BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses

Subject: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: Alice
Date: 27 Jun 06 - 09:26 AM

There is a new type of business that has sprouted up and I'm just wondering if any Mudcatters have encountered this where they live. The business offers a kitchen and prepped ingredients with menus to prepare your own meals and then take them home to your freezer. They do the shopping, chopping and planning, charge a fee or subscription to come and use their facility, and you have "home made" type meals you've prepared ahead for convenience. We now have one of these "pre-fix dinner" businesses in our town. Anyone else?

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: bobad
Date: 27 Jun 06 - 09:30 AM

Kinda sounds like gastronomic prostitution to me.

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: LilyFestre
Date: 27 Jun 06 - 09:32 AM

I never heard of such a thing. Do they do the dishes too? LOL

I'm not sure I'd like that...

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: MMario
Date: 27 Jun 06 - 09:32 AM

watched a TV show on food network about it a while back; the original business was started by a couple women who didn't have time to cook meals for their families - and they are now franchising the concept.

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: Alice
Date: 27 Jun 06 - 09:38 AM

Yup, they do all the clean up. You go to their business.
Here is a link to the one in my town
PreFixDinnerStudio

Alice

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: Alice
Date: 27 Jun 06 - 09:41 AM

I think I saw the same news story, Rapaire. I recall it was some time ago, but when I saw the opening of this local business I remembered the tv program that covered the new business concept. Not my cup of tea, but they are prospective clients of mine and I'm wondering how successful this idea is in other areas. It is a new concept to sell to the public, an uphill battle, not just a new business.

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: Sorcha
Date: 27 Jun 06 - 09:58 AM

I'm not signing up! NOBODY but me muckles with my recipes!!! Sheesh. We already had tuna salad kits and pre cooked bacon that still has to be nuked.....what next?

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: Alice
Date: 27 Jun 06 - 10:29 AM

As I was reading the menus, I was imagining all the households around town who were all eating the same meals. Imagine the office watercooler chat.... so, how did you like the Flank Steak Pinwheels? The ingredients are healthy, so it could be a good trend away from fast food. I wonder if it will catch on as a lifestyle change to go pre-fix your dinners down at the pre-fix studio kitchen.

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: Alice
Date: 27 Jun 06 - 10:41 AM

So, think about it, shopping done for you, prep work done, clean up done, high quality ingredients, menu/recipes planned, price less than if you'd paid for it yourself.... what's not to like? Just needs a change in behavior. That's the catch, re-training how we think about shopping and meal preparation.

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: MMario
Date: 27 Jun 06 - 10:47 AM

well - there is also:

a) cooking in someone elses kitchen (though you would get familiar with it if you did it on a regular basis)

b) cooking with someone elses recipes (though the show I watched said they helped people with that - adding or deleting or changing quantities of spices etc)

c) needing freezer space - since you are cooking up to 12 entrees at a whack (not 12 servings of entree - 12 entrees)

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 27 Jun 06 - 10:49 AM

Sounds very strange to me.

If you've got the time and inclenation to prepare and cook you own food, and are organised enough to do several meals worth for the freezer as you do that evenings dinner, it seems odd that you'll swop the effort of shopping for ingredients for that of going over to a strange kitchen.

It may have more appeal for less confident cooks, who maybe don't cook that much, and tend to do so from recipes when they do. Also. those whose are cash rich, and time poor.

I am very confident in the kitchen, and make up most things as I go along, and work from basic ingredients. If somethings doesn't turn out as expected, then I've learnt something, and it's almost always edible. But most people don't make bread without measuring, curry pastes from scratch, or brew their own beer...

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: Alice
Date: 27 Jun 06 - 11:08 AM

Yup, change in behavior... cooking in someone else's kitchen, buying a BIG freezer, using someone else's meal plan/menu, which may mean new food the family might not take to right away! I can see it being a big help for large families, also when preparing food for an event or party, or just having stuff made in advance if your life is going to make it hard to cook every day.... illness, company visiting, etc. An alternative for certain occasions or times of the year, not necessarily doing it every week.

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: Alice
Date: 27 Jun 06 - 11:13 AM

I must say the only reason it is not my cup of tea is because I cook for One! If I had a family or lots of parties/company I would take advantage of the convenience and not have the mess in my kitchen.

Alice

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: MMario
Date: 27 Jun 06 - 11:16 AM

What I'd like to see is "speciality nights" - for those things that are so time consuming to prepare; like making tortellini; dolmades/dolmas, tamales

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: bobad
Date: 27 Jun 06 - 11:20 AM

I think the hook here is guilt. The career driven people, who have little time for life outside of work, can assuage their guilt by buying the ersatz experience of preparing home "cooked meals." I don't buy it myself, as for me the whole process of looking after the physical nourishment of one's body should include the planning, obtaining and preparing of your food, which I feel is of greater importance than careerism.

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: MMario
Date: 27 Jun 06 - 11:22 AM

Alice - if I am reading the site correctly - there are options to "split" some of the entrees - quite possibly down to single portion sizes.

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: MMario
Date: 27 Jun 06 - 11:24 AM

The show I watched - they had some regular groups that treated the night of food prep as a social occasion - 4 or six couples who signed up together each time

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: Maryrrf
Date: 27 Jun 06 - 11:41 AM

There are some very well paid women on the "fast track" here at work who utilize this service. They have kids, (with nannies to take care of them), and often have to work late, and I guess this makes them feel like they are cooking home made meals for their families, even if they're working late so they can't eat with them.   I would think you could accomplish the same thing by just dedicating a weekend to cooking once a month or so and filling your freezer, but the meals from the service are gourmet, upscale and healthy and it has become a status symbol now.

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: Sorcha
Date: 27 Jun 06 - 11:29 PM

Yes...I do that when I am going to be away from home. Cabbage burgers/buns, chile rellenos, soups,etc. for the freezer. Sorry but I think this is just a weird thing to do.

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Jun 06 - 11:37 PM

It would be cheaper to hire someone to come to your house after diner and wash the dishes for you. And maybe have them stop at the grocery store on the way over and pick up the next night's shopping list of ingredients.

Tonight I cooked for several meals. I made a big pot of rice, a big batch of stir-fry broccoli, along with the entree for the meal (a sirloin pork chop). I also made a batch of guacamole and froze it. I have kids to do the dishes.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: M.Ted
Date: 28 Jun 06 - 01:12 AM

I'm not getting what the "need" is for this--it isn't convenience, because you have to schedule time and go there, follow their recipes, cook in their space, and shlep stuff back home and freeze it--it isn't cost, because it isn't cheap--and cooking frozen stuff often takes an hour or so(unless you nuke it, but that can kill the flavor and texture of a lot of things), so you don't really save any time--

Only thing I can see is if you are fixing food for someone who is sick or maybe, as mentioned above, preparing a quantity of something that takes a while for a party or something, but it isn't really set up to do that--

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 28 Jun 06 - 05:03 AM

As a practical comment, I would disagree with the notion that one needs a big freezer to participate in this kind of preparation.

Only someone without a freezer would be unaware of the axiom that 15% of what goes into a freezer never comes out of the freezer.

If you fix 12 entrees and put them in the freezer, something will come up one or two days during the time alloted for consumption, and one or two of the entrees will remain in the bottom of the freezer.

You will fix 12 more entrees of which one or two will remain in the bottome of the freezer.

You will ... - well I think you get the idea.

A small freezer that makes it easy to reach the stuff in the bottom is much more convenient for the annual (or oftener) "eat whatever comes out" week (the "eat" part being preferably limited to things identifiable, or for which you can at least make a good guess) so you can resume the accumulating.

A large freezer will tempt you to continue accumulating until you not only cannot identify the lumps of "stuff" in the bottom, you will have forgotten even how they got there - much less know when.

A tentative additional observation would be that anyone likely to benefit from a progam of this kind shouldn't have anything in the freezer compartment of their refrigerator to begin with, and most "modern" refrigerators have at least a couple of cubic feet of freezer space. That's more than enough space for a couple of weeks (or more) worth of good eating, if you get rid of the lollipops, Dove bars, stale half-empty ice cream cartons, TV dinners, microwave tater tots, the half-carton of "Cool Whip" from Thanksgiving (1994) etc. (I'd have to look to see what she's added to make a complete list. ;>} )

I'm afraid I'd have trouble with planning for a week though, since most individual meals I start turn out to be something different by the time they're finished. I do shop rarely, and buy in quantity; and I break down meal ingredients to sizes convenient for doing "whatever" (my favorite recipe) with them when the time comes.

I'd have to give additional serious thought to "corollary consequences" before participating in this style of preparation.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: jimmyt
Date: 28 Jun 06 - 07:19 AM

It reminds me of the folks who join a gym and complain if they don't get a close parking place so they have to walk a hundred yards farther before going in the gym and WALKING on the track. It is just another trend that will undoubtedly run its course.


Diets are along the same line. How many people fall for all the trendy diets when deep down most people realise if you cut down, eat in moderation and get excersize, you will lose weight.

Similar to all the organized activities, play dates, team sports etc for our children rather than letting them build their imagination, learn negotiating skills and leadership, simply by playing with other children in an unsupervised manner.

My daughter is a chef and she has a friend who has a business in Florida in an exclusive community or very wealthy folks and she comes to thier homes once a week or so, spends the day cooking, makes three "fresh" meals for the clients and prepares the rest of the week's meals while there to be frozen and used the rest of the week. The food is prepared the way they want it and all they need to do is folow the simple instructions with each meal. For this, she receives an incredible fee.

I just find these concepts curious. More of a state of mind of American rat race than anything else. I am sure as time goes on they will all run the same course as the earth shoe.

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: M.Ted
Date: 28 Jun 06 - 05:34 PM

I can understand hiring someone to come in and cook--that is a very old concept--as to the cost, someone once pointed out to me that, no matter how much money you have, you can't buy more time in the day--so you pay others for what you don't have to do yourself. This is the way empires are built--

As to the playdate business, Jimmyt-yeah, unsupervised play is a thing of the past in a lot of places--when I was a kid, we played in the street, we knew everyone in our neighborhood, our back screen door was never locked, and and most of the moms in the neighborhood were home during the day--today, we live in a world of strangers and overnight delivery trucks--

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: Alice
Date: 28 Jun 06 - 08:44 PM

In a way, I see this as a return to communal gathering. The friends may not be eating their meals together, but they are possibly setting up group food assembly sessions, with their kids close at hand playing in this big group kitchen (they do have a play area and love to have kids there). So, it could be a trend that brings friends together in person and break some of the isolation we are living in.

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 28 Jun 06 - 08:50 PM

Just last night I did my own pre-fix, in my house. A big batch of beans in our slow cooker. We ate dinner from it tonight, and I repackaged amd froze the rest, meal-sized sub-batches. Out of one cooking session, we've got five--count 'em, five!--meals for three.   Dee-lish, and talk about time well spent!

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 28 Jun 06 - 08:54 PM

"I'd have to give additional serious thought to "corollary consequences" "

I first thought you said 'coronary consequences' there...

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: SINSULL
Date: 28 Jun 06 - 08:55 PM

So I go out, cook my own meal, and then take it home to warm it over?
I don't get it...unless the attraction is being able to work a fully equipped kitchen.

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: GUEST,pattyClink
Date: 28 Jun 06 - 09:13 PM

It seems a little weird to me too, but I think there are pearls of truth in the idea.

1. A huge part of the rising generations has been raised on frozen chicken fingers and many of them can use some help and a repertoire if they are to make real meals.

2. For much of human history, we used common hearths to bake our bread and at home the cook(s) cooked for a large extended family. We now waste untold resources having what, 140 million people go home and cook individually for themselves or 1 or 2 others. The marketing, the chopping, the fuel, the time, the planning, yada yada. Much of womankind's life is wasted away in this solo pursuit.   I can't blame some yuppies if they want to pawn off the planning, marketing, chopping, and mopping on a third party, and have a pal to yak with while sauteing.

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: M.Ted
Date: 28 Jun 06 - 09:59 PM

You can buy a lot of veggies chopped these days, and even quick frozen meats, chicken, and fish ready to cook(even if you eat only organic. steroid free, free range, etc stuff)--and places like Whole Foods have great deli sections, with fresh made food (even vegan stuff) so there is little need to feed kids chicken fingers or to waste a lot of time in food preparation--DaveO has got it right-- a pot of beans, lentils, etc may need to cook for a while, but the prep time is pretty short, and, properly seasoned, with bread and a salad, it is as good a meal as you'd get in the best restaurants(it may even be exactly the same meal)--

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Jun 06 - 11:00 PM

It sounds like they get to mess up someone else's kitchen and don't have to do the dishes. They're paying a high price for that privilege.

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: Alice
Date: 28 Jun 06 - 11:23 PM

Well, in looking at the quality of their ingredients, the cost really isn't that high. This is a small enough town that people are not driving far from home to use the professional kitchen, and they can make it a fun time with their friends.
-----quote
OUR MISSION
Locally Owned, Locally Fresh
At Prefix Dinner Studios™ we use non-processed and all natural ingredients, with an effort to support local farmers, ranchers and food suppliers. Our mission at Prefix Dinner Studio™ is to save you time, money and energy to provide healthy meals to your friends and family.
-------

Their listed price is $3.50 per serving. Doesn't seem a high price for very high quality ingredients.
for example
Chicken Breasts with Summer Gremolata
All white skinless breasts stuffed with lemon zest, flat leaf parsley, garlic, and prosciuto, a classic Italian summertime dish.

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: Scoville
Date: 29 Jun 06 - 09:27 AM

Bizarre. How is stopping by a dinner studio to assemble your meal less time-consuming than just doing it in your own kitchen in the first place? And is there really anyone in modern America that doesn't drive by three + grocery stores on the way home from work, at any one of which I could easily stop and pick up some chicken and spinach?

There was a place near me for awhile that sold pre-made, ready-to-bake casseroles, which I thought was really bizarre considering the whole point of a casserole is that you dump a bunch of stuff in a deep dish and bake it.

Whatever happened to the crock-pot? I seem to remember my mother used hers a lot when we were kids and she was squeezed for time (hers was 1970's dark orange . . . ).

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: CarolC
Date: 29 Jun 06 - 10:30 AM

I think I can understand it from one perspective. If someone has been so busy building their career that they haven't had time to learn how to cook or to gain any confidence in the kitchen, a service like that one can help people do that, to some extent.

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: M.Ted
Date: 29 Jun 06 - 01:50 PM

As an old marketing/advertising per son, I am pointing out, simply, that I just don't see a market for this service/product, at least not in the way that it is being presented, and not in Bozeman--

This is a niche-market sort of thing--there have got to be enough people around who perceive a need for this service to sustain it summer,fall, winter, and spring. That's the base, and there has to be a reserve base to draw new customers from--

I can see something like this working in NYC, where a lot of people with families live in apts, have no kitchens, and have time commitments that limit cooking and shopping--or in a resort community, where families otherwise would dine out for every meal--or(to move to another end of the spectrum entirely) in a place where refugees and evacuees are living in temporary facilities--

It would be good in retirement communities, too, at least if the menus were price to work for people on a fixed income--a lot of seniors eat out every night--

It could also work really well for people who were on one or another sort of diet--I know of a couple local restaurants that make most of their money by providing dietary meals on a weekly basis--

But again, I am not seeing any sort of market awareness--

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: Alice
Date: 29 Jun 06 - 03:19 PM

Yes, I saw it more as a NYC activity, too, not a rural small community.

Subject: RE: BS: Pre Fix Dinner businesses
From: GUEST,maryrrf
Date: 29 Jun 06 - 04:58 PM

Seems like it's part of the phony, yuppified "getting back to traditional values" but without the mess and inconvenience that seems to be popular with some people. Hearkens back, I guess, to when neighbors would get together for communal vegetable canning or hog butchering, only now nobody has to bother with the prep work or cleanup. Much like the new "planned communities" which are designed to be like old style towns, with sidewalks and carefully selected businesses, or shopping malls (now the trend is outdoors)that are built to mimic an idealized old fashioned town center. In one interview with a resident in one of these communities he said it was great, because he was able to experience old fashioned small town community living without worrying about the "rif raf" that might be found in a real town.