Kiely’s Cooking celebrates successful launch

Trumansburg residents Dan and Polly Kiely officially launched their local home delivery food service Kiely’s Cooking in February, offering delicious comfort food delivered throughout Tompkins County.

“We officially opened for business on February 22nd, but we have been established since April 2021,” Polly said. “We offer easy-to-prepare, pre-made and packaged comfort foods with detailed instructions on how to cook using locally sourced, fresh foods as much as possible.”

The cute culinary couple met in 1995 and were married in 2002. Having spent many years in Ithaca, the couple moved to Trumansburg in 2007.

“There’s always been a joke that if you spend enough time living in Ithaca, you eventually get to graduate onto moving to Trumansburg,” Polly said. “That is what we did. We love Trumansburg and couldn’t be happier to be here.”

Having participated in an Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services’ (INHS) first-time homeowners program, the couple met program requirements to purchase the notable Trumansburg Northrup family property.

“We finally made the decision to move to T-burg because we wanted a dog,” Polly said. “We are only the second family that’s lived in the home that was built in 1930. The family wanted someone to move in to put down roots and not just flip the property.”

Like many others, the couple were furloughed when COVID-19 caused widespread closures. Polly had been working in retail and Dan in food service. The circumstances and timing created the opportunity to launch what had been a dream of theirs for years.

“We had watched people doing things like we were interested in doing back in the early ’90s,” Dan said. “We decided with a limited amount of money that a food delivery system would be an interesting and viable business model. There are other companies out there doing it, but we wanted to do something with a total local vibe that could also support other independent, local businesses.”

Using local ingredients has become a cornerstone of Kiely’s Cooking that the couple adheres to as much as possible. Kiely’s Cooking uses products from Farmer Ground Flour of Trumansburg, Lamoreaux Landing Wine of Hector, Muddy Fingers Farm of Hector, Wixom Farm of Mecklenburg and Ithaca Soy to create their signature comfort food offerings.

“We’re focused on being as zero waste as possible with what we do,” Dan said. “Besides using great local products to support the community, the things we use reduces fossil fuel and leaves a lighter carbon footprint. It not only helps us with the business, but it helps support other locals carving out an existence in our community.”

Kiely’s Cooking offers a wide and unique collection of comfort foods ranging from Chicken Fajita Lasagna — made with layers of local chicken, peppers, onions and green chili ricotta between corn tortillas and topped with a salsa verde queso sauce — to Meatloaf with Roasted Root Vegetables — featuring a mix of Wixom Farm’s ground beef and pork, oats and sauteed aromatics and topped with a tangy glaze that is served with roasted carrots and baby potatoes. Almost all packaging of the eclectic offerings are recyclable, with the soup containers being reusable.

“I ordered family packs from Kiely’s Cooking when my work schedule was slammed,” said Heather Bowman, owner of HoneyCuts Pet Grooming of Trumansburg (tinyurl.com/238dra9o). “Having conveniently packaged, well-prepared and delicious meals with real ingredients delivered directly to my door was a minor miracle when I barely had time to boil water for pasta let alone cook an entire meal.”

Bowman also spoke to the healthiness of the food.

“It was comforting to know I was feeding myself and my daughter healthy food with all the benefits of a home-cooked meal and all the convenience of a freezer section entree,” she said. “Dan and Polly were heroes when this busy mama just didn’t have enough viable minutes left at the end of the day to make dinner.”

Kiely’s Cooking offers individual options, family options and cold catering, meaning reheatable event food options. Individual and family-size options come complete with a starch, vegetable and a protein that will all cook at the same temperature and the same time. The service offers a wide variety of options that include vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free selections. Seasonal options are also offered throughout the year, and special requests are welcomed.

“We offer drop-off catering where food can be provided cold and then heated when desired,” Polly said. “We are currently also offering prepared, reheat barbecue selections for the summer. Options, ordering and requests can be made through our website, and we deliver throughout Tompkins County.”

As word of Kiely’s Cooking spreads, the couple is looking forward to adding new customers to their growing and dedicated fan base and growing more relationships with local, independent businesses.

“It’s all about working together, being pesticide free and organic as possible,” Polly said. “For us, it’s all about building community.”

Information on Kiely’s Cooking can be found at kielyscooking.com and on Facebook at facebook.com/KielysCooking.

Trumansburg Connection appears every Wednesday in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@VizellaMedia.com.