Some people were born to cook, and the rest of us, well, we have other strengths, like the ability to cram dozens of take-out menus into small drawers or nuke the bejeezus out of a baked potato.
However, even non-cooks occasionally want to invite people over for dinner and, when we do, serve more then our "famous" frozen pizza. Also, when the culinary-challenged become the head of a household, we eventually realize that serving frozen waffles for supper more than two nights in a row is probably not providing Junior with the brain food he needs -- even if his Eggos come with a side of Barney Rubble-shaped vitamins.
This is where Dinner By Design comes in. The franchise is a "meal prep kitchen" created to help individuals and families prepare relatively healthy, home-cooked meals in an organized, fun setting. (Speaking of fun, Dinner By Design allows customers to bring in a bottle wine to sip while making meals.)
Julie Duffy, a wife and mother of three who lives in the Chicago area, created Dinner By Design to provide an alternative to fast food. There are 12 Dinner By Design locations in Wisconsin, with the majority of them in Milwaukee's suburbs.
A friend and I visited the Dinner By Design in Glendale, 6150 N. Port Washington Rd., owned by Cristal and Joe Lieungh. The couple opened the franchise almost two years ago.
"The beauty of Dinner By Design is that we have absolutely everything you need to create a delicious meal, and you don't have to run out to the store for a quarter teaspoon of something," says manager Melissa Elsinger.
Prior to going, we went to the Dinner By Design Web site and perused the menu, which changes every month and has about 14 meal options. On the site, we picked what we wanted to prepare -- I chose crispy onion chicken, pepper steak, slow cooker chicken cacciatore, asparagus stuffed flounder, turkey tetrazzini, Italian beef and lemon risotto -- and made an appointment for the following week.
Usually, people prepare 12 meals for about $200, but we opted to split an order, and each made six meals for about $100. It takes roughly two hours to create 12 meals and about an hour to create six, but allot more time if you bring the aforementioned bottle of wine and aren't in a hurry.
There are usually other women (and occasionally a man) preparing their meals at the same time, which -- like a bed and breakfast -- creates either a social or awkward environment, depending on the people.
At this location, the space is immaculate, featuring 14 "stations" stocked with everything you need to prepare your dish. Best of all, there's no clean up required. Instead, after completing an entree, patrons simply seal the aluminum container or Ziploc bag, slap a sticker on it -- which provides the ingredients, preparation instruction and side dish ideas -- and move on. (Be sure to bring a basket or cooler to transport finished meals back home.)
The one catch to Dinner By Design is that it requires a second refrigerator or freezer space to store meals.
After sampling five of the six meals I prepared at Dinner By Design, I am very pleased with the portions and quality of the food. For my family of four (two adults and two preschoolers), we usually got two meals out of each entree and in some cases, a lunch as well.
The ingredients are mostly frozen, and not organic, but the recipes are solid and the food is comfort foody, without being ridiculously high in fat and calories. Nutritional information is available for all Dinner By Design meals on their Web site.
People who love to cook won't see Dinner By Design as much more than a gimmick, but for those of us who don't quite fall into the "kitchen witch" category, it's a great opportunity to crank out quality meals and learn a few things about cooking along the way.
"The best thing about Dinner By Design is that we help with the preparation and the clean-up, but you still get to make the meal and put love into it while doing so," says Elsinger.
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
