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Website

www.dinnerco-ops.com

Location

The North End, Boise, Idaho

Posts by Alex Davis

An advertising copywriter, Davis’ client work has appeared in Bon Appétit, People, BusinessWeek, and Sunset. Her dinner co-op has been running since 2003.

We invite people with noteworthy ideas about food to blog on Culinate.

Alex Davis co-wrote Dinner at Your Door with Andy Remeis and Diana Ellis. She formed her first dinner co-op in 2003, with no family nearby from whom to mooch great dinners. Her sassy ad copy has appeared in Bon Appétit, People, BusinessWeek, and Sunset.

Personal chef service, no invoice

Luxury menus in an ugly economy

By Alex Davis

January 2, 2009

The bad news keeps on coming. I should feel chastened, anxiously death-gripping my wallet, only to splurge on a vat of marked-down peanut butter or perhaps a head of cabbage. But instead, the terrible economic news seems to inspire a certain defiance in me. When it comes to food, sacrifice is not my specialty.

Enter the dinner co-op, a tried-and-true life strategy that can ensure that you eat like a king on a pauper’s pittance. A dinner co-op is a small, geographically close circle of cooks who alternate cooking and delivering weeknight meals. You cook only once a week, but in exchange, you receive dinner two or three other nights.

Continue reading Personal chef service, no invoice »

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Why I love my dinner co-op

Somebody else cooks and delivers

By Alex Davis

November 6, 2008

What a blessing and responsibility to be the weeknight cook in your family. On a good night, you’re inspired — you’ve got fabulous ingredients and are ready to rock the kitchen with a certain meal you know everyone loves. But when the fridge is empty and you’re out of ideas, it’s a whole other story.

Wait a minute! You’re a great cook. A crafty, engaged food shopper. You love recipes, grow your own herbs, and care about nutrition. So why do you run out of steam around midweek? Your problem isn’t weeknight cooking. It’s TOO MUCH weeknight cooking.

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Seduced by a dinner co-op

“We’ve been cooking this way for years.”

By Alex Davis

October 7, 2008

It was five years ago. I stood sipping my wine at my book club, enjoying a reprieve from my new life with a toddler and nursing infant. I was surrounded by neighborhood women I adore, and who, I was beginning to notice, all happen to be stellar cooks.

Then it happened. As Liz was urging me to “Sip the wine, THEN take a bite of goat cheese WITH the fig,” Diana’s voice lilted over the others. She was explaining to someone that she’s in a dinner co-op: “We take turns cooking and delivering dinner during the week. We’ve been cooking this way for years.”

Continue reading Seduced by a dinner co-op »

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