To cook or not to cook, that may be the question

It’s amazing how much life can change in a relatively few short years. Cooking meals for the family used to be woman’s work, done by the stay-at-home mom. We also went from "everything from scratch" to Campbell’s mushroom soup poured over things like Hamburger and Tuna Helper.

There’s much more interest now in getting back to really cooking—full meals with homemade sauces and crisp vegetables. Yet, as always, we’re hitting the wall on time. Dual or single parents are working, yet they want to provide nutritious, tasty meals for their families.

The next evolution? Several enterprising people offer interesting ways to provide healthy, almost-home-cooked meals in an efficient, organized manner.

Cuizam! started in October of 2002 as the brainchild of Katherine Kehrli, a full-time working woman with a family. She cooked once a month and froze what she didn’t use immediately. Her original business plan was to provide a space where heads of families could use good kitchen equipment to make their meals ahead of time. Most people don’t have indoor grills and multiple ovens at home—having the right tools makes everything easier and faster, leaving more time to spend with the family. Vacuum-packed and frozen, meals can be kept in the freezer up to 60 days and the refrigerator for four days.

As the company grew, the type of services expanded. Options include:

While cooking sessions aren’t specifically meant to be training sessions, the chefs often share tips and information with customers. Topics have included knife skills, trans fats and garnishes.

Cuizam! also offers special meals or sessions for the holidays (subject to change each year), like premade turkey dinners that simply need to be reheated or holiday cookie baking.

What sets them apart from their competitors? The emphasis on quality food is very important. They use no preservatives, as much whole food as possible, hormone and antibiotic-free meats, then flash freeze and vacuum pack meals immediately. Food only has to be reheated, not cooked. Customers can choose to have food delivered by Cuisine Limousine. Kathy Casey consults with Cuizam! on recipe development to keep the menu interesting and fresh. Their facility also sets them apart—everything is out in the open and people get to have an experience as well as walk away with gourmet meals.

What’s ahead? As Angie says "We’re still young and are looking at what makes sense. We started only with Cook and Carry, but the growth of the To Go portion of the business over the last nine months to a year was surprising."

Grace’s started out a lot like Cuizam! in April of 2003, with an event space, cooking classes and frozen take-home entrees. They also use natural and organic ingredients to prepare their gourmet meals. Similarly, their business plan is also based on the fact that people are so busy that a relaxing, home cooked meal is almost a thing of the past. They handle the menu planning, shopping and preparation so their customers can enjoy fine dining at home with friends and family.

Once thawed, meals from Grace’s may require minimum baking or sautéing "to bring the flavors to their peak." But it all takes less than half an hour.

Grace’s twist came in June 2004 when they began selling their frozen entrees at retail locations. It took off so quickly, not unlike Cuizam!’s experience, that they have decided to focus solely on retail. No more events, no more stopping by the Ballard location and grabbing dinner. It’s actually easier now to get Grace’s Kitchen meals, though, and that can’t be bad. Just check their website for a listing of stores that carry their product.

As a side note, the company is run by a once-CEO of Cinnabon, so perhaps this "surprising move of going retail" was planned all along. And by the way, there is no Grace, it’s just a name.

Once again, a local mom who liked to prepare and freeze meals in advance found that many people were in the same boat. They wanted to have sit-down family meals, but didn’t ever seem to have the time. She pulled together a girl’s cooking night out by renting a local commercial kitchen only to find out total strangers wanted to do it, too.

The mom, Stephanie Firchau, realized this was a true business opportunity that would actually help people. She enlisted Tina Kuna as a business partner and, voilà, they’re national. They’ve franchised the idea and new locations are opening at a fairly rapid pace.

How does Dream Dinners differ from others? Wannabe Dream Dinner cooks can go online, find a nearby location and sign up. Each customer chooses 12 meals to make and preorders. As a two-hour session starts, the cooks pull together their ingredients (already prepped), follow the recipes and socialize with existing and new friends. Meals are packed up in ice chests that customers bring with them and each person leaves with 12 family-sized dinners that can be frozen at home and eaten at will.

Kay Conley, yes another local mom, had this same group-cooking plan, but was thinking about it in 1998. In February of 1999, she started hosting "community cooking sessions" in a rented commercial kitchen. In January of 2004 she had a large commercial kitchen built. And yet, once again, the business reality hit that people don’t even have time to cook communally. As of October 2004, the cooking sessions stopped and chef-made meals became the name of the game.

Both Kay and her Production Chef, Darrell Reeds, were trained in Paris at Le Cordon Bleu and have worked in catering and restaurants over the years. Month of Meals offers restaurant-quality dining in your home. They believe in lots of options, so recipes only recycle every five-to-six months. Almost everything is made from scratch and they use hormone and antibiotic-free meats, and work at providing healthy and low fat meals.

Always trying to make things quick and easy, Month of Meals (MOM—you have to love that) allows you to check out the menu choices online, choose your time of pickup and whether you want a two or four-week meal plan. You can even pay online so pickup is fast.

Opened in November 2004, OTG is different in that it is an actual retail store with delivery service to homes or offices. They pride themselves on providing wholesome food that can be found conveniently, and offer both lunch and dinner menus. All recipes use as much organic food as possible, and all food is additive-free. Another difference is that they went into business with the clear idea of expansion. They are based in Issaquah, where the first store is, and will be expanding throughout the Seattle area in the final months of 2004. Chicago is first on the list for 2005. Jason Brown, the owner, is a local entrepreneur who feels the time is right for healthy food options to really take off.

OTG’s chef, Jesse Ziff Cool, opened one of the first restaurants (Menlo Park, California, 1975) that focused solely on organic and sustainable food and has written several books about cooking with organic foods.

Many of the items are ready to eat—no cooking at all—and some simply need to be reheated. Meals range from vegetarian to chicken to beef to seafood, and there are salad and sandwich lunch bags. Don’t forget to check out the desserts! There’s even a kid’s menu.

An additional benefit to customers is that OTG also stocks Organic Valley eggs, milk and American and Cheddar cheese. These can be delivered along with meals or picked up at the retail locations. The other "basic" they offer is one-pound packages of Seattle's Best Organic Coffee—yes, in Seattle, coffee is a basic. An actual need. The stores will also stock nonessentials (in whose opinion?) like wines, some organic and some not, champagne, organic beers, organic ice cream and teas and health supplements.

Dinner Plans has a totally different customer demographic--people who like to cook so much they actually make the time to do so. But DP makes it easier by creating meal plans for four meals per week. The plans include recipes, instructions for all parts of the meal, shopping lists and wine pairings. Once you’ve downloaded all the information, all you have to do is follow instructions and cook. It helps you organize what you need, when you need it and ensures the whole meal is ready at the same time (novel concept). If you’re curious, they offer a one-week free trial on their website.

Whether you love to cook or hate to cook, have time on your hands or no time at all, you do have at-home dining options besides rushing home from work each night and trying to pull a creative and tasty meal together. You might also end up learning a few more cooking skills and finding ways to provide healthier meals for yourself and your family. Once you’re familiar with what these companies offer, you can get creative. Give cooking classes or pre-made meals as gifts or to help a neighbor in need. Or put on that next corporate dinner party without a single nerve twitching. These companies are here to be used—let’s get started.

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