LIBERAL ? Martha Stewart has probably never prepared a $2 meal. But during her five-month sentence in federal prison in Danbury, Conn., $2 is all it will cost to feed her three meals a day.

And the food won’t look that bad either. Maybe it will look like prison food in a plastic tray or not be the fancy grub Martha is accustomed to. But the company that supplies the food for the Danbury prison, Somerset Industries, does its best to supply nutritious food on such a low budget.

The company’s co-owner, Alan Breslow, recently cooked some of the food on a television program, and without the prison trays and under the bright studio lights, many viewers thought the food looked appetizing.

When the Springhouse, Pa.-based prison food provider wanted to open a production facility in Liberal, many welcomed the new jobs and the use of the former Nash Finch building. The Liberal facility will eventually ship food to prisons all over the United States, and perhaps Martha will eat food from the warehouse one day.

Somerset Industries buys overstocked food from warehouses of national food companies, such as McDonald’s, and sells it in the form of a meal to nearly 700 prisons or private companies in the United States.

“We use a lot of hot dogs and veggie burger patties and even vegetables. It’s all pretty healthy really, except for the hot dogs. But my job is to develop the most nutritional way to prepare a meal on the prison’s budget,” said Richard Caramagno, corporate chef for Somerset Industries.

Caramagno, or “Chef Richie,” is also the production manager for the Liberal operation, along with Angel Rodriguez.

Caramagno prepared a sample plate of different types of foods the new company ships out to its prisons and one similar to what Breslow cooked on television.

Chef Richie took a break from the construction operations, as the Liberal facility hopes to begin storing dry food soon and begin production within six months.

Rich Caramagno, corporate chef for Somerset Industries and production manager for Springhouse Frozen Foods, prepares healthy foods to sell to prisons. The company is opening a production facility in Liberal.

“I was happy to prepare this food because we have been working with the construction for so long,” Caramagno said.

The Liberal warehouse will eventually store frozen foods in a large freezer room, but the room that they wanted to use could not be refrigerated at a low enough temperature. Construction workers are now working on lowering the floor of the freezer room.

Caramagno said he hoped that shipping operations would begin in two to three months. The company will begin bringing in 50 to 100 trucks a day when it does start.

The goal is for Somerset Industries to eventually employ 50 in Liberal, but within six months Caramagno said he hoped for around 25 to 30 employees. Workers at the warehouse are still working on construction and preparing for its dry storage, according to Caramagno.

Opening up a Somerset warehouse and production facility in Liberal will allow the company to more easily ship to prisons in western states, but the company said it also wanted to contribute to the community.

“We wanted to promote jobs here,” Caramagno said. “Liberal is a prime location, but we also want to do some goodwill with the community. It’s a balance.”

Caramagno and Rodriguez have worked with Seward County Community College to begin warehouse operations courses, which will include plant sanitation, general warehousing, forklift certification, plant mechanical maintenance, understanding documentation and food production.

They also have worked out a deal with Liberal’s Stepping Stone Shelter for the warehouse to donate cans or packages of food that survived a damaged shipment.