Have you ever tried once a month cooking or freezer cooking? If not and you’re looking to save time and money, you need to check out the frugal blog, or the freezer cooking recipes here. With few exceptions, most recipes will freeze well.
However, there is a growing trend catering (pun totally intended) to the uber busy supermom who wants to have a gourmet home cooked meal every night. . .or at least nearly every night.
Known as meal prep businesses, they are cropping up all over the United States. Here’s how it works. You make an appointment with said meal prep business and then make some recipe selections. When you arrive, there are stations with ingredients to select and helpful staff are there to guide you through the process. No cooking is actually done on the premises but rather you put your food in disposable dishware and take it home to freeze. Your meals should make enough food to feed 4-6 people. For those who are lost in the kitchen–this could very well be a dream come true.
The advantage is that there is no clean up and the menus are already planned for you. You don’t have to think about what you’re going to have for dinner. The meals are definitely what I would consider ‘gourmet’–suitable for entertaining guests. (No hamburger helper in these kitchens!) You can also take home a well balanced meal. Rather than just a casserole (not that I’m knocking casseroles), you’ll have a main dish, vegetable side dishes and even dessert if you want it.
Of course the next obvious question is, “How much does it cost?” I tried to find a meal prep business in the city and could not. However, at Whisk and Spoon in Philadelphia, a menu will cost you $25. It is much cheaper to do it all yourself. However, if you don’t have the time and would end up ordering out, this is a much cheaper option. I am assuming it would be healthier as well.
Despite all these ‘advantages’ I can’t get into doing this. I am much more inclined to start a dinner club, personally. First of all, there is something about being in the kitchen together with your kids that seems to encourage bonding. I know for our family, numerous deep conversations have occurred over a pot of something that had to be incessantly stirred or dough that had to be worked. Secondly, I mentioned that I would consider the menu selections ‘gourmet‘. Maybe my kids are unusual, but they’re not so into gourmet. They’re into tried and true. Cheese ravioli with walnut sauce wouldn’t cut it at our house. I think they’d rebel and demand the plain old marinara sauce that I make. However, my most important reason for not wanting to do it, aside from the fact that there doesn’t seem to be a business near us, is that I actually like planning my meals. I like tweaking recipes until they fit our family’s taste and well, I like searching for new recipes. But that’s just me. I imagine that seeking the services of a meal prep business allows you to both be too busy to cook and have home cooked meals every night. For some, this would be the best of both worlds.
For a directory of meal prep businesses near you visit the Easy Meal Prep Association.