Jared Veldheer · The Lunch Lady
Why I'm in
this kitchen.
I'm Jared Veldheer. I played offensive line for 12 years in the NFL. Now I cook lunch at Saint Paul the Apostle in Grand Rapids.
I'm also a husband and dad of three. Food has been a big part of my life through all of it.
A little football background
My first four years were with the Oakland Raiders, followed by four with the Arizona Cardinals and a year in Denver. Then I discovered I wasn't very good at staying retired.
I came back with the Green Bay Packers, then with the Indianapolis Colts the following season. A few years later, my son challenged me to see if I could do it again. I started training, put weight back on and returned to the Colts for one more brief stint in 2023.
It started with a Christmas gift.
In high school, my parents gave me a book called Power Eating. Funny gift for a high school kid. I was hooked.
I wanted to understand what food was doing in my body and how eating enough of the right foods could help me feel better and play better. I went on to major in biology at Hillsdale College and take the full pre-med curriculum. I've always been science-oriented. If something could help me get better at what I was doing, I wanted to understand it and try it.
Nutrition became a big part of how I prepared through college football and my 12 years in the NFL. I loved the science behind performance nutrition. What could I eat to recover, feel better and play better? I spent a lot of time learning and trying things. But I've also loved eating since day one of being a human. I wanted to eat good food while I was eating well.
Dinner became our hobby.
We had our first child in the middle of my NFL career. That gave me a new reason to think about food. I started seeing similarities between nourishing a growing child and fueling a professional athlete. Their needs are different, but the care that goes into feeding them should be there either way.
Going out for dinner got a lot harder, so my wife and I started cooking more together. We'd go to the farmers market, bring home good ingredients and make dinner after practice. Cooking was something I could enjoy without putting more miles on my body. Saturday became a chance to make a big pregame dinner.
It became our hobby. And the more reps you get, the better you get. Loving the eating part certainly helped.
What I learned on
Next Level Chef.
That love of cooking gave me the chance to compete on Next Level Chef. I learned a lot from Gordon Ramsay and the other chefs on the show. One of the biggest things I brought home was how to finish a dish.
Plating with intention matters. So does tasting along the way and making sure the flavor is there when the food is ready to eat. Sometimes it needs a little fresh lemon zest, a squeeze of lemon or a quick hit of salt. Sometimes a sauce brings the whole thing together.
Those last adjustments can make a big difference. I pay a lot more attention to them now, whether I'm making dinner at home or lunch at school.
Why I cook for the kids.
Now I'm a husband and father of three, putting that interest in food to work at home and at school. I love trying to find the recipe that gives the kids plenty of nourishment and tastes so good they want more.
I want my kids to feel good today and have what they need to grow and stay healthy in the months and years ahead. A good meal is one way I can help with that. And it has to taste good, or none of this gets very far.
I've always been a tinkerer. I like figuring out the game within the game. Kids give me plenty to work with. Their preferences, what they'll try, what makes them come back for seconds. It's a little chess match every day.
Some days you want to bang your head against the wall. Other days you're pumping your fist because something worked. My own kids give me plenty of practice with both.
That's what I bring into Saint Paul's kitchen. I get to cook something nourishing that the kids actually want to eat. Seeing them enjoy it, knowing I'm helping fuel their day, is the most gratifying part of what I do.
Jared
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