Trade your way to homemade weeknight bliss
Neighborhood dinner co-ops are taking over our city and have sprouted in Seattle, Portland, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Austin, Denver, Berkeley—all across the US. Why not start your own? You can learn how in our new book: Dinner At Your Door: Tips and Recipes for Starting a Neighborhood Cooking Co-op. Our book offers simple advice on starting a dinner co-op, more than 60 favorite dinner co-op recipes, and easy worksheets to determine compatibility and food preferences.
You love to cook. But every night? No way! A neighborhood dinner co-op is a circle of nearby cooks who alternate delivering fresh, hot weeknight meals so you get more than you give. It’s a fun logistical trick to guarantee a delicious family dinner hour with only a fraction of the work. Also known as “cooking co-ops,” “supper clubs,” and “supper swaps,” a dinner co-op can bring you some serious benefits:
COOK ONLY ONCE, DINE IN STYLE ALL WEEK
Choose the weeknight when it's most convenient for you to cook, then receive dinner on the other 2 or 3 nights. After your cooking night is done, you're on easy street. You may even enjoy gourmet leftovers for lunch during the week.
RELAX LIKE A SLACKER, PRESENT LIKE A CHEF
Abandon your mealtime responsibilities for most of the week—work or goof off all afternoon, then simply answer the doorbell to hot homemade dinners. And when it’s your night to shine, make something amazing.
HOT AND READY TO EAT, RIGHT FROM A FRIEND’S KITCHEN
A true 'dream dinner' is having a friend deliver a freshly prepared meal, hot out of the oven. We’re often served locally-grown herbs and vegetables from our neighbors’ gardens. It's like having a team of personal chefs, but no invoice.
ENJOY A CLEAN KITCHEN FOR MOST OF THE WEEK
Enough said.
PROTECT THE PLANET, ONE DINNER AT A TIME
Imagine a single oven preheating instead of four. No takeout containers, plastic bags or credit card receipts from the restaurant. Just hot food, made from scratch, delivered on foot, by bike, by stroller or wagon. Neighbors and friends teaming up weekly for a simple, common-sense endeavor that runs mostly on human power.
Start scoping out your neighbors! Then please drop us a line or place a pin on our map. Tell us the name of your neighborhood and how your co-op is going.
And may your doorbell always ring by six-thirty!
- Monday - Receive
- Tuesday - Cook and deliver
- Wednesday - Receive
- Thursday - Receive
- Friday - Go out
The authors
DIANA ELLIS
Living in California during Alice Waters’ influence, Diana Ellis has a deep interest in improving the eating habits of teenagers. A junior high science teacher and an avid gardener, she believes that a shared healthy meal can actually improve how families function. In California, she developed an award-winning gardening class for inner-city kids, and currently runs a Garden to Plate club to get kids excited about eating vegetables they’ve grown themselves. She has launched and enjoyed dinner co-ops since 1999, the latest of which is exclusively vegetarian. Ellis is an active member of Slow Food USA.
ALEX DAVIS
A writer, cook and a bit of an entertainer, Alex Davis started her career with PBS and NPR stations in Atlanta, where she logged hundreds of hours in the studio. Davis serves as Senior Writer at a successful northwest advertising agency, where she develops winning copy and creative strategy for companies such as HP and Albertsons supermarkets. Her client work has appeared in Bon Appetit, People, Business Week and Sunset Magazine. She formed her first dinner co-op in 2001, when her second child was born with no family nearby from whom to mooch great dinners.
ANDY REMEIS
Trained in culinary arts, Andy Remeis brings ten years experience in the restaurant world. She has studied at the CIA in Hyde Park, New York and done seminar work with Julia Child. She served as catering manager at the posh Breckenridge Resort in Colorado. Remeis is an award-winning baker, for years specializing in elaborate wedding cakes that occasionally rival the bride. She cooks with uncommon exuberance, and has endless tricks up her sleeve to take weeknight dinners from ordinary to outrageous. She has organized and participated in dinner co-ops since 2001, and has no plans to ever give them up.