Trying to improve my organization around meal prep/planning...
Anyone use Dream Dinners (or something similar - a place you can go and prep meals to be cooked immediately or frozen)?
Any reviews?
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I did year again and it was great! Fun to put together and easy to prepare later...and you get to skip any meals you don't like...
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We have a company local to us and I'm going next week- for $60 you go (and take your groceries), and prep 10 meals that feed 4-6 people (so almost 20 meals for us!). I'm really excited to try it- it's all freezer or crockpot stuff.
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I use it occasionally. We've been happy with the all the meals we've had and I love that it often only takes me 15 minutes to get dinner on the table - especially with some of the chicken dishes. I also like that I can adjust the meals when putting them together - if it has something in it that DH doesn't really like (like olives) then I can just leave it out, or I can add more if we really like something (like garlic.)
What I don't love - many of the recipes rely on dried herbs and jarred sauces and I think they would be more flavorful if they used fresher ingredients. Also, I wish that more of the meals were a complete meal - it will be pork chops and garlic bread or rice, but no veggie included or chicken and green beans, but no starch. Not a huge deal because I keep bags of frozen veggies on hand and we always have rice and pasta, but it's one more decision to make.
Definitely sign up for the points - usually I get enough credit to get a handful of the sides for free.
I've also tried HelloFresh, where they send the ingredients for the meal to you. I love that it uses fresher ingredients, but they often take me 40-45 minutes to put together and I feel are pretty expensive for something I still have to cook.
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@Mrs Green Grass: so nice to hear another good review!
@Mrs. Oatmeal: Interesting...so you bring all the groceries? They just give you a place to prep it?
@mrs.shinerbock: The lack of sides is a common review I am hearing. Which it bothers me and it also doesnt. Sides is the one thing I have gotten pretty decent at...I make sure to always have Simply Potato (fridge mashed potatos you just microwave), basmati rice, riceroni and frozen veggies on hand - so I feel ok about completing a meal easily.
I also just signed up for an introductory offer with hello fresh ($40 OFF - holla).
I think my first few months of having 2 we may live off HelloFresh (I like the looks of their menus better than Blue Apron which I was not a fan of) and Dream Dinners.
They have an intro offer of 6 meal (3 servings each) for $75...so I am going to try it out early feb...if I like it I'll go back and load up on the standard minimum of 36 servings before DD2 is due early March...
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I do Dream Dinners every few months. When I am working, they save me so much hassle. I plan my sides out ahead of time (often frozen veggies, or bagged chopped salad) when I pull out what I am making for the week to defrost. I also do the points and get lots of sides with the points. We like them a lot. There are a few herbs that I don't care for that they rely on heavily (thyme for instance) so I have learned to just leave that out when I am prepping them.
ETA: I've done Blue Apron and Hello Fresh too and I don't like that they send the ingredients unchopped etc. so all it saves me time on is shopping. Not super helpful as far as I am concerned. I still need to spend close to an hour cooking so that isn't what I am looking for on work nights.
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@travellingbee: Great review! Thank you...I agree - the prepping of the stuff is where I need to save time! I did a wildtree freezer meal workshop and it was nice...I still had to prep the produce but I did it all at once - and 10 meals together...so instead of chopping onion 3 nights in a row you just chop 3 onions all at the same time...it does make it easier.
I try to cook 3 week nights (Mon, Tues, Thurs) with Weds being leftovers. I also take leftovers for lunch many days. I dont mind prepping a meal Sunday myself. So I am hoping I'll either love HelloFresh or Dream Dinners to help simplify things...
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I loved it. It was super easy. And you customize as you prep, extra whatever no garlic etc so you can customize for preferences. If I remember correctly there were not always sizes so having frozen veggies and veggies around will make a meal.
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@Mrs D: yep. They have all the spices and recipes and equipment and things. Two weeks before they send you the grocery list, then you just show up with a bunch of friends and a bottle of wine and make a ton of meals.
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@Mrs. Oatmeal: This sounds very similar to the WildTree party I went to. They tell you the groceries to bring and how they should be prepped. You can bring your own meat or buy from their butcher with the meat trimmed and cut already. Then it was about an hour to assemble! Was nice!
@youboots: Love it! I'm so excited to try it out now!
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