Many of us are accustomed to using the Internet to order plane tickets, hotel rooms and random eBay odds and ins ... but ordering dinner online? With a new trend of businesses focusing on the concept of "grab-and-go" dinners, the notion of ordering dinner for your family online may soon not be such a foreign notion.
Over the past few years, products and services for the person on the go have increased dramatically. With most contemporary families' schedules catering to two working parents, the tradition of sitting down for a nightly meal is all but obsolete to many families. Insert "meal assembly kitchens" - services designed to take the labor out of cooking, which puts the family time back into dinner. These services are popping up all over the country, with Lexington offering a handful of options - and they are more affordable and accessible than you might think.
Dream Dinners
115 Coddell Rd. (off Todds Road), Ste. 120
(859) 269-3463
www.dreamdinners.com
At Dream Dinners, customers have the option of ordering already-prepared menu items for pick up, or attending sessions where you choose the items and prepare them yourself at their kitchen. The menu rotates monthly and features up to 17 items each month, with nutritional information available about each dinner.
How it works: After selecting a date for your Dream Dinners session, choose the dinner combination that works best for your family and reserve that session. Dream Dinners suggests that you bring coolers or boxes to your session to transport the food back to your house once you prepare it. Once you're at the store, after a brief orientation you rotate from one assembly station to the next (stations include main ingredients, sauces and seasonings), scooping the ingredients into plastic bags or provided baking pans. Side dishes are also available. When you're finished, box up the items and you're ready to take your dinner straight to your refrigerator or freezer.
The starting price for 12 six-serving dinners (think two weeks for a family of six) is approximately $240, or $3.33 per serving.
Entree Vous
160 Bellerive Plaza
(859) 223-1601
www.entreevous.com
Founded by Harriet Dupree of Dupree Catering, Entree Vous allows you the opportunity to order dinner for your family (however big or small) online, and pick it up at their store or any of the three Liquor Barn locations, anytime after 5:30 p.m. the same day. Meals are prepared with fresh ingredients, and they allow you the option to personalize your meal with side and dessert options.
How it Works: Entree Vous offers three different routes to getting dinner on the table: 1) Fresh take and bake - you walk in to the location on Bellerive Plaza (off Harrodsburg Road) and choose your meal from their menu. From there, you have the option of allowing Entree Vous' team of professionals to assemble the meal before you, or you can assemble it yourself with their fresh ingredients. 2) Schedule a pick-up order - with this option, you can place your order online and pick up the meal (frozen or refrigerated) as early as later that same day. 3) Schedule a cooking session - designed for those who enjoy cooking, this option cuts out the time it takes to shop, chop and clean up while preparing a meal, while allowing you the creative hand in preparing the meal.
Entree Vous also offers a Thanksgiving Dinner Package for 10-12 people and corporate catering - they'll provide fresh food for office parties, social gatherings and meetings. Starting at the first of the year, they will offer cooking classes for those who want to learn more.
Entree prices come down to about $4 per serving, with sides and desserts averaging around $1.50 each.
Nova Gourmets
Personal Chef Service
www.novagourmets.com
(859) 523-0599
Nova Gourmets hopes to dispel the notion that only the rich and famous can enjoy the benefits of a personal chef service. The affordable, accessible service is geared toward "busy moms and professionals, people with dietary restrictions, career-oriented couples, and anyone who just doesn't have the time to cook" in Lexington and the surrounding area. They provide freshly prepared gourmet meals that you can reheat in your home at any time.
How it works: You fill out a personal preference form so that the chefs at Nova Gourmets are familiar with your family's likes and dislikes. From there, a chef will prepare a menu for you and submit it for your approval. The chef prepares, packages and labels the meals for you to heat and reheat at your disposal. Nova Gourmets caters events as well, and offers holiday dinner packages at approximately $18.00 - $22.00 a person (for a minimum of 15 people; additional charges may apply for smaller groups). Nova Gourmets also offers home cooking class parties.
Five meals for a family of four, including groceries, service fee and tax averages around $380, and Nova Gourmets offers over 200 menu item choices.
Faithful Dinners
www.faithfuldinners.com
(859) 619-5475
Geared toward families who enjoy cooking, Faithful Dinners is designed to cut out the stress and uncertainty of planning a week's worth of meals. The new dinner-planning service provides you with meal plans, recipes and a grocery list. The Web site also offers a daily scoop - like, "Eggs will be fluffier if you allow them to reach room temperature before beating" - as well as a list of essentials for the well-stocked pantry. Their Web site will soon feature tips on food and wine pairing.
How it Works: Faithful Dinners is a membership-based dinner planning service. Members receive access to the Faithful Dinners menu-planning site, which publishes 10-15 menu ideas and recipes for entree and side items each week, along with a grocery list for the items you've chosen and a step-by-step recipe guide. Faithful Dinners also gives you a virtual "Recipe box" where you can store your favorite recipes and access them anytime, even after they are no longer available on the weekly menu.
This service doesn't actually provide you with the food and is therefore less expensive than the other services, with monthly memberships start at $7.95.
On the Way
Keep an eye out for Josey's Grab and Go at Chevy Chase Place, slated to open soon. Merrick Inn owner Bobby Murray will be providing recipes for those families who like to cook, as well as offering ready-to-grill kabobs, steaks, seafood and poultry to go. Murray will emphasize teaching people how to grill these items so that they are comfortable preparing them at home.