CBS 19 - The Eye of East Texas News - Costing Costs: Meal Prep

Costing Costs: Meal Prep

This group of working women is getting ready to make dinner.

They've come to an assembly kitchen to put together a weeks worth of dinners. All that's left is to pop them in the oven at home.

Before customers arrive at Dinner MyWay they choose the meals they want to make from a list of 15 entrees that changes monthly.

"We're doing the shopping, the chopping, and the mopping," said Cheryl Dattoma, Owner Dinner MyWay, Bellmore, NY.

At assembly kitchens you pay for the groceries you need for a specific dish without spending time wandering the aisles of a supermarket and without any wasted ingredients.

"The steak here is actually everybody's favorite the steak is marinated very nicely," said Shannon Cairioti, a school teacher.

Shannon Carioti, a wife and mother of two, teaches school five days a week.

Assembly kitchen meals serve six and the savings add up quickly.

If a family of four ordered this dish at a restaurant it would cost more than $60. To pick up all the ingredients at the grocery store around $40.The assembly kitchen price - just $21.

"It comes out to $2 and change per serving to $4.50 per serving depending on the meal," said Dattoma.

The real test though - feeding three teenage boys.

And for this group there's a value even beyond the bargain meals the assembly kitchen is also a place to dish with friends.