Dream Dinners

Yesterday BFF and I went to our first Dream Dinners session, and I had a great time! 

Dream Dinners is a service where you choose entrees from a menu and then go to a store location and put them all together.  They do all of the hard work for you — planning the menu, getting the recipe, buying the food, chopping the veggies, collecting the spices, etc.  When you get there, you just put the meal together and take it home and freeze it or cook it.  Easy!!

I was so excited to try the Dream Dinners, because although I love to cook, I find that I have almost no time during the school year to prepare healthy, satisfying meals for myself.  I’m running from here to there and back again, and by the time I get home, I just want to eat something (anything!) now.  I never have the time to go through my recipe books, make a grocery list, shop for the food, and prepare it.  I wish I did, because I love doing this when I have the time.  

Plus, in trying to create a new, healthy lifestyle for myself, I want to make things as simple as possible when it comes to meal planning.  I’m great with breakfast and lunch, but dinner always throws me off and I end up eating too much (portions) or things that aren’t the best for me (unhealthy, quick food).  

So, when I saw that there was  service that helped you eat good, healthy, fresh food, I thought, “why not give it a shot?”  I went on the Dream Dinners site and selected all the meals I was interested in.  I looked at the nutritional info for every meal to be sure that they were Weight Watchers friendly. 

The meals work out to be about $4 each.  This is mostly for the entree only, although some of the meals come with the side dishes (rice, tortillas, etc.)  I think this is a great deal, because for me, the thing that stops me from cooking at home is not having all of the ingredients to cook the entree.  Not having cumin or onions, or whatever.  Dream Dinners has all of that included, and it’s pretty easy to make a quick salad or rice, if that’s what you want to go along with it.  The convenience alone makes it worth the money.  Plus, all of their ingredients are fresh from local sources. 

Anyway, yesterday was my first Dream Dinners session, and I loved it.  The store was incredibly organized and clean.  The owner was so accommodating and friendly that I felt right at home.  They have different stations set up with each type of meal and all the ingredients that go into making it all set up.  Even the ziploc bags you’ll need to put all of the spices/sauces/condiments.  You move from location to location making your different meals.  They give you a shelf in the cooler to put each meal as you finish it.  Oh, and don’t let me forget to mention the stickers — they have pre-printed stickers that list the meal name, date you made it, and the directions for cooking it.  I love it when things are so easy and well organized!  I felt like I was on a Food Network set, just like BeachGirl told me I would.  

The whole thing only took about an hour and a half, yet in that time I had put together 24 meals!  Look at what I got:

Sweet Cider BBQ Chicken
Chicken Yakitori over Rice
Honey & Herb Grilled Chicken
Tex Mex BBQ Pork Wraps
Southwest Grilled Chicken
Mexican Salsa Burgers
Dill Marinated Shrimp
Steak Salsa Verde

Don’t these sound great?  I can’t wait to try them.  It’s kind of fun to think that each evening I can go into my freezer and take out a meal that sounds like it’s from a restaurant.  I know I’ll be able to keep on track because this is practically fool-proof.

I cooked the dill shrimp skewers last night, and it was delicious.  Just the right amount.  The meals come with enough food for 3 portions, so I used the Food Saver I bought and vacuum-packed the leftovers.  It was like making my own frozen dinners, without the sodium or preservatives– pretty cool. 

Now I have a freezer stocked with food that is not only good for me, it’s easy to prepare, and tastes delicious.  This is a busy person’s dream!!  Corny, I know, but I guess that’s why they call it Dream Dinners, right?