As a wife, boy-mom to two littles, and now, a full-time working mom, it has a been a major challenge to get any dinner on the table every night – much less a tasty, unique, complete meal – in under 20 minutes. We’ve been in a big time rut, eating the same things: pasta, chicken & rice, ‘Taco Tuesday’, pizza, and anything else that is essentially “grab & go”. I’ve been strapped for time, so meal planning and grocery shopping are done on auto-pilot, as quickly as possible. And my family is totally bored with dinner. Uh did you read our post earlier today about 10 Tips to Meal Planning? Clearly this topic of “feeding our families” is an issue for many!
Then, I heard about Dream Dinners. Dream Dinners is an innovative concept in meal preparation that eliminates stress by taking away that nagging question of – what am I going to make for dinner tonight? It removes all menu planning, shopping, prep-work and clean-up by moving the meal assembly process out of people’s kitchens and into specially equipped stores.
Ummm…excuse me? Can this be true?? It’s like having a dinner fairy right at my fingertips!
Dream Dinners‘ guests preview a changing monthly menu online at dreamdinners.com and select their dinners from a menu featuring up to 17 items (depending on location) such as Steak Gorgonzola, Kentucky BBQ Pork Chops and Chicken Parmesan Sliders. The guest can elect to assemble 3-serving or 6-serving dinners, in any combination that works best for their families. (PS – at the 620 location, she told me that you can add a serving for about $2/pc.) Then you register to attend a meal assembly session at the nearest Dream Dinners store location, and pay for the session online. Easy peasy!
The entire process was really simple – I chose meals that my family would enjoy, and got my spot booked. I brought my friend along for the ride and we trekked to the 620 location on a Saturday morning. We took a cooler with us, and jumped in!
We were greeted promptly, and showed around the beautiful space. It’s so nice, neat and organized. My slightly OCD/TypeA self was in heaven!
Once I unloaded my keys in the bin provided (and labeled, natch), I donned an apron, and got started. Dream Dinners provides you with a print out of labels, which include the name of the recipe, and cooking instructions. You find the first recipe in their well labeled space, and then rotate through refrigerated recipe stations, scooping prepped ingredients into the provided baking pans or gallon-sized, zip-top bags, which they label with the appropriate cooking instructions. (PS – Another bonus – you can re-use a lot of the zip-top bags because they are used as holding containers for other individually packaged items!) Amber and I had so much fun chatting with some of the other customers, and even thought it would make a fun Girl’s Night Out, or even a Date Night with your hubs.
After assembling my meals, the super helpful staff packed up my food in my cooler. While they were packing me up, Amber and I were able to sample one of the meals for next month! Once home, I stacked my labeled, freezer sealed dinners, and loaded them into my freezer. Dream Dinners suggests taking three meals from the freezer each week, and placing in the refrigerator to be enjoyed during the upcoming week.
I was so impressed with the entire process, and the meals are delicious! The variety was fantastic, and the simplicity, and efficiency is a welcome treat in my very hectic life – I am sure there are lots of you who relate! The price is not too prohibitive either – for the amount of time saved, it’s definitely worth it. My hubby, who is usually a pretty major stickler with money expenditures, agreed that it was absolutely worth the price. And, the meals are so EASY to put together.
We had the Chicken Parm Sliders last night and they were Delish!!
The owner, Stacy, was so pleasant to work with, answered all of my questions, and walked us through the entire process. She was telling us about some of the upcoming things that Dream Dinners is going to offer; including a collaborative event with Painting with A Twist for Father’s Day. (You guys – such a cool thing – for about $50, you send your kiddo to the Painting Place to create a work of art for Dad, while mom assemble a couple of meals to go. You can’t beat it – call them for details, I’m sure it will fill up fast!!)
I can’t say enough great things about Dream Dinners. It’s going to be a monthly stop, and I already feel my stress level going down, just knowing that we have some pre-prepped meals whenever we are in a pinch. Dream Dinners really is like the Fairy Godmother of Good Eats. I’m a fan.
Sponsored By: Dream Dinners
