Mind
Professional chefs help seniors with nutritious meals
Experts estimate that there are perhaps millions of seniors living alone and malnourished around the world because they don’t know how, or are unable to cook nutritious food for themselves. But one small company in the US has set out to solve that problem by sending professional chefs directly into the homes of clients to whip up a week’s worth of meals.
Chefs for Seniors is the brainchild of Nathan Allman and his father Barrett, and the idea is really quite simple – people pay for professional chefs to come into their home kitchens and turn simple ingredients into delicious, nutritious meals for the entire week. The business came about after Nathan submitted the idea to the University of Wisconsin’s Burrill Business Plan Competition, taking out his category. The US$1,000 prize money and mentoring was all it took for the business to get started in earnest. Barrett, a professional chef for over 20 years quit his job and joined in the fun.
Part of Chefs for Seniors business plan is keeping the service affordable. Clients pay US$30 for an hour of the chef’s time, as well as cover the cost of food. An entire week’s worth of dinners are usually whipped up in a couple of hours. If needed, the company will even do the grocery shopping for US$15.
A week’s dinner menu might include dishes like crab cakes with remoulade sauce and asparagus, chicken divan with fresh spinach, chicken pie with vegetables, Salisbury steak with mushroom gravy. When the cooking’s done, the chef packages the meals up into single-serve containers and makes sure to leave the kitchen spotless.
Aside from the nutritious benefits, the service can bring a couple of social hours to some isolated individuals. Clients will often keep the chef company, chatting away as the food is prepared. And when the chef’s work is done, they leave behind tantalising cooking aromas, and the promise of delicious meals.
You can find out more about Chefs for Seniors at their website.
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