Imagine enjoying delicious, nutritious, hearty, home-cooked meals every weeknight, with one delightful twist: you only cook one meal and the others are delivered nightly to your doorstep.  No, you haven’t quite outsourced a personal chef; instead, you’re a part of a dinner co-op.

What is a dinner co-op?  While it can take many shapes, a popular structure for a co-op is one in which several people who live within a neighborhood agree to cook a meal for everyone within the co-op one evening each week.  Those other evenings – you’re enjoying home-cooked meals prepared by other co-op members.  The benefits of a dinner co-op are many: quality, home-cooked meals throughout the workweek; only one night of cooking, freeing you the other nights of the week to do whatever you choose; the building of your personal community; and, often, the saving of money as you buy a few things in bulk for your one meal instead of smaller (and, usually, more expensive) portions of many groceries.  Additionally, on any given day, one oven is on instead of four (depending on how many families are in your co-op), less gas being burned on supermarket runs for forgotten ingredients – a couple of things that make the planet breathe easier.

Starting a neighborhood dinner co-op isn’t difficult.  Here’s the game plan:

1. Think of who would be a good member of your co-op.  Factors to consider: people who are good cooks (this helps avoid awkwardness down the road with someone whose cooking you just don’t like); people with a similar family size as yours (unless you want to limit the cooking to sauces and stews that stretch.  I think it’s more fun and interesting to have heartier fare than that.)  If you’d like your co-op to run Monday – Thursday, you’ll need three other families to participate.
2. Get the cooks together for a discussion and planning.  Everyone should have a calendar and bring a couple of labeled food storage containers to be left with each of the other cooks.
3. At your meeting, determine the following:

• Who will cook on which night of the week?

• Who will have which protein for each week?  This will ensure you’re not eating chicken every night!  Mix it up so that the same person isn’t always working with the same ingredient (unless you all agree they do it so well and they want to!)

• Are there any allergies or absolute no-no’s on the ingredient list?  (You probably should think about this when inviting people to participate.  Having super-high maintenance eaters might make the experience less fun, limiting the range of food options.)

• Are there any other points you want to agree upon, for example, using mostly local, organic produce or antibiotic-, growth hormone-free dairy products?

• You might want to agree on a cost range per meal so that one of you isn’t delivering filet mignon while someone else delivers a veggie stir-fry every week.  This might not be an issue for you, as long as you’re getting quality, satisfying food, and not making this an issue allows people of different means to be a part of the group.  However, discussing this at the beginning can prevent embarrassing someone later.

• How and when will food be distributed?  The cook could deliver on the day she/he’s responsible no later than, say, 6 p.m.  Whatever works for your group is fine.

• What date will you begin?

1. Plan well.  Meals can be prepared, and even delivered ahead of time.  With other folks depending on you, it’s especially important to give yourself room for the unexpected (e.g., a sick child, a late meeting.)
2. Make sure you’re all aware of how to handle, cool and store food safely in order to prevent any food poisoning.
3. Plan on having some extra staples on hand in the event someone in your family (usually under 4 feet tall) simply doesn’t like a meal that is delivered.
4. At the end of month, have everyone list his or her favorite meals so that the cook will know to keep it as a part of her or his repertoire.  This can be done via a group email.
5. Have fun!  Use this as an opportunity to cook some really good food, not just slop together a simple soup or stick to the same ole, same ole.  You’ll be cooking far less, so make it an enjoyable experience for yourself and your diners.