Ready-to-cook meals delivered to busy urbanites

Home cooking is a basic pleasure that gets denied by busy schedules all too often, and at least part of the reason is the time that must go into shopping for and preparing ingredients before the cooking can begin. We’ve already covered a few examples of semi-cooking purveyors (most recently: Kit a bien manger), and now I Love Mother has come to the table—so to speak—with more ways to help consumers serve up freshly cooked meals at home. Customers of the Singapore-based service, which just launched in October, begin by going to ilovemother.net and choosing from a wide variety of menus. Meals are presented in categories, such as “Quick & Easy,” “Something Special” and “Comfort Classics,” and can include side dishes, desserts and wines. Next, once their selections are made, customers are presented with a list of the ingredients required. After indicating the number of servings needed they can approve the list as is or make modifications to suit their palates and the supplies they already have at home. I Love Mother will then shop for the required ingredients at restaurant suppliers and fresh food markets on the morning before the meal is to be prepared and deliver them in the afternoon. All items are delivered in exactly the quantities needed, so there’s no waste, and for those who desire, I Love Mother will even chop and prepare them so they’re ready to throw in the pan. Customers pay just the cost of the ingredients plus a SGD 5 delivery charge, along with variable fees for the optional slicing and dicing. Most recipes can be made in 30 minutes, and I Love Mother provides step-by-step instructions. I Love Mother currently delivers to locations all over Singapore, and has already fulfilled about 50 orders since its launch without any advertising or PR. It also has big plans in the works, including upgrade options to premium and organic ingredients, special detox menus, healthy versions of classic junk foods, and a 2008 marketing campaign. Ultimately the company hopes to roll out to other regions, founder Christine Lim says, and it’s open to mutually beneficial partnership opportunities. As a team of busy urbanites ourselves, we’re betting there is pent up demand for dining-insperience enablers like this in cities around the globe. Paris already has Kit a bien manger; how about London, New York, São Paulo? Spotted by: Lesley-Anne John