JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD - Soldiers flood into the grab and go line at the Raptor Warrior Restaurant on Joint Base Lewis-McChord to snag a nutritious meal for lunch. The Army Meal Prep Program (AMPP) allows soldiers to grab two pre-portioned, well balanced, dietician approved meals a day to help with nutrition and fitness.

This program started from the ground up, originally just to serve the soldiers who are in the Army Body Composition Program, after many transitions it has become much more than that. Staff Sgt Anthony Sumpter, Raptor Warrior Restaurant's manager, talks about how this program saves time, money, and allows soldiers to have two healthy meals for the day already planned.

"This is important to soldiers because there are a lot who can't make it to a dining facility," said Sumpter. "We're providing a service to be able to have all of your meals for the day and not waste time waiting in lines or having to pull away from what you're doing"

Sumpter said that there is a need for this program because people are much busier these days and it's hard for people to maintain nutrition and keep up with their macronutrients. This program helps with that by supplying soldiers with two meals a day so that they don't have to stress about the time it takes to make a healthy meal or getting to the dining facility on time.

"I love this program," said Sgt Tyler Bonner, a frequent patron of the Raptor Warrior Restaurant. "It saves me a lot of time with the busy military schedule that we have and I also really love that I can get two meals, so one for lunch and one for dinner."

The program makes it effortless to see how many macronutrients a soldier is eating in a day whether it's to gain, lose, or maintain weight. It teaches an important lesson to know what you're eating and ensuring that it is well balanced.

"Soldiers can learn how to eat proper and healthy meals," said Spc Jarvis Smith, a Culinary specialist at the Raptor Warrior Restaurant. "They can count their calories to see how they are eating instead of just going to get fast food and chowing down on something where you don't know how many calories you're getting."

Soldiers love that they can get two meals a day that are healthier and cheaper options than going to get fast food.

"This program has impacted my fitness because it shows calories and protein so I can easily track my macronutrients," said Bonner.

The meals can be picked up at the grab and go section of Raptor Warrior Restaurant from 1130-1500 on weekdays. All the soldiers need is their Common Access Card (CAC). The meals can also be purchased using a credit or debit card. Meals are frozen but can easily be reheated.

The Raptor team is working with dietitians to expand their menus so soldiers can pick up all three meals for the day all at once. The Raptor team is also working on an online ordering system to make it easier for soldiers to meal plan.

"This program is really in its infancy stage," said Sumpter. "It's growing and growing each day,"