Cooking Co-ops, an idea worth sharing!

I would have posted about this brilliant idea many months ago but the NY Times happened to publish their article about it the week before we moved from California to New York. Needless to say, I was a tad busy that week...

But better late than never. Here's the basic gist -- a cooking or dinner co-op is a great way to ensure a varied diet of yummy, home-cooked meals WITHOUT having to cook more than once or twice a week.

Especially for those of us with little kids, this seems like an absolute win-win.

The main steps are:

1. Find a group of people who are interested in the idea and whose cooking you like (this is really important!);
2. Discuss and come to an agreement on things like ingredients (meat or no meat, fish or no fish, grass-fed, organic or conventional, etc.) and frequency of meals to swap (3,4,5,6 meals a week); and
3. Set up a drop-off/exchange location and time.

Then you can start enjoying a whole bunch of home-cooked meals that YOU DID NOT HAVE TO COOK! And you can really put some time and energy into the one or two meals that you do prepare each week, too. I think it sounds fun!

Here are the relevant links from the New York Times for more detail:

• How to Start a Dinner Co-op
• Saving Time and Stress With Cooking Co-ops

Anyone who is located in the Hudson Valley and interested in participating, please let me know!