Sara Kep’s Kitchen Removes the Hassle from Dinner Prep

James Rada Jr.

Instead of feeling rushed to get a nutritious meal on the table or spending a small fortune eating out, many people are using a meal delivery service. Thurmont has its own service delivering delicious meals like Balsamic Pork Tenderloin with Cauli-Mash and Brussels Sprouts, Grandpa’s Maryland Crab Soup, and Steak Tips with Onion Gravy Bundle.

“I really love making healthier versions of traditional meals that taste just as delicious,” said Sara Kephart.

Sara opened Sara Kep’s Kitchen in 2020, but she has been cooking since she was two and helped her father cook. She told her mom she wanted to be a chef when she was only five years old. Growing up in the Frederick area, her mother worked in Washington, D.C., and her father worked as a mason.

“When they got home, they made easy dinners,” Sara said. “They never enjoyed cooking.”

In high school, Sara took the opportunity to study culinary arts at the Career and Technical Center. She chose to attend Johnson and Wales in Rhode Island to earn her culinary degree.

“They were the best of the best, and the experience there was insane,” Sara said.

When she graduated, she had a cooking job lined up in Washington, D.C., but then COVID hit, and the job disappeared. So, she started doing meal prep from her parents’ home. Because she was new at the business end of things, she soon ran afoul of the health department because she wasn’t working in a commercial kitchen.

She started renting a church kitchen. Then, as her business grew, she moved to another commercial kitchen. Last November, she bought the old Hoffman Market building and opened Sara Kep’s Kitchen.

“I remember coming here as a kid,” Sara said. “Hope Hoffman was my mom’s best friend, and we would stop here for subs on the way to see my grandparents in Littlestown.”

She hopes one day to open a takeout business from the location, but currently, she offers catering and meal delivery.

With the meal prep, Sara offers new meals every Monday for the following week (the meals are delivered on Tuesday).

She uses ingredients from local farms and businesses when possible and cooks the meals fresh. She even accommodates various dietary restrictions customers may have.

The meals are delivered free to all Frederick County addresses.

“I like when I show up at a house and hear the kids running around inside. I know when I give the parents their meals that I’ve helped them out. I’ve freed up some of their time to relax or spend time with their kids,” Sara said.

Sara now employs four people as the business continues growing.

“Cooking is something I’m naturally good at,” Sara said. “Doing meal prep allows me to enjoy doing it.”

Sara Kephart prepares a meal at her new business, Sara Kep’s Kitchen, in Thurmont.