I discovered Dream Dinners through the Frugal Lancaster blog and although I have not yet "committed" to coming back and doing a full session I am definitely interested. I think it's an unique concept and to really understand the way it works I would suggest going to one of the "open houses" once a month for $34.99 like I did. At that event you will get to prep 3 meals (with 3 portions each) sample some food, and learn about the process. You can't buy groceries for 3 meals for that price, yet alone restaurant quality meals, so what have you got to lose?
Here's the lowdown on how this works and below is after all the introductory specials they will offer you when you are on the regular plan.
You view the menu for that month and select/pay for 36 portions - that's 12 meals if you have a 3 portion meal, 6 meals if you are feeding 6. You come to one of the prep sessions (these are scheduled in advance, although they do have some walk in sessions available after purchase).
Once there they have different stations set up for the various recipes. All the ingredients are already prepped (chopped, etc). They supply all the containers (a mix of bags and foil boxes) to put your food in. Than you just follow the instructions at that station for that recipe - (example add 1 cup cheese,etc). The proper measuring tools are already in each ingredient. The instructions tell you what container to use and how to assemble. When you're done you put it all in a big bag, insert the recipe card (with cooking instructions which is dated/labeled) and take home and freeze. That's it!
The advance is no shopping at the grocery store or meal planning beyond picking your recipes. While you do have to cook the actual meal at home they are designed to be easy to prepare and fast cooking. So if you have a family of 3, in one hour you will have prepped 12 meals for the month to use at your leisure. Some come with sides, others don't. Plus they have already prepped sides available for cash/carry if you commit to the 36 portions. Once you do it you are not obligated to do it every month, so it's not a subscription - pick and choose what months and when you'd like to do it. Each meal is priced separately but considering how much it costs to go out to eat it is a savings + no food waste!
The menu changes every month and there's nutritional values for each meal. And if you don't want to spend an hour prepping you can pay a flat fee of $20/month and they will do the work for you.
I strongly suggest anyone who struggles to get dinner on the table every night for whatever reason to come to one of their open houses. I'm not one that usually is impressed by trends and consider my self to be "cheap" regardless of what I spend my money on but I could see this actually saving me money. Plus time at the dreaded grocery store! read more