Dinners Ready

"Me" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

is an outfit in Seattle that allows people to prepare meals on site, take
them home- uncooked but frozen - and cook them they choose.

I've heard this type of business is growing. Has anyone else run into
and, if so, where and what did you think of it?

We've had great success with them the two times we used them and, best of
all, my wife, who hates cooking, loves to do it. It gets me out of a heck
of a lot of work.

There were a couple of long threads about this concept recently. People who
like to cook generally aren't that interested, although some say that they
know people who might like the concept.

If you like it, go for it. You can probably tell us more about it than
people here could tell you, since the folks who hang out here are mostly the
ones who like to cook.

Donna

"Me" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

is an outfit in Seattle that allows people to prepare meals on site,
take them home- uncooked but frozen - and cook them they choose.

I've heard this type of business is growing. Has anyone else run into
and, if so, where and what did you think of it?

We've had great success with them the two times we used them and, best
of all, my wife, who hates cooking, loves to do it. It gets me out of
a heck of a lot of work.

I'm sorry, I'm missing the point here. If you prepare the food yourself,
what do you gain by doing it there? No washing dishes afterwards?

Mordechai Housman wrote on 11 Jun 2006 in rec.food.cooking

Quoted message said:

"Me" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

is an outfit in Seattle that allows people to prepare meals on site,
take them home- uncooked but frozen - and cook them they choose.

I've heard this type of business is growing. Has anyone else run

into

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

and, if so, where and what did you think of it?

We've had great success with them the two times we used them and,

best

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

of all, my wife, who hates cooking, loves to do it. It gets me out

of

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

a heck of a lot of work.

I'm sorry, I'm missing the point here. If you prepare the food

yourself,

Quoted message said:

what do you gain by doing it there? No washing dishes afterwards?

I believe this is some sort of marketing ploy/survey or a troll...as a
similar posting occurred last yr. And it generated a whole mess of
postings mostly against.

Why would a Newsgroup about cooking know or care about a prepare it
somewhere and take it somewhere else kinda operation?

Ignore it and it will go away.

--
-Alan

Mordechai Housman said:

I'm sorry, I'm missing the point here. If you prepare the food yourself,
what do you gain by doing it there? No washing dishes afterwards?

You get to pay extra for their imagination and recipes as well as them
cleaning up afterwards. And IMO, it isn't terribly economical?

Goomba38 replied to Mordechai:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'm sorry, I'm missing the point here. If you prepare the food yourself,
what do you gain by doing it there? No washing dishes afterwards?

You get to pay extra for their imagination and recipes as well as them
cleaning up afterwards. And IMO, it isn't terribly economical?

I can think of two circumstances in which such a facility would be worthy of
consideration:

1. If I didn't have a kitchen at all, e.g., if I were living in a motel with
an ice chest and a microwave, and everything I made could be stored in the
ice chest and cooked in the microwave. (It's my understanding that that is
*not* the case; the meals prepared need to be heated on the stove or in a
conventional oven. But maybe they've got some meals specifically tailored
for the microwave.)

2. If I didn't know anything about cooking, and I was SUPERVISED as I
prepared the meals. Then I could look on the activity as a cooking lesson.

Bob

Mr Libido Incognito said:

I believe this is some sort of marketing ploy/survey or a troll...as a
similar posting occurred last yr. And it generated a whole mess of
postings mostly against.

Why would a Newsgroup about cooking know or care about a prepare it
somewhere and take it somewhere else kinda operation?

Ignore it and it will go away.

--
-Alan

It's a legitimate business - just a stupid one. The one here went out
of business.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,135692,00.html

-L.

"Mr Libido Incognito" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Mordechai Housman wrote on 11 Jun 2006 in rec.food.cooking

Quoted message said:

"Me" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

is an outfit in Seattle that allows people to prepare meals on
site,
take them home- uncooked but frozen - and cook them they choose.

I've heard this type of business is growing. Has anyone else run

into

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

and, if so, where and what did you think of it?

We've had great success with them the two times we used them and,

best

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

of all, my wife, who hates cooking, loves to do it. It gets me out

of

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

a heck of a lot of work.

I'm sorry, I'm missing the point here. If you prepare the food

yourself,

Quoted message said:

what do you gain by doing it there? No washing dishes afterwards?

I believe this is some sort of marketing ploy/survey or a troll...as a
similar posting occurred last yr. And it generated a whole mess of
postings mostly against.

Why would a Newsgroup about cooking know or care about a prepare it
somewhere and take it somewhere else kinda operation?

Ignore it and it will go away.

Okay, but I'm just trying to understand what it is in the first place.
WHAT is it? How exactly is such a place used? What does one do? (And
why?)

"Goomba38" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Mordechai Housman said:

I'm sorry, I'm missing the point here. If you prepare the food
yourself, what do you gain by doing it there? No washing dishes
afterwards?

You get to pay extra for their imagination and recipes as well as them
cleaning up afterwards. And IMO, it isn't terribly economical?

I'm sorry, but I don't know what the mechanics are in this. What does
one do? I bring raw food there, I look up a recipe or I bring my own, I
cut up the food, I arrange it, they freeze it, and then I bring it back
home and cook it?

Or am I missing something here? I completely ignorant of this thing.

Mordechai Housman said:

I'm sorry, but I don't know what the mechanics are in this. What does
one do? I bring raw food there, I look up a recipe or I bring my own, I
cut up the food, I arrange it, they freeze it, and then I bring it back
home and cook it?

Or am I missing something here? I completely ignorant of this thing.

my understanding is you bring nothing but your wallet. Then they have
the food already set out and prepped so that you're basically assembling
the casserole or dish with their food. You're not really doing much, and
in a couple of hours you leave with a dozen or so foil pans of food
ready to go into your home freezer for use later. I think it costs like
200 dollars for a dozen entrees or so? And that isn't even a complete meal!

Goomba38 said:

Mordechai Housman said:

I'm sorry, but I don't know what the mechanics are in this. What does
one do? I bring raw food there, I look up a recipe or I bring my
own, I cut up the food, I arrange it, they freeze it, and then I
bring it back home and cook it?

Or am I missing something here? I completely ignorant of this thing.

my understanding is you bring nothing but your wallet. Then they have
the food already set out and prepped so that you're basically
assembling the casserole or dish with their food. You're not really
doing much, and in a couple of hours you leave with a dozen or so
foil pans of food
ready to go into your home freezer for use later. I think it costs
like 200 dollars for a dozen entrees or so? And that isn't even a
complete meal!

Exactly. And you only get to choose from their "recipes" and no sides or
anything else are included. You pay to use their utensils, their
ingredients and *your* time. I think the last time we discussed this
concept I checked the web site someone provided and the cooking times were
about 3 hours on average in the oven if cooked from frozen. Where's the
time saving advantage in that? Don't know about you, but I can usually
throw together the same sort of thing, fresh, with sides, in under an hour.

Jill

Mordechai Housman said:

"Me" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

is an outfit in Seattle that allows people to prepare meals on site,
take them home- uncooked but frozen - and cook them they choose.

I've heard this type of business is growing. Has anyone else run into
and, if so, where and what did you think of it?

We've had great success with them the two times we used them and, best
of all, my wife, who hates cooking, loves to do it. It gets me out of
a heck of a lot of work.

I'm sorry, I'm missing the point here. If you prepare the food yourself,
what do you gain by doing it there? No washing dishes afterwards?

I don't use them since most, if not all of their meals are meat based.
However, I can think of a few reasons why people might use them and one
of them is what you mentioned. Without judging why, some people have
busy lives. Between jobs, kids, after school activities, etc.; I can
see using a business like this (if I were too busy, which I'm not).

Here are a few ways I can think of to use it:
1. As a gift to someone who doesn't like to cook, maybe they have gift
certificates
2. For a family that has someone who is sick or in the hospital. Sure,
it's one step below a home cooked meal from your house, but it's a step
above purchasing a Stouffer's frozen lasagne pan. Having just been in
the hospital twice in the last few months, my daughter and husband (who
has cooked about 5 times in his 46 years) would have loved a gift like
that; a pan of whatever to just stick in the oven.
3. For a party where you want to be a hostess yet enjoy your party.
Everything would be ready in advance, without having had to shop for
the food, put it all away, prep it, mess up your kitchen, clean it all
up. Instead...clean the house, shower, pour yourself a glass of wine
and stick the pans in the oven
4.How about for an office party, a shower, or any type of celebration
where you want to bring a nice dish but don't have a great imagination,
are not a very good cook or you hate cooking!
5. Variety-a place like this might teach you how to become more
creative and how to vary your boring routine of the same foods, week
after week.
6. It might be fun to get a bunch of friends together and go to one of
these places and make a social event out of it instead of going out for
lunch or having drinks and eating unhealthy happy hour foods.
7.How about a date night? My husband does not know how to cook...it's
possible that he and could do something like this and he'd learn...and
not learn from me. Or how about a parent and child event...something
different, fun and educational. And it has been proven that kids are
more prone to eat what they choose and prepare. Sure, it can be done
at home, but sometimes doing something different is not only okay...but
it's great.

I'll bet if I spent more time thinking, I could come up with a lot more
reasons. Don't know it until you've tried it. I haven't tried it and
I"m not knocking it. I give the people credit who opened a business
like this. They believe in something and more power to them. It's not
like they're doing something hazardous or habit forming :-) I have
written to them and asked about offering veggie choices. Being someone
who is not particularly thrilled about cooking (since I've gotten dx'd
with cancer), I honestly might consider something like this when I have
to stay in the hospital again. Remember, to some of you, grocery
shopping, prep work, cooking and cleaning the kitchen is something you
take for granted. That's not something that _everyone_ takes for
granted.

"tofuqueen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I don't use them since most, if not all of their meals are meat based.
However, I can think of a few reasons why people might use them and one
of them is what you mentioned. Without judging why, some people have
busy lives. Between jobs, kids, after school activities, etc.; I can
see using a business like this (if I were too busy, which I'm not).

Apparently some people use them, but most people here are disinclined. As
far as time saving, I'm a little skeptical about that.

Quoted message said:

Here are a few ways I can think of to use it:
1. As a gift to someone who doesn't like to cook, maybe they have gift
certificates

You aren't getting away from cooking. I looked at cooking instructions when
this topic came up before, and it's not heat-n-go, it's as complicated as
recipes you'll find elsewhere. All you're doing ahead of time is packaging
proportions for the meals. It's cut for you, and measured, but if you have
to saute, you have to saute...

Quoted message said:

2. For a family that has someone who is sick or in the hospital. Sure,
it's one step below a home cooked meal from your house, but it's a step
above purchasing a Stouffer's frozen lasagne pan. Having just been in
the hospital twice in the last few months, my daughter and husband (who
has cooked about 5 times in his 46 years) would have loved a gift like
that; a pan of whatever to just stick in the oven.

Again, it's not just "stick it in the oven" for most of the recipes. And the
recipes that are "stick it in the oven" seem to have awfully long cooking
times. It's not unusual to have a 3-hour cook time, or you're instructed to
thaw for 1-2 days, then cook, so you'd better plan ahead.

Quoted message said:

3. For a party where you want to be a hostess yet enjoy your party.
Everything would be ready in advance, without having had to shop for
the food, put it all away, prep it, mess up your kitchen, clean it all
up. Instead...clean the house, shower, pour yourself a glass of wine
and stick the pans in the oven

That would be a useful idea, but you're getting family-sized entrees, not
party-sized meals. And it's just the entrees. There's usually a lot more at
a party.

Quoted message said:

4.How about for an office party, a shower, or any type of celebration
where you want to bring a nice dish but don't have a great imagination,
are not a very good cook or you hate cooking!

Again, that would be a good idea, but the meals are geared for a small
family. You might be able to get away with bringing the chili to a party,
but not the 4 pieces of chicken in a sauce.

Quoted message said:

5. Variety-a place like this might teach you how to become more
creative and how to vary your boring routine of the same foods, week
after week.

Considering it's an assembly process, I can't imagine you'd learn much of
anything, but it's a nice hope.

Quoted message said:

6. It might be fun to get a bunch of friends together and go to one of
these places and make a social event out of it instead of going out for
lunch or having drinks and eating unhealthy happy hour foods.

This discussion came up a while back when this thread appeared a few months
back. No one I knew could figure out why they'd want to go there. Either
they liked to cook and thought it was a huge waste of money, or they thought
the idea of assembled meals with little option for customization was
dreadful, or it was the wrong size for their family...there were a whole lot
of reasons why not, but no one I knew thought it was a good idea, and that
included a few people who hate/dislike cooking.

Quoted message said:

7.How about a date night? My husband does not know how to cook...it's
possible that he and could do something like this and he'd learn...and
not learn from me. Or how about a parent and child event...something
different, fun and educational. And it has been proven that kids are
more prone to eat what they choose and prepare. Sure, it can be done
at home, but sometimes doing something different is not only okay...but
it's great.

If the concept was different, this might make sense. But going to a station
and dumping chicken breasts, packaged sauce, and pre-chopped onions into a
cooking tray isn't going to teach you a whole lot.

Quoted message said:

I'll bet if I spent more time thinking, I could come up with a lot more
reasons. Don't know it until you've tried it. I haven't tried it and
I"m not knocking it. I give the people credit who opened a business
like this. They believe in something and more power to them. It's not
like they're doing something hazardous or habit forming :-) I have
written to them and asked about offering veggie choices. Being someone
who is not particularly thrilled about cooking (since I've gotten dx'd
with cancer), I honestly might consider something like this when I have
to stay in the hospital again. Remember, to some of you, grocery
shopping, prep work, cooking and cleaning the kitchen is something you
take for granted. That's not something that _everyone_ takes for
granted.

Just make sure you're aware of what you're getting if/when you pay the
money. I looked into a few of these chains, and what they claim is a little
bit far from reality. For instance, some say it's a month's worth of meals,
but that's only if you eat 3 meals a week at home. Seriously. A "month" was
12 "meals."

There's not a whole lot of choice in sauces or seasonings, that stuff is all
(or mostly) pre-done. You could choose to take less of a spice, but you're
not going to be able to change the basic recipe to suit your taste.

Portion sizes may not be what you expect. If you're a light eater, you're
probably fine, but if you've got growing kids or a hungry hubby, it may not
be enough food.

They aren't really providing "meals" they're providing entrees. No salad, no
veggies, no bread, no extras. There's no way it's a full meal, so you're
still going to end up shopping for and prepping whatever else you want to
serve.

You're still going to have to do cooking and cleanup at home. Some meals are
oven-ready, but many of them are just as complicated as anything else you'd
do at home. You're still going to use your frying pan, your pot for boiling
noodles, etc. And if they tell you to cook something in oil. it's your
cooking oil, your butter, etc. They don't supply everything you need. This
isn't a one-stop shop.

Some of the meals are just silly, pre-prepared. Cheeseburgers? Seriously.
You get meat patties, a slice of cheese, and buns. No onion, tomato,
lettuce, or pickle. You don't even get condiments. No choice of cheese. No
chips, potato salad, slaw, or baked beans. No dessert. Nada. Just meat,
cheese, bun.

There were other meals like that. Sausage sandwiches where you get the raw
sausage and the packaged sauce and some buns. Why bother? You could buy
sausage, sauce, and buns at the store, and it wouldn't be frozen. And I have
no reason to believe their pre-made sauces or other ingredients are any
healthier than what you could buy in the store.

And the *better* meals were complicated to cook, given that they're
targeting people who don't like to or want to cook. And the instructions
were lacking, IMO, for some of the recipes. Giving someone a frozen pork
chop and telling them to cook it until it's done is not something that's
going to guarantee success.

And they assume you have all the cooking gadgets needed -- meat thermometer,
whisk, double boiler, crockpot, Dutch oven, etc. Yes, I have those things
(or can figure out what I need to use instead) but if these are geared for
people who don't cook, they might have problems following the instructions.

The chains are different from each other in regards to what they
specifically offer, and the menus change, but for the most part what they're
doing for you is helping you measure the cheap ingredients, portioning the
meat/main dish for you, doing some cutting, and providing spice mixes and
packaged sauces. And you get to pay a premium price for that.

Obviously, there are some people who find the service useful. Some of the
chains may be better than others. But overall, I think the advertising is a
lot better than the reality.

Donna

Mordechai Housman said:

Okay, but I'm just trying to understand what it is in the first place.
WHAT is it? How exactly is such a place used? What does one do? (And why?)

They do all the prep work to make some Good Housekeeping Magazine type
meals, so all you do is go along cafeteria style and assemble things,
something like 10 or 20 meals for 6 in an hour or two.

Great for yuppies who never learned how to cook and have the money to
buy everything premade or to eat every meal out but want to feel like
they are giving their families a home-cooked meal.

1) I am not a troll and I'm not advertising; I'm just curious with a lot of
time on my hands
2) My health is worsening , so cooking, which I love to do, is becoming
more and more difficult.
3) My wife's cooking is horrible and she doesn't like to cook from scratch.
She likes doing it their way and if it weren't for that, I'd still be doing
all the cooking
4)) They do have a limited menu that varies from month to month
5) they have "work stations" with all the ingredients in place
6) follow the directions: put this much sauce, veggies, meat, etc. ( that
they have already made and cut but not cooked ) into individual freezer
bags
7) I made creamed chicken tonight.

Again, I was just curious.
Ciao
"Mordechai Housman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:Sz5jg.1135$3e3.887@trndny06...

Quoted message said:

"Me" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

is an outfit in Seattle that allows people to prepare meals on site, take
them home- uncooked but frozen - and cook them they choose.

I've heard this type of business is growing. Has anyone else run into
and, if so, where and what did you think of it?

We've had great success with them the two times we used them and, best of
all, my wife, who hates cooking, loves to do it. It gets me out of a
heck of a lot of work.

I'm sorry, I'm missing the point here. If you prepare the food yourself,
what do you gain by doing it there? No washing dishes afterwards?

Me said:

1) I am not a troll and I'm not advertising; I'm just curious with a lot of
time on my hands

What struck me as truly odd was your statement that
you could prepare meals on-site, then "take them home
uncooked but frozen". Hmmm. Sitting around waiting for
it all to freeze doesn't strike me as particularly
convenient. Not exactly a timesaver there.

However, the establishment of which you speak is
actually real. So now I'm thinking you just misspoke.
If you are trying to shill for them you're doing
a really bad job, so, I'm thinking you might not be.

--
Reg

"Melinda Meahan - take out TRASH to send" <[email hidden]> wrote
in message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Mordechai Housman said:

Okay, but I'm just trying to understand what it is in the first
place. WHAT is it? How exactly is such a place used? What does one
do? (And why?)

They do all the prep work to make some Good Housekeeping Magazine type
meals, so all you do is go along cafeteria style and assemble things,
something like 10 or 20 meals for 6 in an hour or two.

Great for yuppies who never learned how to cook and have the money to
buy everything premade or to eat every meal out but want to feel like
they are giving their families a home-cooked meal.

Hm, I see. Or I think I see. 🙂 Thanks!

"jmcquown" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Goomba38 said:

Mordechai Housman said:

I'm sorry, but I don't know what the mechanics are in this. What
does
one do? I bring raw food there, I look up a recipe or I bring my
own, I cut up the food, I arrange it, they freeze it, and then I
bring it back home and cook it?

Or am I missing something here? I completely ignorant of this thing.

my understanding is you bring nothing but your wallet. Then they have
the food already set out and prepped so that you're basically
assembling the casserole or dish with their food. You're not really
doing much, and in a couple of hours you leave with a dozen or so
foil pans of food
ready to go into your home freezer for use later. I think it costs
like 200 dollars for a dozen entrees or so? And that isn't even a
complete meal!

Exactly. And you only get to choose from their "recipes" and no sides
or
anything else are included. You pay to use their utensils, their
ingredients and *your* time. I think the last time we discussed this
concept I checked the web site someone provided and the cooking times
were
about 3 hours on average in the oven if cooked from frozen. Where's
the
time saving advantage in that? Don't know about you, but I can
usually
throw together the same sort of thing, fresh, with sides, in under an
hour.

Ah, but YOU can cook, and are apparently not too lazy to chop your own
vegetables too! So that's why you and I would never use such an odd
service, but, as Melinda pointed out to me, it's great for some types of
yuppies.

"Me" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

1) I am not a troll and I'm not advertising; I'm just curious with a
lot of time on my hands

It seems like a cute idea, this "assembly cooking."

I have to tell you, though, that even though I've been on the internet
since about '91, I STILL don't know what a "troll" is.

Mordechai

Mordechai said:

I have to tell you, though, that even though I've been on the internet
since about '91, I STILL don't know what a "troll" is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll

"a troll is someone who comes into an established community such as an
online discussion forum, and posts inflammatory, rude or offensive messages
designed intentionally to annoy and antagonize the existing members or
disrupt the flow of discussion."

Bob