What is ONCE a Week?
ONCE a Week is a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share style distribution of cooked food, prepared in one day by a team of chefs, from locally grown ingredients, and delivered to you to support your meal needs throughout the week.
It makes a great alternative to dining on take out a few times a week, and is an excellent solution for new parents, busy professionals and slammed students. Regular members have reported that they feel better and even lose unwanted weight when eating our food.
Where do you cook?
We rent a commercial kitchen in Somerville MA.
Cuisine en Locale is a licensed caterer and our chefs hold managerial level ServSafe Certification.
We carry the insurances and licenses required to cook food and sell it – personal chef to you.
Who is actually cooking my food?
There is a solid team of people who cook regularly, once a week, just for this program.
The members remain fairly consistent, and on any given week we are made up of a couple of experienced chefs, accompanied by a few excellent pairs of prep hands.
What does one share look like?
A share is usually in one brown paper, grocery sized bag, and contains 7-10 containers, including pints, quarts and aluminum trays.
The average share weighs in at 8.5 lbs.
But how much food is that?
We have found one share to be enough food for eight average sized meals when used with fresh salad, rice, vegetables etc…
That could mean a lot of lunches and a few dinners, or vice versa, for one person.
Or it could mean 2 meals for a family, or a pot luck dinner party for eight!
It is up to you to use the food however it works best for you.
Is all the food savory?
Most of the food is savory, but we do include the occasional baked item, when it makes sense to us, just to mix it up. Since we use honey and maple to sweeten food, it is never as sweet as a typical dessert.
Why can’t you accommodate dietary restrictions?
Our price point is startlingly low for locavore fare specifically because we cook all the food together.
If we start to break shares apart we run into problems. We hope you will share with friends if a dish does not suit your tastes one week.
Why don’t you offer the vegetarian option for less than the meat one?
Meat is expensive, but so are vegetables when you are buying them in season from local farmers. Cooking vegetarian food is complex, often more so than cooking omnivore, and adding the cost of the food, it should probably cost even more to offer a vegetarian program.
We absolutely recognize a desire for a vegetarian share, and take that very seriously, and we hope that the vegetarians who enjoy our food understand how much time and effort we put into it.
It seems like a lot of work, why do you do this?
We believe that healthy food should be an easy thing to find, ready for you when you want it, and that it should not be exclusively people with the time or inclination to cook who can eat fresh, local food, that isn’t full of preservatives, fats and salts. We hope that you enjoy the Shared Food Program in the eating, as much as we do in the cooking.
If it isn’t fun, it’s not worth doing, and we find it very, very fun indeed!
Can you explain the pricing?
We sell individual shares for $125 a week, packaging and delivery within Metro Pedal Power’s area included.
If you are going to order four shares, we recommend signing up for a ‘month’, for $450, including delivery.
We also offer a buy 12 get one free plan for $1350
Delivery outside of the bicycle area is usually $20. Please contact us for details.
Our packaging is reusable, and it is BPA free.
Where do you deliver to?
Metro Pedal Power deliver most of our food within their delivery area, which includes Cambridge, Somerville and parts of the surrounding area, including Brookline. Beyond that we do deliveries in our van, and we are happy to deliver to you if you are within the metro area.
Where can I see some past menus?
Right here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/ONCE-a-Week/189034597798481
Can I try it once to see if I like it?
Yes, absolutely. We always offer single shares.
How can I sign up?
Please feel out this form at Metro Pedal Power, and we will contact you to make payment and delivery arrangements. Thank you!
May 24, 2011 at 1:24 am
Hi! Do you have any sample menus? I realize the food cooked might change every week based on availability at the markets, but a general idea of a few meals you have prepared recently would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
May 24, 2011 at 2:42 pm
Yes! Absolutely! We are working on putting up last week’s menu every week to give you a sense of what we are up to!
This week includes an entire half of a Stillman chicken, roasted in a green herb dressing. We also have a rich oyster bisque, lamb and barley soup with red chard, roasted asparagus, cheesy blue potatoes, fresh salad greens and radishes, Stillman chorizo strata…. mmmmm
May 13, 2011 at 12:55 pm
I second Dharia’s comment about the veggie option, or partial veggie. You’re tantalizing tweets make me drool. I love that you do this!
May 11, 2011 at 6:10 pm
this is such a wonderful idea. if you ever expand into a veggie option, i will definitely be in line! – Dharia
May 11, 2011 at 8:47 pm
We are really thinking about that a lot, Dharia. It’s such a work in progress, but the thought is that perhaps we could offer the meat and vegetarian dishes separately or together to make up a full share….