A personal chef provides quality meal preparation in your home, designed around your favorite foods. Several meals are prepared in a single day, and those meals are packaged and either refrigerated or frozen, ready for you to heat and enjoy whenever you are hungry.

A personal chef not only prepares meals, but will free you from the hassle of meal planning and grocery shopping, leaving more time for those things that are important to you during your week.

Unlike a private chef who is employed by a single family, preparing multiple meals for that family each day of the week, a personal chef provides services to multiple individuals and families, cooking for a different family or individual each day of the week. For this reason, a personal chef service is much more affordable than hiring a private chef.

Before I begin cooking for you, we will meet and discuss your food likes, dislikes, and any special dietary needs that you may have. You can begin this process by answering the questions on the Food Preferences Questionnaire on our website. Once I understand what foods you like to eat, we will formulate a menu for your first service, and we will decide when your service will take place. When we meet, I may ask to test your stove and oven, and I may place thermometers in your refrigerator and freezer to make sure they are the proper temperature for storing your meals.

On the day of your service, I will do all of the necessary grocery shopping, and I will generally arrive in the morning to begin preparing your meals. If you will not be home when I am preparing your food, we will need to make the necessary arrangements for access to your home. It is also a good idea to let your neighbors know that you have hired a personal chef, as they may see me at your home on the day I will be cooking and you are at work. Depending on the meals being prepared, it will typically take between 4 and 6 hours to complete your service.

I will bring everything necessary for preparing your meals, but I will need the use of your stove and your oven. We will also need to make sure there is enough room in your refrigerator and freezer for storing your prepared meals. Once I have finished preparing and packaging your meals, I will clean your kitchen and leave it as if I had never cooked (except for the wonderful smell of the food that was prepared).

If you decide to sign up for multiple services, I will prepare meals for you once per month, every two weeks, or possibly weekly depending on the service you have requested.

Personal chef services are more affordable than you would think. If you were to take into account the amount of time you spend grocery shopping and eating at restaurants, it makes sense to have someone do your shopping so you can eat in the comfort of your home.

If you eat at restaurants frequently because you like good food and/or you can’t easily decide what to cook for dinner, then a personal chef is the perfect solution. You will have great food already prepared and waiting for you to enjoy whenever you are hungry.

Because I do the grocery shopping, and the cost of food is included in my service, the overall cost of hiring a personal chef is about the same as eating at a restaurant (not fast food), but you get to enjoy your meal at home. Since I do the grocery shopping and prepare your meals the same day, you won’t have the problem of buying food and not preparing it before it goes bad.

If you are busy with work or family, and you have difficulty finding the time to prepare good, healthy meals, you will find it very easy and convenient to heat the meals according to the instructions provided and enjoy a healthy and great tasting meal in a matter of minutes.

It can be difficult to find a restaurant that will meet certain dietary requirements, but with a personal chef, any dietary requirements that you or members of your family may have can be accommodated.

There is no need for you to be home when I am cooking, many clients provide latch-key locks or garage door openers for their personal chef. I am licensed and insured, and you should feel comfortable with the fact that I am a trained culinary professional. If you are close with your neighbors, I do ask that you let them know that I will be cooking for you and they may see me bringing pots, and pans into and out of your home. Also, if you are at work and would like to be notified when I arrive and/or leave, I would be happy to give you a call.

Meals are prepared in your kitchen to keep the food as fresh and healthy as possible. The Health Department regulations require that a Personal Chef prepare client’s meals either in the client’s home or in an approved commercial kitchen and transport the prepared meals to the client in vehicle with proper refrigeration. I purchase fresh food each day I cook, and the food is immediately transported to your home in an ice chest to keep it fresh. I believe that preparing food in your kitchen, without the need to transport the meals after they have been prepared will provide you with the best tasting and most healthy food possible. Preparing food in your home also helps keep the cost of the service reasonable since it eliminates the need of a commercial kitchen and refrigerated transportation of the prepared food.

If you are home, I don't mind if you watch me cook and ask a few questions, but due to the amount of food I prepare in a short period of time, cooking lessons during my personal chef services would not provide you with the necessary attention that you deserve. I do offer In-Home Instruction classes as described on this website where I can teach you how to cook just about any food you would like. These classes are offered for individuals or couples, or you can make it a party and invite friends. Please see the In-Home Instruction page for more information.

I am trained in classical French and Italian cuisines, and I have experience cooking a wide variety of foods from American comfort food to Thai food. The most important food that I will cook is the food that you would like to eat. From our initial meeting, we will determine the type of food that is important to you, and your menus will be based on your likes, dislikes, and any special dietary requirements that you may have. Some of your prepared meals may be frozen while others are stored in the refrigerator for you to eat the first few days after my service.

Your menu choices will also be based on how much additional preparation you would like for your food. If you want to come home and heat your food quickly in the microwave or oven, your meals will accommodate those needs. If you enjoy grilling in the summer, I can have steaks, chicken, or fish marinating and waiting to be grilled. Clear and simple instructions are always included for re-heating or finishing your dishes.

When appropriate, meals will include a side dish such as a vegetable. We can discuss the types of side dishes that you like and I will determine with which meals they will be most appropriate. With some comfort foods, such as shepherd’s pie, an additional side dish may be too much since the meal includes meat, vegetables, and potatoes.

Since your food will no longer contain artificial preservatives like most of the prepared meals at the grocery store, some of the meals will need to be frozen because it may be a week or more before you eat them. Other meals will be refrigerated so you can quickly heat them in your oven or microwave when you get home from work. During our initial meeting, we will discuss the types of storage containers that are available. Storage options may include reusable containers that I store your food in each time I cook, or they may be disposable containers that you don’t have to wash. Depending on your choice of containers, there may be a small container deposit associated with your service. If you want to use your own containers, or you want to purchase special containers (such as Pyrex), I will guide you as to the size and quantity necessary for your meals.

The amount of storage space required depends on how many meals I will prepare during your service. We will evaluate the amount of storage space available during our initial meeting and discuss options for service to make sure you can store all of the prepared meals. You can estimate that 2 or 3 days worth of meals will be stored in your refrigerator, while the remaining meals will most likely need to be frozen.

Custom services can be designed to meet your needs. Some customers still like to cook, and they may choose to have a certain number of meals prepared for them that will last longer than customers who don’t cook at all. If you travel frequently, or you are going out of town, we will discuss how often my services will be provided and how many meals you would like prepared. Occasionally, after a customer’s first service, future services are adjusted to meet their needs if they didn’t have enough food, or they had too many leftovers.

The cost of my service includes the price of food, but as a convenience to you, it also includes the time spent grocery shopping, preparing the meals, and cleaning the kitchen when I am finished cooking. It takes about the same time to shop and prepare two servings of a meal as it does to prepare four servings of the same meal, which is why the cost per serving decreases when I prepare more servings of any dish.

Gift Certificates are available for all of services, and they work great with the in-home instruction cooking classes and special occasion dinners. Please be confident the person for whom you are purchasing the gift certificate is comfortable with me cooking in their kitchen. Gift certificates are not refundable, so should something happen, you can always redeem the gift certificate yourself.

Insurance and State laws prohibit me from providing and serving alcohol to my client’s for any of my services. I have studied both Old World and New World wines, and I have successfully completed the International Sommelier Guild’s level 1 training, and I would be happy to make wine suggestions for any of the meals that I prepare.

Payment for your service is due on or before the day I will be cooking your meals. If you will not be home, you can have a check waiting for me when I arrive. In the near future, you will be able to make payments on a secure section of our website if it is more convenient. My goal is to build a relationship with each of my clients, and I would never require a client to sign a contract binding them to long-term commitment. We will review and sign a basic service agreement that will guarantee the agreed upon price for your service. It is up to you as to how many services you would like to receive, and if you just want to try the food before deciding on future services, I would be happy to cook for you as a one-time service.