I know in our area many people are going to these new studio kitchens where people come in and prepare their meals at the kitchen. These stores do all the shopping and have a list of meals to select from. Then the customers go in and pick which meals they want and go to the commercial coolers take out what they need and prepare their meals. They bring them home and put them in the freezer, so all they have to do is take them out in the morning and prepare for the evening. These are only main dishes. I believe it is like 240.00 for 12 meals (each meal has 6 servings). They also let you divide them in to 24 (3 servings) for smaller families.

The problem people are complaining about is finding the time (30 min) to drive to these kitchens and also the money for gas to get there.

What if someone could start preparing meals in their home and delivering them by the week to each household. Or maybe even just make the menu and do the grocery shopping for the menus then deliver the menu and the groceries to the customers home (this will head all worries about health issues of cooking in your own kitchen- most states have health codes). You could even charge extra to prepare the meals in the customers home when you deliver the groceries and the menus.

I was thinking that if you did 10 meals (two weeks) like at the studio kitchen per family then you could establish yourself with 10 families and do one each day for two weeks- thats twice a month. I am not sure how to charge for this service, but I was thinking they pay for the full grocery bill (as if they were shopping themselves) with maybe a surcharge for gas. If each family paid you for gas and you could do all one weeks worth of grocery shopping at one time- 5 families then that would cover your gas and time to shop.

Then you get home and divide up groceries and put meat into freezer in individual boxes by family. Then when you go that family's home you just grab their box and add the shelve items then you're off. When you arrive you put away at their home and leave the menu. You could charge an extra 100.00 to prepare the food for two weeks into meals and put in freezer, so they just have take out and cook. This would give you 1000 (100 x 10 families) every two weeks. And you are preparing in their home (remember to clean up after your self), so no health regulations.

People pay someone to clean their home, so I bet they would pay someone to cook for them also.

Any comments on this post/ idea would be appreciated.

Brandie in TX

It does sound doable, but honestly, it sounds like ALOT of work for yourself. When do you get a day off? You grocery shop for 10 families, cook and deliver, it just sounds so time consuming.

If this is something you are considering, I would start out small to make sure it IS doable, then work yourself up to 10 familes. That way you could devolop more of a routine and work out the kinks before you too many clients.

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~Missy~Mommy
Meghan8.Samantha7,Cameron4

My first reaction is "who in their right mind would pay to have that done?" Then I think of some of my neighbors, and I get the answer.
I agree that it sounds like a ton of work for you. Start with just a few households and see how it goes.

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~Jeweled

I'm thinking your kitchen would have to be inspected and licensed - there might be a lot more to it.

Depending on where you live, you may have to have a dedicated kitchen in order to do this. In my area, you have to have a kitchen that has a separate entrance. You can't "cater" from your own kitchen in my area.

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~~~Carol~~~
Mom of Walker 3/96, Kimmie 2/98 and Cooper 12/07

I can see a market for this service (although I'd never use it myself), but there are a lot of things to consider. Even if you are preparing in their kitchen, you may still need to be inspected by the health department. You might also need a freezer and refrigerator in your vehicle - coolers may not be acceptable for transporting the perishable foods.

I also think you need to charge more for the grocery shopping - don't forget to charge for your time as well as gas. Even if you are shopping for multiple families at once, your gas surcharge could end up only paying you a few dollars an hour for shopping time. I can also see problems with dividing the items per customer, unless you have the exact same menu for each family. You could make some money by buying things in bulk and charging what the people would pay for smaller portions, but you'd need to have some sort of computer program to track that I would imagine.

Don't be surprised, too, if people don't want to sign up for a whole month of service. I know I go to the prep kitchens, but I don't eat the meals 5 nights a week. Some people might like your idea, but only want 2 or 3 meals a week from you. Your target customer has disposable income and can probably eat out a lot, too. I have a friend who has a personal chef come to her house but she only makes them 12 meals a month.

Good luck if this is something you decide to do!