WFAA-TV

Last year, Americans spent about one and a half billion dollars on low-calorie frozen dinners. Many of those meals were high in preservatives and salt.

For those who value fresh over frozen, there is "Diet Gourmet." The Texas-based company provides a completely fresh and often organic alternative to the ice-cube fare dieters can buy in any grocery store.

Ingrid Kish, a 69-year old grandmother, is the mastermind behind the recipes.

"I try to take comfort food and turn it into diet food and not cardboard food," she said. "It's comfort food, but I fix it like it's low fat; and every year, I get better."

Every meal is made from scratch under Kish and a dietician's supervision.

Daughter Donna Leonard is not only the official taster, Diet Gourmet is her brainchild. After years of waiting tables and seeing the junk people ate, she wanted to give people a truly healthy choice.

"Of course no preservatives are added to any of our products," Leonard said. "And a lot of love, I would say, because we hand make everything. It's just a different kind of feeling that you get from this product as opposed to something you get from a factory."

Everything is hand chopped, meticulously weighed, and packaged by hand as well.

Every meal, from California pizza to vegetable stew to chicken Szechwan, is low in fat, low in sodium and low in cholesterol.

Dieters get to choose how many meals they want from an extensive menu. Each is part of either an 1,100 or 1,700 calorie a day diet.

"We'll make sure that you get what you want," explained one worker whose job it is to insure ingredients a client doesn't like are taken out of their meal package.

The key to keeping the food at its peak freshness is overnight delivery. Meals are dropped twice weekly to convenient storefronts in North Texas, Houston and Austin.

Candace Evans said she tried it because a full time job and busy life had her "driving through" far too often.

With Diet Gourmet, she said she gets the fast food and flavor without the fat.

At about $25 for three gourmet meals a day, Candace admits it's about what she was spending on take out anyway, but with an added benefit.

"Oh yes, I've lost 15 pounds, but I have 10 more to go," she said.

E-mail jstjames@wfaa.com