Dinner at your door: Tips and recipes for starting a neighborhood cooking co-op

On a sunny Saturday in mid-November, we were honored to appear at the first ever “Neighborhood Dinner Co-Op Day,” an afternoon to celebrate dinner co-ops and spread the word about their benefits. Hosted by the Boise Co-Op, our favorite local natural foods and gourmet grocery, customers who are already in dinner co-ops were offered a store discount to reward them for participating in this earth-friendly, community building practice.

My heart pounded and my vision blurred as I opened the handwritten thank you note from Barbara Kingsolver. I never expected that a famous author would take the time to acknowledge a book sent to her by strangers but SHE DID! We had sent her a copy of Dinner at Your Door because the experiences she wrote about in her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle really resonated with us. I was particularly enthralled by her story because I love to feed my family and dinner coop right out of my own garden. Ms. Kingsolver, we appreciate your enthusiasm for our project and now we know you’re more than an inspiration- You are truly a nice person!

Since food is typically one of the largest expenses in a household, conventional wisdom tells us we should all be huddled in the kitchen eating PB and J’s for dinner while we glumly sip our water. But we in dinner co-ops are quietly thumbing our noses at the financial meltdown. At least when it comes to dinner.

When we launched our dinner co-ops, we gave up takeout during the week, along with hurried, unsatisfying restaurant meals that never seem worth the money. We also stopped buying those lame supermarket ingredients you keep around for when you have no better idea. We transferred these funds into a virtual purse we can spend at the gourmet store, farmers market, butcher and baker on a single menu for the week. When you focus most of your weekly shopping on a single exciting menu—shopping is quicker, easier, and a lot more fun. Last week I found myself buying wild mushrooms and phyllo dough, ripe peaches to grill with basil—and for the first time, TRUFFLE OIL. Sound expensive? It was a fraction of what we would’ve paid to eat out. Don’t let Wall Street get you down. Get together with your favorite cooks and let the good times roll.

Last week was the beginning of the heirloom tomato avalanche in my own garden, so Roasted Tomatoes Stuffed with Goat Cheese & Sage will be on my dinner menu very soon! I know many people are now diving into their copies of Dinner at Your Door and we hope you are enjoying the recipes that were developed and tested with the help of so many of our friends. We’d love to hear what recipes you’re making and how you like them.

Remember your early and mid-20’s? They were all about being independent. Dinner hours came and went with maybe a handful of popcorn. Nobody was hurt by it but me—hey, I was INDEPENDENT. Now I have a husband and two small daughters who need real fuel at the end of the day. I absolutely love to cook, but I’m no martyr—I know how to stop and smell the rose petals in the salad.