Quality Starts in the Kitchen
It took me a while to get used to waking up at 4:30 a.m. so I could be at Meals on Wheels of Loveland and Berthoud’s commercial kitchen in time for my 6 a.m. shift. The drive was always in the dark, with the roads nearly empty.
We started that early for a couple of reasons. First, we were prepping and cooking food for nearly 400 people every day, plus an additional 150 people through our partnership with Loveland’s Community Kitchen. Second, we value quality and prepare the majority of our meals from scratch.
Diane, our Support Coordinator, usually comes into the kitchen around 9 a.m. to reheat her coffee in the microwave. On this particular day, I was at the prep sink mixing a roux with flour and water. I sifted the flour into the water and whisked it until it was smooth and the consistency of pancake batter.
Diane asked what I was making, and I explained.
“What’s it for?” she asked.
“It’s for gravy,” I answered.
She looked surprised and said she had assumed we used packets of instant gravy for our meals. I smiled and replied, “Nope, we do a lot of scratch cooking in this kitchen.”
When people think of a Meals on Wheels program, they often expect food similar to what you might find in a cafeteria or hospital. I’m here to shed a little light on how things work in our kitchen in Loveland.
For example, we slow-roast pork and beef overnight and use the drippings to make our gravy. We chop most of our own vegetables rather than relying on pre-processed ingredients. We make our own breadcrumbs and prepare our own cheese sauce for dishes like macaroni and cheese and potatoes au gratin. We peel fresh ginger, dice jalapeños, and make all of our cold salads from fresh ingredients rather than purchasing large tubs of prepared pasta or chicken salad. While we do use some frozen vegetable blends for side dishes, much of our cooking starts with fresh ingredients and hands-on preparation.
One of the first things our Kitchen Manager mentions when describing our operation is how proud she is that we cook from scratch. Our clients notice the difference, too. Here’s what some of them have to say:
“The meals are excellent! Food variety and very healthful! Thank you for this service!”
“I am very happy with my meals. Warm meals are very good.”
“I enjoy the meals and they are very good. Having different food from other nationalities is a good experience. The people delivering are all very nice and friendly.”
Staff members eat lunch together every day as well. While we all have our favorite meals, we’re always happy to sit down together and enjoy some good, scratch-made cooking.
