Revolutionize dinner

Story by Sue Robins

At the park with her girlfriends one day, it struck Janna Rausch Ferguson that they all had the same dilemma: None of us knew what to do for dinner, she says. Most of us didn't even know what was in the fridge.

It wasn't long afterwards that she started up Dinner Revolution, a do-it-yourself meal service in Edmonton. The concept is simple. Choose your entrées from a selection of menu items. Pay a modest fee ($225 for 12 dishes that each serve four to six people), sign up for a session and show up at Rausch Ferguson's kitchen at the designated time. Customers then work their way through a series of stainless steel stations and assemble their meals. The stations are set up with easy-to-follow instructions, measuring utensils, pre-cut ingredients and take-home containers and the recipes can be individualized to a family's personal taste - adding more spices or leaving out the green peppers for instance. Pop them in your freezer when you get home, and voila, ready-to-cook dinners.

For time-crunched moms, executives, empty nesters, singles and seniors, this idea sounds like paradise. Even those who enjoy cooking eventually run out ideas and either resort to fish sticks and fries or purchase expensive pre-made meals.

Do-it-yourself meal service companies such as this one are a hot trend originating from the United States. In Calgary, two companies have sprung up - Entrées Express and Dashing Dishes. Rausch Ferguson took a chance that the service would take off in Edmonton. "I want to help with stress relief," explains Rausch Ferguson.