This post is dedicated to my mother, who remains skeptical.
There are only a few inventions I would put in the "changed my life" category. The hair diffuser, coffee, and the dishwasher come to mind.
And there is also Dream Dinners. Never heard of it? Allow me to explain.
I was first introduced to Dream Dinners through a fundraiser for MOPS when I was 8 months pregnant with my second daughter. I had a blast assembling the meal with friends, cooking the food at home was a breeze, and the dinner was excellent. We quickly and easily decided to sign up for a months worth of meals so that we would have good and relatively simple dinner options once Abby was born.
Well, that was almost 2 YEARS ago, and we are still going strong with Dream Dinners. 12 meals a month, without fail, and we are happy happy customers.
How does it work?
- Look at the menu for the month and choose 36 servings worth of meals. For us, that usually comes out to 12 3-serving meals.
- Sign up for a day to assemble or pick up my meals. Our Dream Dinners waives the assembly fee for new moms for the first couple months, and since I have continued to order each month since Abby was born they have continued to waive that fee. I think it would be fun to assemble the ingredients myself, but this is way easier.
- Show up, pick up, and pay (usually around $170 for 12+ meals a month).
- Stock my freezer.
- Pull out 3 meals a week to thaw in the refrigerator.
- Follow no-brainer cooking instructions and make a dinner.
- When needed, add my own veggies and sides to complete the meal.
- Smile and serve.
Who does it work for?
It works for individuals like me, who...
- Enjoy cooking for entertaining purposes, but don't dig it for weeknight dinner purposes.
- Married someone who really appreciates good food, and variety.
- Are not organized enough to do good meal planning.
- Are not smart or frugal grocery-shoppers.
- Have spouses who don't get home from work until later (6:45pm in my case) and therefore are on their own to make dinner at the end of the day with small children running rampant through the house.
Witching hour anyone?
- Have NO ENERGY LEFT by 5pm when you are supposed to be making dinner.
Who might it not work for?
- Vegetarians, or others with restrictive food issues or allergies. Dream Dinners meals are mostly meat-centered (we almost always go with the chicken, but there are plenty of pork, fish, and red-meat options too).
- People who love to cook and are good at planning and grocery shopping and perhaps have spouses that come home from work at 4pm. Must be nice to be you.
Why I think it's great..or, my sales pitch...
- I am able to provide my family with a
variety of great dinners that are WAY better than what I would come up with myself.
Former monthly menu: something Italian, something Mexican, something involving chicken/rice/vegetables. Repeat.
- At 5:30pm after a long day with two small children I am all too happy to follow
simple instructions to make these meals.
-
It is healthy. The nutrition facts are online so you can see for yourself. I have successfully lost weight eating Dream Dinners meals.
- It
saves us money. I am totally sure of it. Not only do I trust my friend who is a numbers/money person and "did the math" to show why Dream Dinners is economical for her family, but now we hardly ever grab take-out which also helps the budget.
- I am
at the grocery store so much less. Not only do less trips to the grocery store mean a happier me (are there people out there who actually enjoy grocery shopping?), but when I go to the store I am only going for the basics (breakfast, lunch, produce). And less time in the grocery store = less money spent in the grocery store and less junk food purchased.
- A lot of the meals are big enough for
leftovers or lunches, which means we are actually getting more than 12 meals a month. Again, this saves money, and time.
- Every once in awhile I order a 6-serving meal that I can use with company and makes
entertaining a breeze.
- My kids like a lot of the food.
- Saves time. Saves cleaning.
Saves sanity...and really, can you put a price on that?
Who else thinks it's great...
Oprah, Bob Greene, Nate Berkus, Dr. Phil. Ever heard of them?
Sample of my January meal menu...
- Roast beef stuffed french bread
- Butternut ravioli with carmelized onions
- Cod almondine with lemon cream sauce
- Savory grilled chicken with sesame honey butter
- Kentucky pork chops
- Chicken enchiladas
- Chicken with lemon and artichoke sauce
- Creamy tortellini with bacon
- Pub style chicken with mashed potatoes
- Texmex BBQ turkey wraps
There is honestly not a week that goes by that Chris and I don't say something resembling, "Dream Dinners is the best," or "What would we do without Dream Dinners?," or "Why would we ever stop doing this?".
Click
here and see if there is a Dream Dinners in your area. Give it a try for a month or two and see what you think.
Happy cooking everyone.
We all live in the same state, but the busyness of life and the daunting LA traffic make it so that getting together still takes effort. We all made the effort this weekend and carved out time to spend a couple days together. One night all 12 of us even slept under the same roof, something we haven't done for a very long time, maybe ever.
