For under $150, this Fort Mill chef will prepare a week’s worth of meals at your home
Walk into Claudia Smith’s house in Rock Hill and you’ll hear sizzling and experience a savory aroma.
At the kitchen counter, chef Jeff Stackhouse is chopping vegetables and eyeing a boiling pot of potatoes.
Smith, 78, is seated in a cozy chair in the family room while Stackhouse makes her favorite dish — pineapple barbecue chicken served with mashed sweet potatoes and broccoli.
Stackhouse is preparing several dishes that will yield 10-13 individual servings that Smith can stockpile in her freezer.
Stackhouse owns a service called Chefs for Seniors, which provides fresh, home-cooked meals for senior adults. Stackhouse prepares the meals at the client’s home.
The service has 80 locations across the United States, including one in Charlotte.
“It is certainly a unique service where we’re not delivering a meal but preparing them in the home,” he said.
The chef started this franchise, which serves York and Lancaster counties, in April. He plans to hire additional chefs once he is more established.
The chef meets with clients and determines their dietary needs — whether they need heart-healthy, low-sodium foods or whether they need meals designed to be sensitive to diabetics.
“A lot of that low sodium is just natural because I’m not using processed foods, so any dietary concerns we can take,” Stackhouse said.
The clients pick a handful of meals that meet the tastes of their palettes.
“There’s hundreds of things to choose from, but what’s unique about our service is, it’s 100 percent customizable for the client,” he said. “So if we have meatloaf but they want to do ground turkey instead of ground beef, we can do that.”
The chef prepares meals like citrus glazed salmon that includes a citrus-soy glaze and is served with quinoa and sautéed green beans.
Another dish is ravioli with snap peas and mushrooms that is served with cheese ravioli tossed in a sage, lemon zest and parmesan cheese sauce.
Other dishes include chicken and dumplings and chicken pot pie.
Stackhouse prepares the meals and saves them in single-serving portions, yielding enough meals for the week.
“I found that when living by yourself and cooking for yourself you tend to eat more than you should,” Smith said.
Stackhouse also shops for the groceries and brings his own spices, pots and pans and cooking utensils. Then he cleans up the mess.
The chef said he works with clients who have had surgeries and need help with cooking for a couple of weeks. Clients can choose weekly, every-other week or monthly packages, or even just a single visit. There are no contracts or subscriptions, Stackhouse said.
The standard rate for the service is $139 per visit, plus the cost of groceries. Stackhouse said he also works with clients other than seniors and can cater events like in-home lunches and parties.
He said services like his are important because they help senior adults “age in place” at home rather than going to a facility, such as assisted living. Plus, “folks are just happy to have their home filled with aroma.”
Stackhouse is a self-described “foodie” who graduated from culinary school and worked in equipment sales for restaurants until the Covid pandemic hit.
“I just wanted to do something that I’m passionate about, that serves a purpose,” he said.
Smith heard about Chefs for Seniors when a neighbor invited her to a dinner Stackhouse was preparing for several people in her neighborhood.
She said the chef service takes the burden of cooking off her shoulders.
“I like the fact that I don’t have to (cook) and the meals are proportioned adequately and they are delicious and healthy,” she said. “And so I think it’s working out nicely.”
