Meals That Moms Can Almost Call Their Own - New York Times

Meals That Moms Can Almost Call Their Own - New York Times: "Takeout pizza was a mainstay, except on the nights when Chinese food seemed more appealing. When Ms. Robbins cooked, it was spaghetti or tuna casserole over and over, with rarely enough time to make a salad.

Their routine was expensive, fattening and boring. In the rush to get through the day, the family had lost control of the dinner table.

So Ms. Robbins now goes to Dream Dinners in West Seattle, where she spends just under two hours assembling dishes like cheesy chicken casserole and Salisbury steak from ingredients that have been peeled and chopped for her. She does not have to pick up a knife, turn on a stove or wash a dish.

All she has to do is pop the meals in her oven and, for about $3.50 a serving, experience the satisfaction of putting a home-cooked meal — of a sort — on the table.

Americans, pinched for time and increasingly uncomfortable in their kitchens, have been on a 50-year slide away from home cooking. Now, at almost 700 meal assembly centers around the country, families like the Robbinses prepare two weeks' worth of dinners they can call their own with little more effort than it takes to buy a rotisserie chicken and a bag of salad."