Melissa Varela, RDN

I’m Melissa Varela, the Registered Dietitian Nutritionist behind Meal Prepify.

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and moved to San Diego for college. After graduating from San Diego State University, I worked with low income families for a few years, then moved into clinical nutrition at Sharp HealthCare. Once my husband and I were outnumbered by our own kids, I stepped back for a few years to raise them. I still wanted to be busy and useful, so I started teaching heart healthy cooking classes, building menus for VA facilities, substitute teaching, and counseling clients virtually through Nourish.

That mix of clinical training and real weeknight chaos is what this site runs on. Every recipe gets checked against the same question I ask my own clients: does this actually survive a Wednesday. When I’m not testing a recipe, you’ll find me at the beach with my family or scouting San Diego for our next family friendly outing.