A few weeks ago my wife was invited to a “sneak peak” for a new business that came into town. It is called Dream Dinners. The idea is that you come and prepare either 6 or 12 meals ahead of time and store them in gallon size freezer bags. Then when you are ready to eat you just pull it from the freezer, thaw, and follow the directions on the label.
For those of us who have crazy schedules (or work a long way from home) this could be a great way to (1) eat healthier and (2) eat more meals with the family at home. My family schedule is really crazy during the week and with my arrival time from home extremely variable we wanted to see how this would pan out for us.
So, this afternoon we went, paid our money for 12 meals and went to town. My first impression was, “This looks like a TV food show.” There were six stations that allowed you to prepare 2-3 different meals. Recipes are posted on laminated cards which are easily read. The station is set up similiar to a salad bar. Various containers are filled with the ingredients for your meal, measuring spoons and cups are provided as well as spatulas, gallon sized freezer bags, aluminum cooking pan, etc. Everything you would need for preparing a meal way ahead of time.
It took us an hour and a half to complete 12 meals. They now sit in their bags or 9×13 aluminum pans in our deep freezer. Tonight we pulled out the Meatball Hogie meal. Tomorrow I will let you know how the prep, cooking and taste went. Sneak Peak: There is only enough left for one sandwich.
Over the next few weeks I will provide updates as we eat the prepared Dream Dinner meals. I’ll let you know how they taste, how they cook, how the instructions work out, etc. If these work out as good as my wife and I foresee I can see using Dream Dinners often.