Home cooked meals
The Times has an article today about those poor deluded moms who think that they’re cooking when really they’re just assembling.
I haven’t been to Dream Dinners or Lets Dish, but I’ll probably give it a try when they open their franchises near me. (So far, the only ones in the area have been in the distant suburbs.) I like to cook, but the need to figure out what I want to make, make a shopping list for T, and then find the time to actually cook before the veggies turn into limp blobs means that some weeks we wind up eating an awful lot of pasta with jarred sauce and frozen meals from Trader Joe’s. The idea of having a freezer full of meals ready to go for those nights is awfully appealing. (I do wonder whether we can fit the meals in the freezer and still have room for everything else that’s crammed in there. Do they assume that everyone has a stand-alone freezer?)
I was surprised by the quote from one of the founders of Dream Dinners saying that customers tend not to come in with friends after the first few times. The social aspect is definitely a big part of the appeal to me. One of my friends hosts "international dinners" every couple of months where she picks out the recipes and buys all the food and a group of us come over and cook. We make amazing meals, but the goal is not to have food to take home, but to eat it that night (although there are usually leftovers). It’s a lot of fun.
In modern society, cooking is probably the domestic task that is most easily outsourced. You can pick up meals to go from every supermarket and convenience store, let alone a restaurant. The fact that people are choosing these meal assembly places over take-out is testament to the emotional appeal of home cooked meals. I think that’s the real story.
March 27th, 2006 at 9:37 am
I have done Let’s Dish several times and you definitely don’t need a stand-alone freezer. The meals are compact and packaged to stack easily.
I’m going to blog about this myself, but this is definitely yet another example of the Times missing the real story while they’re busy condescending to women.
March 27th, 2006 at 9:46 am
It’s incredible to me how they don’t even follow up on their own statistics. Time spent cooking (can I assume per day?) has dropped to just 30 minutes, from 2.5 hours? That’s an outrageous drop! Why? Why is no one asking the question of where all our time has gone? And why is it somehow the mom’s fault?
March 27th, 2006 at 10:08 am
I have been to Let’s Dish and Dinner My Way..and LOVE it. Makes weekday meals SO much easier. The peace of mind of knowing I have dinner ready to go in 30 minutes without much prep is fantastic. And for those who don’t think its cooking — get real. And don’t even get me started on media who put the responsiblity for cooking on women….this is the 21st century, people!
On the social note, I have to say, I went with 5 girlfriends and it really isn’t social. I did 12 meals (split in half, so really 24) and it was a lot of work to finish in 2 hours. We thought it would be social, but in reality you were kind of running around to get your food done, and often there wasn’t room for more than one of you at the station, so it really isn’t a very social thing while you are there. Afterwards, comparing meals as you eat them is more the social part.
March 27th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
We have one of those assembly places nearby, but I’ve never been. In fact before the article I never even understood what they were. Neat idea though.
March 27th, 2006 at 12:05 pm
I’ve heard that the quality of the food is eh. Most of these places (Dream Dinners, etc.) are large chains that need to be sure they can offer the exact same foods exactly the same across the country and that the meals will be univerally appealing (do I hear lowest common denominator?). So, everything gets test marketed to the point of blandness (think Cheesecake Factory) and the food is sourced from Sysco (the same folks who provide food to Hilton hotels, etc.). Sorry, I should have given a warning before starting this post–I’m a food snob (and a FT work-outside-the-home parent).
Anyway, I read that article yesterday (after reading the unreal article about people being tortured by getting drilled with power tools before their hogtied bodies are dumped–ugh). I actually felt as though the authors were more or less neutral in their presentation of these places (“look at the cultural phenomenon that has sprung up”). It was only at the end, and only when they interviewed some odd, select group of food professionals that it took on this irritating snotty tone. And, while I’m pretty snotty about my food, my take on these places is simply that they’re not for me, but fine for others. [rather Miss America of me, no?] I would probably be more intrigued (and even willing to give it a go) if they had more than one vegetarian item on the menus.
I agree, however, that the tone of it being women’s fault is annoying. Although, get a look at some of the information from Dream Dinners (their corporate stuff). I think their underlying motives and tone are incredibly conservative/traditional.
I think the reason why meal assembly stops being social after friends come together is because this just becomes another chore. It’s less about hanging out with friends and more about knocking that off the list of things to do. . But, just my guess…
March 27th, 2006 at 12:56 pm
What struck me about this article is not so much the fact that people don’t want to spend the time cooking, it’s that they don’t know how to cook. There was a front page article in the Washington Post last Saturday about how cookbooks are dumbing themselves down because people don’t understand basic cooking terms anymore.
Just this weekend, as we were sitting down as a family to baked fish, barley risotto and roasted beet salad (all from scratch), Basil and I remarked that we seem to be the only people we know who regularly cook from scratch and eat together as a family – even on weeknights (though of course we have the occasional frozen pizza or Wendy’s night). In fact, as our little corner of Alexandria is ooohing and aaahing over the new Whole Foods here, everyone really seems to be fixated on the carryout section. We always blow by that part (mostly for money, partly for quality) and buy fresh fruit, veggies, meat, fish, cheese and wine. Then we make what we want at home.
Maybe we have more time than other families with two full time WOH parents, maybe we are just food snobs or maybe we enjoy cooking where other people see it as a chore, but for whatever reason, the meal assembly places don’t appeal to me. I wouldn’t like being hemmed in by their choices, and I think I would be skeptical about the quality of the food prepared. And I know by husband, ever the penny pincher, would be certain he could get a better unit cost per meal shopping with sales and coupons at the grocery store.
March 27th, 2006 at 1:45 pm
I would say that Dream Dinners changed my life. DH (who works at home) is the microwave king, but he’s incredibly resistant to learning to cook. He can make spaghetti with sauce out of a jar and meatballs out of the freezer, or scrambled eggs, but that’s about it. It really helps to have him get dinner started so we can eat as soon as I get home from work, and I’ve found that most of the Dream Dinners meals are simple enough and have clear enough directions that he’s willing to do it. Then all I have to do is fix a salad or some frozen vegetables when I get home, and we have a real dinner. Even on nights when I had a horrible day at work and the last thing I feel like doing is cooking.
One thing that I didn’t expect and that I really like is that it keeps us from getting stuck in a cooking rut. Since the menu changes every month, I don’t keep serving the same thing week after week (which is always a temptation when you’re cooking from scratch). Some dishes will reappear a few months after the first time we made them, but it’s long enough that we never get sick of them.
On the quality thing – I do exercise some judgment in deciding what to make. I think it helps that I do know how to cook from scratch, so I have a good feel for what dishes are really going to be like, and I edit as appropriate if I think a recipe looks too bland or too spicy or like it’s not going to cook up evenly. I really don’t see the ingredients as a problem, though. Is cream of mushroom soup really the antichrist? I mean, I could get sick of tuna casserole with nothing else in it, but generally it’s just a thickener in the sauce in any DD recipe in which it appears. I find that the meats are generally of very good quality (especially the steaks), and that the other stuff is about as good as what I cook with at home.
I guess when you’re talking about whether the meal is healthy, you have to ask what the alternative is. If the alternative is takeout pizza or chop suey, it would have to be pretty bad not to be an improvement. If you’re a “foodie” who already cooks a good dinner every night, then maybe it’s not for you.
March 27th, 2006 at 1:52 pm
It’s funny – I’m often asked why I don’t have my heroine, who is, after all, Super Mom, cooking in my book. I know that for some people that’s the epitome of what a Mom is supposed to do. But for me, it’s just a chore that I dislike that has no immediate rewards because it’s taken so for granted. Cleaning is like that, too – but at least I can see the finished result and enjoy it for a while. But all cooking gives me is yet another mess to clean up.
However, I do value our family dinners – I just don’t particularly enjoy preparing for them.
March 27th, 2006 at 1:52 pm
It’s really interesting to hear the reports from people who have used these places. I’m wondering whether some of the ingredients are precooked (like sauted onions or garlic) by the kitchen. It really does make a difference to cook the aromatics over a flame first, rather than just dumping everything in at once.
March 27th, 2006 at 1:56 pm
I’m a real stickler for sitting down every night to a healthy home-cooked meal. I work PT and my husband FT. I found the quality and nutrition of Super Suppers not quite to our liking, but it’s had a great impact on our meal times.
It really got me thinking about how to prepare ahead, freeze meals (no need for separate freezer), and cook in quantity. My routine now is to do a mass cookoff once a week or every other. At the end of a day I can usually get a very healthy meal on the table in 10-15 minutes.
March 27th, 2006 at 2:00 pm
OK, now that I’ve read the article, I have to laugh. That negative quote at the end is from Madhur Jaffrey, who thinks you’re not really cooking if you don’t grind your own spices in small batches for each meal. (Rolls eyes.) Honestly. She is EXACTLY the reason why so many people don’t feel like they can do anything worthwhile for themselves in the kitchen.
March 27th, 2006 at 2:07 pm
None of the meals I have made are that bland– part of the appeal is that you can up the spices yourself if you want more curry or garlic in a recipe. And the ones i’ve had with sauteed onions, etc, are the kind where you’re sauteeing as part of the cooking-at-your-house. and for people like merseydotes, who regularly cooks from scratch already, yeah, this is probably not gonna be your bag.
March 27th, 2006 at 4:02 pm
Anymore we cook every meal from scratch, but only because SO and are both home all day and can make the time to do it. When we both worked outside it just wasn’t practical.
The article was condescending (typical NYT) but the need for something like this was obviously there. If it makes life easier, then why not?
March 27th, 2006 at 7:10 pm
We will probably never go to Dream Dinners but I can see that those kinds of places definitely have a place in today’s society. Beyond busy parents who don’t have the time or inclination to cook a meal from scratch, think about single professionals who just never learned to cook or don’t have time. I’ve got friends who eat a 1000 calorie burrito from Baja Fresh most nights because at $6, it’s cheaper than a restaurant meal and cheaper than buying a bunch of ingredients for one or two meals (for those who don’t shop or cook often).
March 27th, 2006 at 10:52 pm
To answer your question, Elizabeth, the garlic, onions, etc. are not precooked at the kitchen. But there aren’t very many recipes that call for things like sauteed onions, because they are a bit of a pain to make. (One recipe that called for caramelized onions was interesting – they had you spread the onions in the bottom of a casserole, add a couple of tablespoons of sugar and a bit of water, and then bake until they were just starting to brown. A purist wouldn’t add sugar, I know, but these were definitely yummy, and they were a lot easier than babysitting onions on the stovetop to get them to caramelize.)
For things like stir-fries, the garlic and ginger is generally in with the vegetables. For most other dishes, they go into a marinade.
March 28th, 2006 at 9:18 am
I think I’m with merseydotes on this one. Once you really know how to cook, and are comfortable with it, it can go much more quickly. It used to take me about 2 hours to do a Rachael Ray-tpe 30 minute meal. But that changed when I really learned to cook. I was in law school, home during the day with my new baby (going to class at night), and cooking from scratch was a good excuse to NOT do homework while the baby was sleeping. A socially legitimate procrastination technique! That I’d actually get “good mommy” points for! AND (and this is a very important and) WE HAD A TV IN THE KITCHEN (because the “TV room” became the “baby room” when my son showed up). This is something that has made a huge difference for me. I don’t mind standing at the counter chopping veggies or scrubbing pots at 8:30 at night if I can watch mindless TV and relax at the same time, but I’d be really, really resentful if I were “stuck” in the kitchen.
Now, we do from-scratch food about 4 nights a week, and do leftovers/takeout/restaurant the other 3. The only reason we’re even able to pull off the nights that we do is because we had about two years of cooking at home, with a kid, back when we had a lot more time to really learn how to do it. My husband is in charge of meals Mon-Thurs, and I have Fri-Sun.
Anyway, I think there are a few things that can make at-home cooking as quick as dream dinners or takeout.
(1) Good knife skills. It’s the chopping that takes up a lot of the time, but after many years of wielding a chef’s knife, I can dice up two peppers and two onions in about three minutes. If we have a really chopping-heavy meal, I’ll prep the night before, after the kids are in bed (especially on American Idol nights, where it’s a win-win, because I’d feel quite silly sitting on the couch to watch the show, but somehow it’s more palatable if I’m chopping at the same time). Some cooking schools, esp. those co-located with stores, have knife skills classes that might be worth checking out if you want to get up to speed without spending two years of actual cooking doing it.
(2) Planning. we plan the meals, make the grocery list, and do the grocery shopping on the weekends, and this is also something that -after 5 years of doing it- only takes us about 15/20 minutes to plan and about an hour to shop. (It used to take MUCH longer). We have a stable of about 10 “old favorites” recipes, and we’ll usually try one or two new recipes a week. Sometimes we plan the leftovers (last night, turkey breast in the crock pot; tonight, turkey ceasar salad wraps).
(3) Level of comfort in the store/kitchen. If we don’t have A, I’ll use B. If this veggie looks gross in the store, I’ll grab that one, knowing it will probably work. If something is taking too long, I’ll futz with it or throw it in the broiler without fear of ruining it. I’m able to gauge which pan is too big and which is too small. If you haven’t been cooking for a long time, those things can be intimidating, and agonizing over them can be time-consuming.
(4) Knowing the shortcuts that work for you. Pre-washed bags of baby spinach, broccoli slaw, pre-shredded carrots or cabbage are things I’ll use constantly – I hate chopping carrots. I don’t like the pre-minced jars of garlic or the frozen diced onions or the individually frozen chicken breasts. I’ll use pre-cooked, packaged Italian sausage, but not the pre-cooked chicken strips. Crock pots are awesome.
I think Dream Dinners is a good idea, in part because it’s a place where people can go to get comfortable with cooking, and maybe get them to a point where their at-home cooking will go faster, too. Except, of course, for the knife skills, if everything’s pre-chopped.
March 28th, 2006 at 5:06 pm
Based on your post, I’ve made an appointment (and menu list) for the closest Dream Dinners for this Saturday. It’s just my husband and me at home now, so their 12 dinners (which serve 4 to 6) may well be 24 for us, which at $200 means less than $5 per meal per person. I work full time and have school 2 nights per week, plus Saturday mornings; having decent meals in the freezer means not eating tuna on crackers some of the time.
At least, it will if we like the food. Will report back later!
March 29th, 2006 at 1:04 am
My mother always cooked from scratch but my mother-in-law is a master at finding pre-made pieces, esp. sauces (pesto, white sauce, etc.) which are amazing, then adding just a few fresh vegetables to put it over the top. I still feel a little guilty for cooking her way but then again, when I do so the food tastes so much better!
July 6th, 2006 at 10:05 pm
Let’s Dish review
Tuesday’s post reminded me that I had never written about Let’s Dish after actually going there (as opposed to the theoretical discussion back here). Overall, I’d say the experience was less than I hoped for, but the food was better