradise Charter Middle School teaching physical education.