Dinner on the fly
WEST LA — With two young boys in Little League, Kathy Brisacher is constantly running from one practice to another, leaving little time to think about the eternal question of what’s for dinner.
“You get so caught up in the day’s activities that dinner time rolls around and you’re just stuck,” Brisacher said. “Chili fries and hamburgers are great, but you can’t live off them.”
Like many active moms, Brisacher struggles with being the perfect homemaker. Spending evenings with her family playing board games, helping with homework or just talking is important, but can take a back seat to preparing meals and washing dishes.
To ensure she doesn’t miss out on anything having to do with family, Brisacher turned to Dream Dinners, a company which provides everything one needs to prepare the perfect dinner without having to worry about chopping vegetables or running to the market for spices or an extra stick of butter.
Clients order meals out of a catalogue or online (www.dreamdinners.com) and go to a Dream Dinners kitchen where all of the ingredients are there, ready for busy moms and young professionals to assemble, freeze and take home to defrost when ready.
The meals, which can range from home-style chicken and dumplings to different casseroles and herb-crusted flank steak, are kept in plastic baggies that ensure freshness. All one has to do is take out a meal (medium dinners serve three), defrost it over night and pop it in the oven,fry it on the skillet or fire up the barbecue,saving cooks hours in prep time.
Each serving runs from $3 to $5, saving families money.
“Dream Dinners is great,” said Debbe Adamson, a Santa Monica Canyon resident with two young children always clawing at her feet. “It saves me a good deal of prep time. I don’t have to wash or chop of a bunch of vegetables. And the clean up is easy. It makes it so the evenings aren’t stressful. You have the time to relax and enjoy your family. The best part is the meals taste great.”
Dream Dinners is a franchise created in the late 1980s by two working mothers, Stephanie Allen and Tina Kuna. The Snohomish, Washington-based company went national in 2003 after years of perfecting recipes and the process.
The company now has over 35 stores, including one in Mar Vista, which is owned by Santa Monica couple Justin and Brook Hensley, who opened up shop in 2004, signing the lease for their massive prep kitchen days after their wedding.
“We just thought that this being L.A., so many parents are busy, so this presented a real solution,”Justin Hensley said.“We wanted to help people prepare good, delicious dinners that are healthy. It’s quick without being fast food.”
The benefits go far beyond convenience and taste.
“Research also shows that families who sit down for dinner three times a week,the kids do much better in school,” Hensley added. “They have higher (grade point averages), an expanded vocabulary and start reading at an early age. Sixty percent are less likely to use alcohol or drugs and eating with families is the only common denominator for national merit scholars.”
Those interested go online or call and make an appointment to prepare meals they order. When a client arrives, the ingredients are all set up, complete with the right measuring spoons and an assistant to guide them through the process and clean up when they make a mistake.
“It’s basically cooking by numbers,” Hensley said. “But you can customize your meals too. If you have a kid who doesn’t like garlic, you can make a dinner without it. If you want extra cheese, go for it. It’s that easy.”
Dinners can last anywhere from four to six months in the freezer,“so there is no pressure to eat them right away,” Hensley said.
Most families order 12 meals a month, spreading them out so that three nights a week one doesn’t have to worry about going to the market. Since Dream Dinners opened up in West Los Angeles, Hensley said more than 2,000 people have signed up. The franchise just celebrated its two year anniversary in November.
While the food may taste great, that’s not the only reason some clients keep coming back. Many build relationships with other clients and end up volunteering for various non-profits, cooking meals for the needy.
Adamson and Brisacher have helped distribute food for the homeless at the St. Jospeh’s Center, PATH (People Assisting the Homeless) and other providers.
“You really do become like a family,” Adamson said. “You get a chance to bond when you’re in the kitchen.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 28, 2006. Read the original PDF.