A New Way to Get A Home-Cooked Meal
Kitchens Away From Home
Let Busy People Assemble
Ready-to-Freeze Meals
Sitting down to a home-cooked meal every night would be nice -- if only it didn't take so much time to prepare.
A host of new companies around the country offer a time-saving compromise: come into their storefront kitchen, where all the ingredients and recipes are ready and waiting, and make a big batch of from-scratch meals that you package up, take home and freeze until you're ready to roast, simmer or stir-fry them later.
The services, which charge roughly $15 to $25 for a main course that feeds four to six adults (not including side dishes you need to make yourself at home), are too pricey to replace home cooking altogether. But they're cheaper than ordering a nourishing takeout dinner for a whole family, and they give consumers more control over the type of ingredients in their food.
HOME COOKING
See how the dinner services compared on cost, convenience and taste.Dream Dinners Inc. in Snohomish, Wash., is credited with creating the away-from-home meal-preparation concept in 2002. The trend has grown, and now there are an estimated 217 such companies with around 566 stores in the U.S. and Canada, according to the Easy Meal Press Association in Cheyenne, Wyo., a trade group that provides services for some of these stores and has a directory on its Web site,
www.easymealprep.com.To find out how the meal-preparation stores work -- and if the dinners pass a basic taste test -- we sent out testers in different parts of the country. Despite wanting to tweak recipes and finding better ways to package and transport the meals, and perhaps see menus that are a little less meat-centric, we were generally satisfied with our experiences. The process was smooth, the ingredients were of decent quality and the meals tasted homemade. We'd even use some dishes as shortcuts for dinner parties.
At all the stores we tried the owners were attentive, keeping ingredients replenished and work areas clean. They helped customers split recipes into smaller meals and to adjust seasonings for bold or finicky palates.
Here's how it typically works: You sign up for a scheduled session and choose meals from a list either online or when you arrive. When you show up at the scheduled time, you don an apron and disposable kitchen gloves and claim a shelf in one of several refrigerators to stash your meals as you make them. Stations are set up with recipes and all the prepped ingredients for a particular dish.
You put a premeasured portion of meat or fish into a mixing bowl or, easier still, the aluminum pan or Ziploc bag you'll carry it home in, then add your other ingredients. Containers filled with chopped onions or garlic, soy sauce or chicken broth, and herbs and spices have scoops that reflect the amounts called for in the recipes, making the process fairly glitch-proof. Each finished package is labeled with cooking instructions and sometimes suggested side dishes.
Because you don't need to shop for ingredients, wash and chop the vegetables and meat, or clean up, each meal takes only five to 10 minutes to make. A working parent with an overscheduled family -- the target customer for these services -- can assemble eight dishes in 90 minutes, then pluck a homemade meal from the freezer on nights when there isn't time to cook from scratch at home.
Dream Dinners, Simply Cook It Inc. and One Two Three Dinner each offered classic family dinners, often with an updated twist (such as pesto-cheddar meatloaf at Simply Cook It). They mixed those in with toned-down versions of trendy ethnic fare (Dream Dinner's arroz con pollo) and a few lighter options (One Two Three Dinner's salmon burgers).
Designed Dinners had a slightly more adventurous menu. Tuna steaks were in a wasabi marinade, and the green salsa on our enchiladas had a serious kick. Dinner Dr. had traditional American options like chicken pot pie, baked chicken and six-layer taco casserole.
The environmentally conscious might cringe over all the disposable pans and plastic bags you go through in a single session. The stores say the packaging is partially a response to health codes that are stricter than for restaurants because customers are carrying away prepped but uncooked food, and they point out that the aluminum pans are recyclable.
Most places charge a flat fee for five to 15 meals. Entrees with pricier items, like salmon or steak, seemed like a better value than those with pasta or chicken. Dream Dinners prices its meals a la carte, but your tab could vary by as much as $25, depending on the dishes you choose, so we preferred the no-surprises aspect of the flat fee.
In general, the meals are meant to be kid-friendly. Chicken, cheese and ground beef make frequent appearances. Spicing is generally mild and cooking directions tend toward well-done meat. Seafood options were generally limited, and vegetarian entrees were few and far between.
These meals aren't as complete as some store-bought frozen dinners would be. You do have to cook them and not simply heat them up, improvising along the way. Also, customers need to think about how to transport and store all the meals -- squeezing four or five baking pans into a freezer is no small feat. Some stores recommend cleaning out your freezer before visiting and bringing a cooler to keep food chilled on the way home. A cooler also keeps the food contained should anything spill in the car (we had a vinegary marinade leak from a poorly packed aluminum pan).
COMPANY COST/MEALS CONVENIENCE FACTOR TASTE TEST COMMENT
Dream Dinners,
Belmont, Calif. $131; six entrees It was easy to season recipes to our taste, and cooking directions were foolproof. The chicken in three dishes was moist when cooked, while vegetables stayed crunchy. The menu was broad enough that it was easy to pick six appealing dishes. Organic choices would've been nice.
Designed Dinners,
Seattle $145; eight entrees A quiche required too much at-home prep. But we used the marinades that came with several entrees to flavor our side dishes. Some dishes were zesty -- perhaps too much so for kids -- while others were underseasoned. Fish and meat-free options, along with free wine and cheese at the store, were nice touches.
Dinner Dr.,
Hopkins, Minn. $128; 12 entrees We were the only ones at our session, assuring plenty of guidance from the owner. A shrimp dish and a baked chicken dish were flavorful. The cod was well-seasoned but a bit chewy. The kitchen facilities were spotless, the ingredients were fresh and the prices seemed reasonable.
Simply Cook It,
Mount Olive, N.J. $149; eight entrees Splitting some dishes into two portions was easier said than done without help. Cooking times were too long on chicken dishes. Seasonings were ample enough to satisfy adults without scaring off the kids. The owners were attentive -- down to carrying a large box of meals to our car for us.
1-2-3 Dinner,
Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. $104; three entrees, one side dish, one soup, one cake Walk-in sessions with no minimum purchase offered flexibility, as did a selection of soups, side dishes and desserts. Dishes were well seasoned and light on salt, but never spicy. We added more garlic to skirt steak. The priciest of the group, but the menu ranged from family meal standbys to dinners we'd happily serve guests.
准备家庭大餐有新招
在外奔波了一整天，如果晚上回到家能坐下来享用一顿亲手烹调的晚餐，该是多么惬意的事情啊──要是不必花太多时间准备就更好啦。
如今美国有许多新公司都提供一种节省时间的折衷办法：你可以进入他们的店面厨房，里面所有的配菜和调料都是现成的，选好后打包带回家放到冰箱里。需要的时候拿出来或煎或炒，或烹或炸，你就可以很快做出一大桌饭菜了。
一道可供4-6位成年人食用的主菜收费在15-25美元左右（不包括你为了更像家宴而需要准备的配菜），因而用这种服务完全取代自己作饭就太奢侈了。不过比起为全家人在外面点一顿有营养、有滋味的外卖来说还是便宜不少，而且还可以更自由地选择食物的配料。
华盛顿州的Dream Dinners Inc.在2002年首创了这种为消费者准备家宴配餐的模式。这种潮流逐渐风行开来，据行业组织Easy Meal Press Association的统计，现在美国和加拿大约有217家此类配餐公司，它们开办了566处店面。
为了解这些配餐公司如何运作以及这些食物的口味能否过关，我们在全美各地派出了测试人员。虽然在菜品搭配以及包装和运送方面还有可改进之处，但总体上结果还是令人满意的。整个过程很顺利，配料的质量不错，口味也如家常饭一般可口。我们觉得有些菜品甚至可以用在正式晚宴上。
在我们考察的所有配餐店里，店家的服务都比较周到，能及时补充菜品、保持工作区的清洁。他们还帮助顾客配餐，并能够根据顾客的口味来增减调味品。
他们的工作流程一般是这样的：通过互联网或者亲自到店预约并选择菜品。在预定时间到达后，穿上围裙、戴上一次性厨房手套并在店面的几台冰箱中选择一台，用其中一层来储藏自己制作好的食物。此时操作台上也已经放好了为某道菜准备的配料及调料。
将事先秤量过的肉或鱼放入搅拌容器中──或者更简单，放入铝盒或可以直接带回家的密封袋中，加入调料。盛有洋葱末、蒜末，酱汁、鸡汤，以及其它调料的容器上都有用量标记，所以整个过程一般不会出现差错。在每一袋配好的食物包装上都写有烹饪说明，有时还会建议搭配什么配菜。
由于不需要购买调料、洗菜切菜、洗餐具，每一道菜只需5-10分钟便可完成。无暇照顾家人、忙于工作的家长们──他们是这种服务的目标顾客群──可以在90分钟内准备好8道菜，这样在没时间做饭的晚上，他们就可以从冰箱中变出一桌自己准备的饭菜了。
Dream Dinners、Simply Cook It Inc.和One Two Three Dinner都提供经典的家庭大餐，而且经常推出新花样（比如Simply Cook It Inc.以香蒜汁、切达干酪制作的肉馅糕）。他们将这些食品与经过改良的少数民族风味（Dream Dinners制作的鸡肉饭）以及一些清淡食物搭配在一起（One Two Three Dinner的三文鱼汉堡）。
注重环保的人们可能会因一次性盘子和塑料袋而有所顾忌。这些店铺表示，由于顾客带走的是经过准备但却未经烹制的食物，所以他们的卫生标准比餐厅更严格，所以这也是按规定办事，另外他们指出铝盒是可回收的。
大多数店铺对5至15种菜肴收取固定费用。价格更贵的主菜，比如三文鱼或牛排似乎比面食或鸡肉更划算。Dream Dinners根据菜单收费，不过价格可能会因具体菜肴的不同而有所区别，最高的价差可达25美元，所以我们还是更喜欢固定费用的无惊无险。
总体而言，孩子们喜欢这些饭菜。鸡肉、奶酪和碎牛肉最受欢迎。调料口味偏淡，而烹调说明倾向于将肉类烧至熟透。海鲜选择有限，素食主菜很少。
这些菜肴并不像速冻食品那样容易制作。你必须真正烹煮，而不单只是热一热，在烹饪中还可以有所创新。顾客们还需考虑如何运输和储存这些菜肴──把四、五个盒子塞进冰箱可不容易。有些店家建议，在买进这些菜肴前先清理冰箱，再带来一个冷藏箱，这样可以在路上为食物保温。冷藏箱还可以防止食物汤汁溢出包装，弄脏汽车（因铝盒包装不严，我们就曾犯过这种错误）。
