Dinner on the Doorstep

It’s September, and you want to hit the ground running. You open up your fridge, ready and eager to prep a nutritious dinner for your hungry brood, and find—condiments. Freezer: also empty. Pantry: cereal bars, and not much else.

You have your strengths, but cooking may not be one of them. If, like many frazzled parents, your gourmet aspirations outpace your cooking ability by a long mile, why not let someone else do it for you now and then?

That’s where The Red Apron comes in. Located centrally on Gladstone Avenue, The Red Apron offers dinner solutions in several varieties:

1. If you’re not the type to commit, you can drop into their store and pick up a frozen prepared meal (or several) as needed.
2. Or join the Mid-Week Dinner Club, and have dinners delivered to your home or office every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thurday.
3. Finally, you can go with the Single Servings option: nine frozen single serving portions—three from Tuesday’s menu, three from Wednesday’s and three from Thursday’s.

Prices depend on portion sizes. Three days of medium Mid-Week Dinner Club meals, which would feed two adults and two children, cost $144. Three days of large meals would feed four adults—so possibly a family of five or six—for $180. If single servings are more your style, you can get nine adult-size portions for $105 per week.

While the delivery service is a dream come true for many busy families, you also have the option of picking the meals up yourself, if that’s more convenient. Either way, you can opt for “by the week” service (if you just want to give it a try, or get through one particularly busy week) or ongoing service (once you’re hooked).

The Red Apron is owned and run by Jennifer Heagle and Jo-Ann Laverty, two talented chefs who are also moms themselves and believe the best foods are locally grown and packaged in an environmentally friendly way. They use fresh organic produce and the highest-grade regional meats, buying from local farmers, producers and small family enterprises in Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec.

The menu changes every week according to what’s in season and available. As an example, main courses this week include:

• Tuesday: Indonesian-style ginger chicken, basmati rice with mushrooms and caramelized onions, and sauté of baby bok choy
• Wednesday: Creamy potato and leek soup with garlic croutons, ratatouille and mozzarella strudel, and farmer’s market salad with buttermilk and chive dressing
• Thursday: Roast pork with braised apple pan sauce, green beans with red peppers and shallot vinaigrette, acorn squash with amaretto butter, Art-is-In multigrain dinner rolls and pecan tarts

Play to your strengths: Take the stress out of mid-week dinners by doing a little delegating. Bon appétit!

The Red Apron
www.redapron.ca
(613) 321-0417