by Sarah Hall
he success of
Dilbert proves its creator, Scott Adams, is not alone in his thoughts
on office life. Every day, readers giggle over the comic strip in their
cubicles, while fantasizing about working from their homes unshowered, unshaven,
and unaffected by office nonsense.
Traci Boord has adapted the home-office concept even further. She doesn't scurry to work with the rest of the rat race or stay in the comfort of a home office like the envied few. Instead, she loads up her version of a briefcase and heads out to other people's homes.
Boord is a personal chef with her own business, Carefree Cuisine, which provides home-cooked meals for those without enough time or desire to do it themselves. Her modified briefcase consists of several large plastic bins filled with a Cuisinart, cooling racks, an assortment of pots, casserole dishes, Tupperware, utensils, baking sheets, spices, oils, and vinegars. Basically, Boord totes everything she needs to create a meal besides a stove and refrigerator -- the only items her clients must provide.
Boord fell in love with cooking while in high school, breezing through her stepmother's Joy of Cooking. Years later, she met Helen Hallady of Helen's Of Course, another in-house catering service. Halladay is a senior member (and the first one in Memphis) of the United States Personal Chef Association and introduced Boord to the group. In Boord's opinion, joining the association was the logical step in starting out "right."
With over 1,200 members in the United States and Canada, the USPCA provides marketing and business advice, a quarterly newsletter, equipment discounts, and recipes with step-by-step instructions on preparation and packaging.
Boord quit her job as a paralegal and decided to start her own business after several attempts at making a pros-and-cons list turned out one-sided. "My demographics mirrored who my husband and I were," Boord says. "We were the people who would come home so tired and not want to cook dinner. And so were our friends. So we knew there was a market."
Preparation begins a few days before the actual cooking. Boord and the client sit down and discuss the menu. She has them fill out a simple questionaire of likes and dislikes, resulting in honest returns like one with "No spaghetti!" scribbled across the top.
From that meeting, Boord makes a shopping list and heads out to tried-and true stops: City Bread for baked goods, Easy Way for produce, Squash Blossom for fish or health-food items, and Seessel's for everything else. She returns to the client's home around 10 a.m. on the prearranged day to prepare a total of five meals. Every meal is made in the person's kitchen because, legally, Boord cannot cook out of her home and charge a fee without a health department inspection.
The first meal she makes is a "fresh" meal, usually a seafood or fish entree ready when the person gets home from work. A sample fresh meal includes halibut in a tomato and artichoke marinade, steamed green-bean bundles, and a spinach salad with mushrooms, toasted almonds, parmesan cheese, and a balsamic vinaigrette. A loaf of bread or rolls accompanies each meal.
Boord makes the four additional meals, packages each, and places them in the freezer. Labels indicate the date prepared, the number of servings, and heating instructions. When she leaves around 5 p.m., the kitchen is spotless. Boord says clients have told her that's what surprises them the most -- they've never seen their kitchen so clean.
A typical Carefree Cuisine client is a professional who has no time to shop for or prepare dinner each night. Boord says this includes those who cannot cook at all and what she has termed DISCs -- dual income with small children.
Requests for vegetarian dishes are edging in on traditional Southern favorites, but as Boord says, "We still live in the South, and I don't know many men at least who are willing to give up their meat."
Chicken pot pie and chicken-and-bean enchiladas are the most requested entrees, but Boord says clients tend to shy away from spicy dishes. Her desserts come highly recommended, as well. Neighbor and frequent guinea pig Mike Ward says Boord should set up a curbside service to sell her hazelnut mousse by the bucket to passing motorists.
All five dishes amount to 18 servings, as each is packaged for either two or four servings. But these indicators are sometimes misleading. Sausage and cheese manicotti for two could easily serve three to four healthy eaters. And a rosemary beef stew served over egg noodles is enough to last a frugal non-gourmet several meals. Boord's service costs $260 for five meals, but she does offer an introductory 25 percent off. "I've heard people say it's an affordable luxury," she admits, "but it really becomes a necessity." Serving fresh, low-fat, and low-sodium dishes, Boord contends, "You just can't compare what a personal chef does to those other food products. That's like comparing your mom's cooking to McDonald's."
To reach Carefree Cuisine, call 761-4200. For more information on the USPCA, call (800) 995-4200 or visit their Web site at www.uspca.com.