18 Nov 2021
Do you want to try food from overseas without the plane ticket and travel costs? CookinGenie is the right choice for you. Our chefs can make food from all over the globe.
28 Sep 2021
Cooking for someone with a severe food allergy can be intimidating. And with food allergies on the rise, it’s becoming more common than ever. You want people to enjoy your food. But you would never want to be responsible for giving someone a severe allergic reaction.
Thankfully, with the right knowledge and planning, cooking for guests with severe food allergies doesn’t have to be daunting. It will take some extra steps, but it’s always better safe than sorry. Here are some things to remember before cooking for guests with food allergies.
People can have food allergies to just about anything. But food allergies, which are not the same as food sensitivities and intolerances, are not all created equal. Some people have allergies with mild symptoms like hives and a stomachache. Others may have allergies that could cause life-threatening anaphylactic shock, which may include dangerous symptoms like a swelling throat, fainting, wheezing, and trouble breathing.
While all allergies have the potential to be severe, certain ingredients are far more likely to cause extreme reactions. The 8 most common severe allergens are milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, and wheat.
It’s important to understand the complexities of these allergies. Someone who’s allergic to milk can’t eat other milk-derived products such as cheese, yogurt, or ice cream. And while some of these allergies sound very similar, they can be different. For example, someone may be allergic to almonds, but not peanuts. Or they may be allergic to shrimp and scallops, but salmon is fine. Whatever the case may be, make sure you talk to your guests and understand exactly what it is they’re allergic to.
Some people tend to think that if a guest has an allergy, they can just leave out that ingredient for that guest and it’ll be fine. While this may be true for some, in cases of severe allergies, the allergic person may not even need to directly consume the allergen to have a dangerous reaction. For example, an invisible trace of peanuts that can be spread through the air onto a dish may be enough to trigger an anaphylactic reaction to peanuts. So, if possible, it’s best to leave the allergen out of the entire meal, even for those who aren’t allergic to it.
Reading labels can be a pain, but it’s an important safeguard against allergic reactions. Sometimes ingredients can have unexpected allergens. For example, Worcester sauce, which is a popular condiment for steak and burgers, often contains anchovy paste, making it unsuitable for people with seafood allergies. But, by the name, look, and flavor it, you would never know, making reading the labels all the more important. By law, common allergens are bolded on the bottom of the label, making it easier to identify them.
Additionally, because just a trace amount of an allergen can cause a reaction, you need to watch out for any possible exposure. Some foods, like prepackaged cookies, may not actively contain nuts but may be processed in the same facility as almonds. In this case, those cookies would not be safe to serve to someone with a severe nut allergy.
Before beginning to cook for someone with a severe food allergy, be sure to thoroughly clean and sanitize the kitchen, including surfaces and utensils you will use. There’s no telling if there may be trace amounts of the allergen floating around the kitchen. So, to be safe, give everything a good cleaning beforehand.
If you take all the proper steps to protect against food allergies, you should have nothing to worry about. But just in case, you should be prepared to handle a severe allergic reaction. Make sure any guests with food allergies are carrying their EpiPen on them. Also ensure that someone in your party knows how to properly inject an EpiPen as the person having the reaction may not be capable of injecting it themselves.
The EpiPen will help immediately ease the symptoms of the reaction. While one person is injecting the victim with the EpiPen, someone else should call 911 to get the victim professional medical aid. While waiting for the ambulance to arrive, try to keep the victim calm while lying on their back.
Anaphylactic reactions are scary, but if handled properly, everything should turn out fine. Less than 1% of anaphylactic reactions from food are fatal, according to the national institute of health.
At CookinGenie, the chefs know that protecting customers from allergies is of the utmost importance and they’re experienced in cooking for people with serious allergies. Genies can modify orders to fit around allergies and the support team will work with every customer to craft the best meal.
21 Jan 2022
Valentine’s day is fast approaching, and you know that you want to do something very romantic, but time isn’t always on your side. Have you ever considered a date night with a personal chef? No one wants the hassle of going out to eat with their Valentine, especially lately. The drive to the restaurant while hoping for a table and the worry that they will be short-staffed can kill the mood. So why not skip that hassle and try to go a more private route? Taking the time to schedule a date night with a personal chef shows you care while not impacting your regular schedule.
Many couples jump through many hoops to try to outdo previous Valentine’s Day dinners. They try to get into the hottest new restaurants or old romantic favorites. The problem is that so is everyone else. Thinking ahead can mean calling around to restaurants trying to find one with an open reservation. Waiting until the last moment can mean calling around to find a table without a crazy wait time.
(Also Read – Elevate your Dining Experience with Your Own Personal Chef)
Then, there are all the problems that can occur while heading out. Your boss may keep you later than usual. Your babysitter ran late. The weather can ruin your day. Parking can be a pain. Menus can become limited with meals selling out. Prices for parking, drinks and the meal can be even higher than usual due to the holiday adding insult to injury. All of these little things can pile up to making a night out no fun.
All of the pitfalls you could possibly run into are eliminated when you opt for a date night in with a personal chef. There is no trying to compete with other couples for a table at a restaurant. Instead, you’ll be at your home having a romantic dinner with no distractions. You can easily book a personal chef for your date night dinner, no matter what day you want to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
(Watch – How to Enhance Date Night Flavors with CookinGenie)
Running late when eating at home isn’t the same issue. You don’t have to worry about having enough time to change, drive to the restaurant, find parking, and rush to get inside only to find out that your reservation isn’t ready for you yet because the couple ahead of you is still finishing their meal. Instead, you can get home, get changed, and open the door for the personal chef, all while feeling relaxed rather than rushed.
Plus, a personal chef will cook specifically for you. There is no worry that you or your date won’t find something on the menu that you’re interested in eating. No one wants to spend a lot of time looking over a menu, finding a dish that sounds good, only to be told that it’s no longer available because the kitchen ran out of it due to others ordering the same thing. Then, it’s time to figure out what else you’d like to eat even though you were in the mood for the first thing you picked. Also, you won’t have to ask for substitutions or eliminate ingredients and hope that the kitchen gets your order correct. Everything will be personalized for your dinner.
You’ll be amazed at how easy it is to plan your Valentine’s Day dinner when using a personal chef service like CookinGenie. First, scroll through various local personal chefs with differing menus until you find the perfect one for your date night. Then, pick precisely what you and your date will enjoy for the meal. Once you’ve booked your personal chef, be ready to sit back and relax.
Your personal chef will handle all of the shopping in advance, so you don’t have to worry about going to a busy grocery store during your day. Next, they’ll arrive ready to prepare your meal in your kitchen. You’ll be able to enjoy your meal at home without having to listen to other diners or wait endlessly for it to be served. Finally, there’s no worry about who has to clean up the dishes after your dinner date since your personal chef will handle it all for you.
Wishing you’d have leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch like you would with your leftovers from the restaurant? Then, you can plan ahead and order additional servings to ensure that you’ll have something to eat later.
One of the biggest barricades people face when considering a personal chef is the cost. Many believe that a personal chef is only for the wealthy, but that’s not the case. In fact, getting a personal chef costs about the same as a meal in a restaurant. You won’t be surprised by a meal costing more than expected when using CookinGenie, as our service has upfront prices that you’ll see when you book your meal. Of course, some meals will be priced higher than others due to the ingredients and other factors, but you’ll expect to pay about the same at a restaurant. Since Valentine’s Day can often have a special menu or other upcharges, you’ll find that planning a date night with a personal chef this year for your special someone is more affordable.
(Also Read – How Can You Save More by Hiring a Personal Chef?)
The personal touch you give to your dinner date with a personal chef will stand out. You selected a menu that you’ll both love that’s carefully crafted by a professional. You can even take a little time to spruce up your dining room or kitchen with some candles and a new tablecloth to bring the fancy restaurant experience into your home. The little details matter, and you’ll show the person you love just how much you love them with such a thoughtful date night.
(Also Read – A Complete Guide to Hiring a Personal Chef)
CookinGenie is here to help with your romantic dinner on Valentine’s Day or any day that needs a date night ending. Choose from a variety of local personal chefs to come and prepare your favorite meal in the comfort of your own home. So, get all the credit for an at-home romantic dinner without having to handle the shopping, cooking, or clean-up. Check out our website today to finalize your next date night with a personal chef.
26 Nov 2021
At first glance, most people don’t think much about the benefits of hiring a personal chef to come in once in a while to prepare a meal. For many, all they focus on is the fact that they’ll have a professionally cooked meal. However, when you consider having one less meal to cook, you can start seeing how you can save a lot of time using a personal chef through CookinGenie.
Estimate that this takes you at least 20 minutes or longer.
Picking up groceries for a fresh gourmet dinner often isn’t done with your regular grocery shopping trip. To get the freshest ingredients, you’d want to stop by your grocery store on the way home. That can take up at least a half-hour of time, if not longer, as often the grocery store lines are even longer after work. There’s a good chance it may take up to an hour to find everything you need and go through the checkout.
Once you get home with the ingredients you need to make your special meal, it’s time to start prepping the food and get to cooking. Washing everything, chopping it up, and pulling out all of the cookware takes time. Then, you have to actually begin cooking. Depending on the meal you’re planning on making, this could take a short time or over an hour. After planning, shopping and cooking, you could be an hour or more into handling your dinner.
Then, it’s time to eat. Do you ever feel like you can’t enjoy the meal you’ve made because all you can think of is the next step? Taking your time to eat and really enjoy your meal means it’s that much longer until you can tackle the kitchen to clean it up and get ready for the morning. A personal chef means that you can focus more on what you’re eating rather than trying to eat as fast as you can to move on to the next task. When you have a gourmet dinner skillfully prepared for you, you’re going to want to take your time and savor every bite you take.
After you’ve prepared a meal, it’s time to clean the kitchen. If you took an easy way out with dinner, such as a TV dinner, there might not be much clean-up. However, even a simple dish of spaghetti with jar sauce can dirty up your kitchen pretty easily. Doing the dishes at the end of your day can often equate to another half hour to an hour of time. That means you’re up to a few hours of tasks after you’ve come home from work.
What about tomorrow’s lunch? It can be time-consuming getting a meal prepped for the next day. You don’t want to deal with it when you’re rushing out the door in the morning to start a new day, so it’s better to get it done at night before you go to bed. You find something in the fridge and pack it up. That may take you another 15 minutes or longer to handle before you can do something else with your time.
When you use a personal chef through CookinGenie, you cut down this time considerably. Your personal chef will handle the grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning up after you’re done. You still get the chance to relish your food without having to focus on all the other factors that come with making dinner. Spend time talking with your family and enjoying the great food you didn’t have to prepare. Plus, you no longer have to worry about those additional meals when you order a more significant portion. You can take your leftovers to work the next day or pack your child’s lunch easily.
By using CookinGenie for a personal chef just one evening a week can save you several hours that you can use to do anything else you’d want to handle. Multiply that by a few times a week, and the time really adds up. Plus, you get all of the other benefits from having a visit from a personal chef, such as freshly cooked meals made by a skilled individual. You don’t have to rely on your skills or regular menu for putting dinner on the table. Be adventurous and enjoy a nice variety of foods beyond what you feel comfortable making at home for yourself and your family.
The website makes it easy for you to save time, as well. Meal planning can take up a great deal of time. With CookinGenie, you’ll be able to easily search for a personal chef, schedule a time, and pick a meal along with determining your portion size. The portal makes it easy for you to set up your next professionally cooked meal. Of course, you may find yourself scrolling to discover new menu options or chefs to expand your options.
Ready to see how many hours you can save in a week when you use a personal chef through CookinGenie? Book a meal today through our website to start seeing the time benefits that come with our service. You’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner as you enjoy a home-cooked meal.
