Please enjoy $100 off gatherings of 12 people or more. Discount automatically applied. 

Gatherings

Meal Prep

A Season or Long Term

Cooking Classes

Chef Services Overview

Our booking policy is flexible, so don't worry if these details change. Our chef services are available in 

, though many Culinista® chefs are happy to travel. For services outside of these areas, 

The Culinistas is a resource that gives everyone the freedom and confidence to connect around a meal.

Our optional drinks service includes up to 2 drinks plus waitstaff who will arrive 1 hour before guests and provide 4 hours of service. Additional time will be billed at $60/hour. The Culinistas will provide ice and non-alcoholic ingredients. The host is responsible for providing alcohol.

Dairy

Eggs

Fish

Nuts

Gluten

Sesame

Alliums

Gail Simmons

Top Chef

Dana Cowin

Food & Wine

Gwyneth Parltrow

Goop

Low Carb

Low Sugar

High Protein

Vegetarian

Vegan

Gluten Free

Dairy Free

Low Fat

High Fat

Berry Bowl

Lemony Pasta Fagioli

Chocolate Zucchini Snack Cake

Roast Chicken with Spring Vegetables

Shiitake Soup

Fattoush Bar

Sweet Pea Hummus & Crudités

Think Pink Pasta ($)

Hasselback Butternut Squash

Deviled Trout with Mustard Greens

Power Green Salad

Sticky Salmon & Broccolini

Zucchini Nuggets

Our postpartum meal prep service is one of our most popular gifting options. To gift a postpartum meal prep, 

No problem! You can update your preferred start date via your Account Dashboard any time, as long as it’s more than 48 hours before your service. On the left-hand side menu, select Your Services > Weekly Meal Prep. Here, you can edit your Service Settings.

You can book your postpartum meal prep service as early as you’d like! If you’re earlier than your third trimester, we’ll send you an email when it’s closer to your due date, reminding you to select your dishes and update your preferred start date in the “Your Services” section of your Account Dashboard.

, our postpartum meal prep service includes a Culinista chef grocery shopping for you and coming to your home to prepare six dishes that can be mixed and matched for 3-4 meals throughout the week.

For postpartum parents and families, we recommend choosing dishes from our postpartum collection, which are designed to support your unique nutritional needs. We recommend choosing dishes that work in pairs or trios as full menus, or mix and match to cover breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and dessert.

Once you’re a meal prep client, you can easily toggle between our postpartum collection and other dish collections when choosing your dishes each week. Everything about your service, including the chef, time, and process, remains the same regardless of which dishes you order.

Our postpartum meal prep service provides new parents and families with home-cooked dishes designed to support their unique nutritional needs.

, we’ll assign a Culinista chef for your household. Each week, select the dishes you’d like to eat from our website. Your Culinista chef will shop for groceries, prep, and cook the dishes in your home, stock your fridge, and leave your kitchen spotless.

Postpartum Meal Prep

Prior to cooking, toasting grains helps to intensify its flavor

Boost Your Grains

All cooked in one vessel, efficient with minimal clean up

One Pot Wonder

Nut + herb + citrus + olive oil, all you need for a perfect pesto

Pesto Equation

All great dishes start with an aromatic base to develop flavor

Build A Foundation

A dish that alchemizes three bold and distinct flavors to hit sweet, sour, savory, salty, and bitter notes

Trifecta

Creating delicious flavor combinations using both cooked and fresh ingredients

Pizza Topping Equation

Herbs that thread flavor throughout a recipe and garnish

Infusing Oil

Browning your protein (crisping the exterior while softening the interior) will help to intensify its flavor

Char Goes Far

Using a sharp ingredient to cut the richness from heavier ingredients

Balancing Act

Large format & straightforward recipes that are ideal for crowds

Party Meal

Layering different types of the same fruit or vegetable to your dish for an extra level of complexity

Tomayto Tomahto

Using natural sweeteners in place of processed and refined sugar

Sweetness Substitute

The unexpected pairing of something sweet to a protein complements the dish

Sweet Ingredient + Savory Protein

Marinate for Flavor

Classics Redone

Creative use of soaked nuts, puréed veggies or dried fruit as your thickener to develop the right consistency

Alternative Thickeners

Use leftover herbs or vegetable scraps to strengthen the flavor in a dish and reduce food waste

Infused Broth

Using onion powder to enhance the onion flavor helps to save cooking time

Onion Powder Power

Using a multitude of soft stem herbs helps to brighten your dressings & marinades

All the Herbs

You’re here to cook, not do math. But knowing a few simple equations—like the 1:1:1 meatball ratio and the fruit salad formula—is the secret to kitchen freedom, and there’s no final exam.


Formula

Flavor keys include techniques from across the culinary spectrum (think: infusing, searing, marinating, pickling) but they all share the same goal: to maximize every ingredient’s flavor, every time you cook. 

Flavor

We’ll help you be efficient in the kitchen by strategizing prep, cook, and rest times, as well as cleaning along the way. 

Timing

A good meal is a feast for all the senses. Consider how you pair colors, textures, shapes, and sizes, and your guests will be impressed even before they take a bite.

Style

Our goal is that healthy cooking and consistent gathering around the table is a sustainable part of your life. That means supporting sustainable food systems and creating recipes that eliminate waste in your kitchen.

Sustainability

A generous attitude is the secret ingredient in any gathering. These keys ensure the mood is right, everyone feels comfortable, and the gathering is seamless. 

Hosting

Health starts with pure, unprocessed ingredients: fresh vegetables, whole grains, wild and grass-fed proteins.  We incorporate clean ingredients where you'd expect and also where you wouldn't expect, like using oats or nuts to create flours and blending veggies into sauces.

Health

Cleaning won’t feel like a chore if your recipes are structured efficiently (ours are), you clean as you cook, and you send your guests home with leftovers.

Less Mess

Fall Plated

Yom Kippur Break(the)Fast

A French-ish spread featuring forkable and finger-friendly bites. Pairs perfectly with our Negroni Bar.

Classic Cocktail Hour

Getting out of bed is reason enough for a party. This Brunch & Bubbles menu cheers you on with Savory Dutch Babies, Apple Crumble Parfaits, and a glass of something bubbly.

Fall Luncheon

Greece’s most popular dishes, made in your kitchen. Crispy-topped Spanakopita is always a hit, and Fig Frozen Yogurt with Baklava Brittle is nothing short of decadence. 

Opa! Taverna

Christmas

Quintessential Culinistas Fall

Surf & Turf

Have a night at the cantina, with dishes like Chicken Tortilla Soup and Esquites, and your choice of tacos: we like carnitas, fish, or both. 

Taqueria en Casa 

Thanksgiving 

This menu is like a ticket to Mexico to celebrate the Day of the Dead. Classics like aguachile and tinga will be on the table; we suggest pairing them with a spritzy, refreshing Paloma.

Día de los Muertos

If you’ve ever wondered what autumn in Tuscany looks like, look no further. Gorgonzola Grapes start the party, clearing the way for a stunner of a main: caper-studded Veal Piccata. Buon apetito!

Tuscan Table

Never stress about dinner again.

The Culinistas is a resource that gives everyone the freedom and confidence to connect around a meal. Our vetted private chefs are available for in-home:

Brunch, cocktail hour, dinner party, or barbecue? We’re here to help. 

Give us your kitchen for a couple hours, and we’ll leave you with meals for the week.

Weekly Meal Prep

Need a chef for the summer, a short trip, or a forever position? We’ll get you staffed.

Seasonal & Long Term Services

The Culinistas is a resource that gives everyone the freedom and confidence to connect around a meal. We connect you with vetted private chefs for in-home meal prep, gatherings, and seasonal and long term needs. Explore our services. 

No matter the season, there’s a reason to host. We have hundreds of menus for intimate parties and gatherings. Explore a few of our favorites.

Explore our library of seasonal, international, and year-round favorites. 

Homepage menus

Menus for Gathering

Curbed

Bloomberg

Forbes

Marquee

Let a Culinista chef handle the cooking this week. We’ll come to your home with groceries and leave your fridge stocked with vibrant meals—and your kitchen spotless.

See what’s new for this week's meal prep.

Homepage Dish Group

Press

Companies logos

Fan Mail

Learn the Culinista keys to cooking and hosting @

Let’s cook together

Homepage

Book now, start later

Just before your due date, select your dishes

Leave the shopping, prep, cooking, and clean-up to us

Our postpartum dishes are selected with parents' unique nutritional needs in mind.

Dishes Group

Postpartum Meal Prep Dishes

Vetted, professional chefs shop, cook, and clean up.

Cooked in your home

Every dish can be customized to fit your needs.

Tailored to you

Dishes contain essential nutrients for postpartum families.

Nutritionally dense

Select your dishes, and the chef handles the rest.

Simple to book

“It was exactly the thing I needed to ease my fears about the grandparents heading home and leaving me to a life of takeout dinners.”

The Gift of Ease

Our postpartum dishes focus on ingredients your body needs to energize and restore.

Iron

 B12

 DHA/Omega3

 Choline

 Vitamin D

Ingredient Spotlights

Postpartum Meal Prep FAQs

Postpartum LP

"[Our chef] did an awesome job and was so incredibly efficient. I was totally impressed with his speed, skill and knowledge, and of course he was super friendly and easygoing. Plus, the food is all AMAZING! My daughter gobbled up the zucchini nuggets and turkey bolognese for dinner, we had salmon and broccoli salad, with a little of the lentil and quinoa salad too, and it was delicious. Such a luxury to have all this fresh, beautiful food in the fridge for the week and none of the stress of having had to shop for and cook it on a busy Monday.”

"I believe magic happens when we eat together. Which is why I fell in love with The Culinistas. You can imagine after having been spoiled by decades of eating out for work, I definitely want a break in the cooking schedule from time to time. The recipes are clean, uncomplicated and still interesting."

“I rely on The Culinistas to streamline an integral part of my family’s lives. We’ve had many an engaging conversation, lively discourse and spirited dialogue over Turkey Bolognese, at the dinner table, and I’m convinced we’re better humans because of it.”

Postpartum Meal Prep

The benefits of postpartum meal prep

Ingredient Spotlights

Our services also include chefs for gatherings, custom services and cooking classes.