By George Anderson
Too little time and too much to do is becoming the mantra of generations of Americans - especially female heads of households - and a new generation of food businesses have sprung up to help a frazzled nation cope.
A report from the Washington Post says that "meal assembly" businesses, such as Dream Dinners, Let's Dish!, Dinner My Way and My Girlfriend's Kitchen, are opening up to save meal preparation time for busy people so that they can spend more time on the important stuff, like sitting down to eat with their families.
The concept behind these businesses is to allow home cooks to assemble prepared raw ingredients for multiple meals and package them for use at home.
Jane Korrow, who prepares meals for her family at Let's Dish! in Timonium, Md., told the Post she finds the service to be convenient (no shopping, chopping or cleanup) and fun (music, snacks, drinks other mothers to talk to).
Elizabeth Marcotte, owner of a Let's Dish!, said another advantage is that, unlike buying prepared foods, the assembly concept allows home cooks to "tailor each recipe to your own family. If they don't like garlic, you can just leave it out."
Gregory Fairchild, a professor at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, said these meal assembly ventures are playing to a growing national trend "to reconnect the family around the dinner table."
Moderator's Comment: Do you see a continuing demand for the type of meal assembly businesses in the Washington Post report? Do you expect to see traditional food grocers start their own meal assembly businesses along the line of those described in the Post article? - George Anderson - Moderator