Over the past year, I’ve been making a lot of home cooked meals. Personal chef business has really picked up for me. I’m certainly not complaining–this is what I wanted.
I love cooking for people, and preparing a week’s worth of meals every day has allowed me to hone and expand my skills as a chef.
Growth in this direction hasn’t left much time for recipe development or blogging. I’m not totally jumping ship on posting, but lately, getting away from the computer and doing active, hands-on work has made me happy.
The best part of being a personal chef…besides time away from the screen
I’ve found I enjoy interacting with different people. What started as meal service for busy families has turned into something more. I now also serve people with health concerns. The elderly. New parents. These are people at different stages of life than me, and I love getting to know them and their stories a little better every week.
Take, for example, one of my clients with multiple sclerosis (MS). She was diagnosed with MS 30 years ago, but she has kept her symptoms in check by eating paleo and swimming almost every day. Early last year, she decided it would be easier, safer and more effective to have a chef prepare her meals every week. She’s told me that since starting meal service, she has discovered new foods she really likes, and she finds it easier to eat greater quantities of a variety of vegetables–a priority for her disease management plan.
Another client has had two children in the past 3 years and works full-time. She and her husband realized they weren’t cooking at home very much and were spending money eating out at restaurants several times a week. Cooking wasn’t exciting or fun for them, but they still wanted to follow a Whole30 regimen. Having me prepare several meals and snacks every week has provided them with happier meal times at home that don’t leave them compromising their diet.
Unexpected positives
It’s now common for new clients to tell me that personal chef services have yielded surprising benefits for them.
My client with MS didn’t expect to be trying new foods as part of her home cooked meals.
Busy families didn’t know they’d be wasting far less produce and fresh ingredients.
Older clients feel safer without lifting heavy skillets and spending potential hours on their feet making meals.
This feedback also surprises me sometimes–I don’t always know how meal service is going to affect people from day to day. But I love to hear when something is working. Feedback like this encourages me to look for more innovative recipes and ways to keep improving what I do.
So: the blog posts might be fewer and farther between for a while, but I haven’t stopped my creative endeavors with food.
