Sage Home Chef — Local services in Portland

This meal service was purchased for my grandparents and I needed plain, simple, allergen free food of nuts, dairy, gluten/oats, soy, no salt, egg yolk and diabetic friendly.

It has taken me some time to decide if I was going to write a review, but I decided that I should because at the end of the day not only did I waste $700 on food and services, but also a very expensive Le Creuset dutch oven (worth $275) was ruined. This review is not all encompassing but hits the big points.

First, Mimi is friendly, and responsive, which is why I am giving two stars. However, the menu, shopping, prep, cooking, food, cleanup, taste, and above all the cost --- did not meet standards.

The chef we were paired with was not familiar with allergens and was new to the company.

The menu sent doesn’t include all ingredients. For example, the cooking oil used was not listed, and although we provided ingredients that were off-limits (ex. olives), olive oil was still purchased and used. I was told at that the time of cooking that it should be "ok" because it was "just a little bit," but that isn't acceptable.

One of the meals was also a Boba drink and the chef said she never made a Boba, and again, purchased the wrong ingredients (coconut milk). A second strike on nuts was the purchase of cashew cheese. My grandma is allergic to nuts. I don't know how else to say it. I made it quite clear. Again, a product I had to donate.

Gut allergens wreck my grandma and guesswork or “just a little bit” isn’t a luxury we have unfortunately. Due to this, my grandma was ill after she ate two particular dishes. She only ended up liking the pork..but the pork dish is what ruined my dutch oven.

We had to pay an extra $50 per trip for this chef to drive to Hillsboro. She was late because she didn't reach out when she was stumped at the grocery store. Additionally, she left at the end of the day because she forgot lettuce and instead of just telling me, she went to get it. I had plans that night and she was here for almost 6 hours.

During that time, she was also on the phone and when she came back from the store, she didn't wash her hands. I have no idea if she did wash her hands or not before, or during the day, and I had to ask her to at the end. I also noticed she used the same cutting board used for the meat as the vegetables even though she said she washed it when I questioned her. I have multiple cutting boards.

The biggest issue at the end of the day is not just the wasteful $700, or the wrong ingredients bought that did make my grandma sick, but the fact that I actually lost $1000 - if you include the loss of my dutch oven - for 3 pretty inedible meals.

She said she had a hard time cleaning it and I said don't worry, I'll take care of it. She used a harsh sponge and/or metal on the bottom of my dutch oven while and it is scratched to heck (see pic). I don't care about staining, but scratching ruins it. She didn't say anything about scratching it.

I booked with Mimi because of the reviews, but this was the most expensive mistake of the year for me. I do not recommend this service for people that have true food allergies, and recommend putting your expensive pans away.

---- Update 8/27/2023---- Mimi reached out and we were able to come to a far resolution. I have updated the rating from 2 to 4 stars to reflect the customer service Mimi provided. I appreciate her time and attention, it...

My husband and I have demanding jobs and have no time to meal plan. My husband existed on Door Dash. I ended up living off way too many hard boiled eggs, green smoothies, and door dash left overs. Every time we tried other types of meal services available my husband would outright reject it and go back to door dash and I’d try it, think it was ok, and then get very sick of it.

My husband was really resistant to the idea of having someone meal prep in our home. He’s very particular and likes the specific restaurants and dishes he likes and won’t eat anything else. He told me we could try it but he thought it was a terrible idea.

There were intake forms designed to learn exactly what our food preferences were. Mimi, owner/founder, then set up an zoom call with the chef she selected for us -Dakota! I felt Mimi and Dakota really listened to what we both like to eat and my desire to get us on a regular eating schedule with healthy foods. This is only the second week and I’m absolutely amazed at how well we are eating! I asked Dakota to make tweaks to cater more to my husbands tastes and she absolutely knocked it out the park. She also has such a great energy - it’s nice having her in our home. Her food is so delicious and I’m looking forward to our next menu each week.

My life just got so much better! I can just heat up healthy, delicious, professionally cooked/prepared food for lunch and dinner, easy clean up! It’s so much better than the stuff we’ve been getting on Door Dash and it costs less than what we were spending combined on food too!

This is a wonderful service and if it pencils out for your budget, you should...

Sage has been a great choice for my busy household. My partner works long hours at the hospital and I'm a busy Realtor. Our schedules are all over the place. We often find ourselves home at 7 pm trying to figure out where to go for dinner. Which means we don't eat until 8 pm or 8:30 pm and are not home until 10 pm. We have tried all the other services before (Blue Apron, Fresh, Kettle Bell Kitchen, Microwave dinner from the store) and found the food to be subpar lacking flavor and not so fresh by the time it gets to our home, or spending another hour chopping, cooking and cleaning up. This left us wondering what else could there be? I was sick of gaining weight from all the sitting in my car I do for work and then over eating when dining out. I was up late one night on Google looking for ideas and I came across Sage. I have to admit I felt a little funny hiring someone to come into my home to cook for us, but then I realized I was doing it by eating out all the time. At least I could tell then to cook something I would enjoy, make it healthy and only give me so much of it. That’s when I reached out to Linda. She explained how they do things, what it cost and answered my questions. Then asked if I wanted to setup a home visit. We have setup the home visit, I told my partner what I was doing, and he was worried we wouldn’t like the food. There hasn’t been a meal we haven’t liked. Sure, there has been a break in period, where they learned what flavors we liked and now that has passed I look forward to each meal. If you’re looking for help getting on track or meal prepping these things...