I love Dream Dinners. I go there every month and am in the VIP program, which means I get 10% off my order every month! It's awesome. Here's how it works: you sign up for a session time, and select meals at least 36 servings - they come in 3 or 6 servings. Then you go and prepare them at your session, and can modify as necessary, if you want less salt or want to omit certain items. Then you take your meals home and freeze them, pull 2 out a week, and voila! Dinner in usually 15 mins or so. Just add your own sides. Their items are high quality and they offer a variety of meals. I am usually in and out of there in 1 hour and can make the meals stretch for a whole month. Try once! And join the VIP program if you think you'll become a regular! read more

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Cynthia is so pleasant and easy to communicate with. Although I was only there for a trial/introductory session, it was so convenient and money/time saving I admire the genius who came up with this business model. Staff seems courteous and helpful. Inside the store, there's small lounge area for those waiting and cute drawers to store your purses/belongings. Assembly stations are organized and clean enough. Recipes self explanatory but staff is there to help you. I overcooked the chicken dish I brought home that same day, and it was a little bland. But I'm going back to try other menu entrees for the month and will definitely update my review. Bottom line: This is so 10x times better than frozen dinners and cheaper than take-outs. read more

Dream Dinners - Assembly stations - Specialty Food Near Me - Torrance, California

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Now, even I can cook!!!! The folks at this store are so awesome!! They are flexible, helpful, and kind. The food is great, too! How it works: create an account, look at the menus for the two months, order the minimum number of servings (I forgot what that amount is), and pick up your food during one of their published pickup time slots. In the Before Times (pre-COVID), you had to go into the store during a published time slot and assemble the meals yourself. You get a recipe card, then put all your ingredients in bags. They give you a cart, if I remember correctly, so you can cart around your meals as you assemble them. I think they just brought that back. But they will assemble it all for you about $30, so that's super convenient. Is amazing! Now, even I can cook! read more

This is kind of like a blue apron type place. Except you go in person To get the supplies, the recipes, and pointers on how to prepare your meals. Mostly healthy inspired food, although the GM herself told me it's mainly for ppl that are in a crunch and need something wholesome and planned to put on the table multiple times a week. I didn't purchase as this wasn't for me at the time, but the idea is cool for ppl that want something a lil more personal than ordering a subscription kit. read more

For simplicity and cost effectiveness I give this place 5 stars! It is a lifesaver and cuts down on the cost of going out all of the time. Plus I'm saving money and time on the prep and not having to buy all the ingredients! Staff friendliness gets another 5 stars! Beef cuts- 1 star. It's the cheapest cuts and never tender. Over all Quality- 2 stars- they don't offer any organic options, free range or non GMO. I would pay extra to get that extra quality. read more

Dream Dinners exists for people who wish to provide delicious, somewhat health-conscious, made-from-scratch meals for their families of 2-6. Attending food prep sessions here means when time for dinner, there's no thinking involved. All meals are quick to prep once you get them home, and the whole cooking ordeal is made incredibly easy and painless. You have to make appointments online for the time and date you want to go there, and select which meals you will be preparing (and buying from them). Each meal has a option of either 3 or 6 meals, no more and no less. The meals with the most costly ingredients naturally cost more to buy. Upon arrival, you're presented with a space to stow your purse/stuff, a pre-printed sheet of perforated cards stating which meals you are preparing and how to put them together at home, and a space in a large refrigerator where you place your completed meals. The owner is really talkative and friendly and there are other staff to guide you and refill ingredient bins at each meal stations. Each meal station has very simple-to-follow directions for how to prepare a given meal that you selected on their website, along with all the measuring equipment and ingredients that you'll need for that specific meal. One stations may house everything needed for 2-3 different meals, but you only pay attention to your own meal and its directions. You prep the meal by placing seasonings, sauces, and food ingredients into several different ziplock bags, some small and some large. Within 10 min. you're done and proceed to place your finished meal (grouped into 1 XL ziplock) with its corresponding meal card (containing directions for prepping and heating at home) into your assigned space in the fridge. Then you move on to put together your next selected meal. At the end of an hour, you have 6 yummy meals all packaged neatly in their own XL Ziplock, most of which you are instructed to freeze immediately once you get home. A staff member helps you load them into your own cooler or insulated tote. You want to defrost the frozen meals in the refrigerator the night before you want to cook a meal so that it's completely defrosted by dinner time the following day. Following the simple instructions to put a meal together takes about 5 minutes, and then you're ready to cook using the stove or oven. Voila! You have a yummy dinner that cost you no time at all. Taking in to account that you have to go to the market to shop for the ingredients and 10 min. prep time you put in for each meal in-store, you save SO much time!! My husband and I enjoyed every meal that I brought home. He's hooked on Dream Dinners now because he experienced how amazingly easy and time saving it is to 'make' one of their dinners! The only downside is the cost of one meal, but if "Time Is Money" to you or you are an overwhelmed spouse or parent, it's totally worth it. Basically you are paying for restaurant quality food which would normally cost a lot more. read more

I was at a friends house a couple of years back and tasted the best tamales I've had in a long time. Being half mexican, I've tasted a few in my day. These were light, moist and fluffy and lots of filling inside. She told me she had assembled them at Dream Dinners. Fast forward a couple of years, and here I am struggling on a daily basis of figuring out what to make for dinner. It just so happened that I had accompanied my husband to the barber shop in the same shopping center where Dream Dinners is located. Lightbulb!! There was no one inside at the time, so I went online and looked them up. The concept is, you browse their monthly menus and choose from 3 or 6 servings at a time and choose from available sessions to assemble your meals. Everything on the online menu looked and sounded yummy! It couldn't have been easier! Just make sure that when you are assembling a meal, that you are on the correct number of servings side of the card for the meal, otherwise you won't have the right balance of ingredients...which is what happened to me at my first session. The only thing is, if you don't have a lot of mouths to feed or lots of room in your freezer, you must order a minimum quantity of meals, I think I ordered the minimum the first time which was like 10 or 12 meals. read more

I've been a Dream Dinners customer for almost 2 years now, starting with the location in West LA (which is fantastic BTW). First a little background on my skills in the kitchen - before DD, I HATED cooking. Seriously detested it. To eat anything I made (besides baking) was to risk your life, as my poor husband can attest to. We spent a fortune on takeout and delivery! A friend in San Francisco posted about DD on her blog, and my interest was piqued. You sign up for a 2-hour session, during which time you assemble various meals into freezeable portions. Every month there is a different menu selection, and you need to sign up for at least 36 servings per session. They've got everything you need to do this as quickly and painlessly as possible, and you don't have to clean up! Well, other than what you use to do the actual cooking at home with. I don't go every month - hubby takes a look at the menu and if we find enough dishes that we want to eat then we'll go that month. The protein quality is excellent and the prices are lower than if you tried to grocery shop on your own (at least for the 2 of us, hard to say if you've got more mouths to feed). We've learned over time that certain types of dishes don't work for us - for example, anything with fruit (our personal tastes) or Asian-inspired, and do fine as long as we avoid those. The funny part is that after I started going to Dream Dinners, I actually enjoy being in the kitchen more, and am more willing to cook from scratch. read more

Was really excited when i saw the groupon deal for dream dinners. Ive been wanting to try them but didnt want to pay that much before knowing how good the food is or isnt. Id read the yelp reviews and everyone talks so highly of them. I have called 5 times and emailed 3 times. I did receive 1 email after my 5th call with instructions on how to use the groupon and the dates the groupon session is.. Wish they had put in their groupon deal that it was only valid certain dates, none of which work with my schedule. I responded a week ago to their email with questions and have yet to receive any call or email back. So far im pretty disappointed. **update not sure if writing the review had anything to do with it, but im finally scheduled for a session. Received a confirmation email this morning, but still no response to my questions. Will further update after my session happens *****update I've actually been back 4 times since! I really love how easy it is. Even my husband cam make the meals. It's really made dinner time more enjoyable for us. Wish it were a little cheaper but still great. read more

After driving by this location countless times and getting a personal recommendation from my in-laws, I decided to give it a shot. I ordered all my meals and serving sizes beforehand, scheduled my session, and with cooler in hand, arrived at Dream Dinners on a sunny Saturday morning. The employees are very helpful. When they learned it was my first visit, they gave me a quick tour of the area as well as a walkthrough on how to prepare the meals. The prep was pretty straightforward. All the measuring was color coded and the place was kept clean. Putting the meals together was a lot of fun. My favorite part was that the clean up was done for me. You can request gluten free or wheat options as well, which was pretty neat. They also have a booklet with all their nutritional information. Not a lot of things are organic, however, quite a handful of their ingredients are all natural. The serving sizes are on the smaller side, most of the ingredients are frozen, and you have to make your own sides, but on nights where I don't feel like cooking, I'm glad I can just defrost one of these bad boys, pop it in the oven, and forget about it. I love to cook, but I'll definitely return to Dream Dinners to make some more meals to have on hand for the days when I am completely exhausted. read more

Just got home from a wonderful experience at the Torrance location.. Got a Groupon and was a bit overwhelmed when I got there for about a minute and a half...lol I was greeted with a terrific group of women that work that worked there.. Ronnie was my gal and she helped me work my way thru the dinners always just a step away to help me.. I took a couple of breaks to savor the experience as I didn't want it to end..I booked another session in October.. Can't wait to try their meals.. Thanks Dream Dinners for a fun night and Ronnie your a doll!!! xoxoxo Sirrell read more

I had purchase a groupon for this place and was excited to try it, I had an appointment mishap but I appreciated the way the owner handled it. So lets get to the point.... I went in today, a Saturday at 8:45am (they offer different times and days, I am just an early bird) and I was pleasantly greeted and everything was explained to me. They have different stations where you prepare the meals and package them yourself. I love the idea and concept of this.The stations contained all the necessary indigents like salt, pepper, garlic, butter and all you do is measure and place in a bag that is provided then pop in into the fridge until your done prepping your meals. If a station was busy, they a living area with seating, coffee and scones and fresh biscuits for you...it just was a nice warm place. Upon completion of your order they take your order out to your car, how great is that! I appreciated the awesome service from beginning to end. Now onto the food. One dish I purchased was Chateau chicken with almond butter sauce. It has all ingredients needed, all I did was thaw and prepared as directed. The family enjoyed it and it was easy, fresh and quick. Overall, it is a good buy, use them a few days a week. It saves time, money and a headache. This place is a hidden gem and the staff makes it shine! read more

I'd known about this business for nearly a decade and always wanted to try it. What has held me back is the sheer number of minimum servings you're required to purchase (36 is a bit too many for a family of two with a small freezer) and the cost which falls somewhere between the cost of eating out and the cost of grocery shopping. When I Groupon deal came up I jumped on it...half the number of servings and less than half the price. The experience of preparing ingredients and placing them into several plastic bags was a lot of fun (though not terribly eco friendly). The staff bends over backwards to make your experience pleasant and hassle free. We prepared six meals/18 servings in approximately an hour. The meals themselves are fairly easy to prepare. I was worried that each one would taste kind of a like but they don't. So far the chicken and humus and the tacos have been quite good. The sweet potato fries are delicious and a lit bit healthier since they're baked. If you were able to get the smaller number of servings every time then I think I'd be back for weeks that are too busy to cook. However, 36 servings is a bit too much food for us. read more

Purchased 2 groupons and had to schedule one month out due to heavy groupon usage. Could not schedule online because the groupon had to be entered in by an employee. Called and left a message. Received call back the following day and Beverly took my order over the phone after having to create a sign-in for myself and my bf. When we arrived it was a mad house. Apparently the first group were all new to Dream Dinners (through groupon) so were not done by the time the second group arrived. There was a lounge area with coffee, juices and water and they also had hot samples of one of their dishes to try. We were a little pressed for time so waited in a short line to create our dishes. Had a more relaxing atmosphere about 20 minutes in because the first group were finally gone. Pros Food is very good. Assembling was easy. Food was fresh. Good if you're on a diet due to portion control and provided nutrition info. Cooking instructions are great for beginner cooks bec it even tells you how long to cook the protein on each side. Cons Portions of meat seem small. Regular prices are high at $5+ a portion. You still have to shop for your own side dishes or purchase for extra $. I can cook so I would not go this route at their regular prices. Overall it was a nice experience. read more

Bought their Groupon deal. Kicking myself for not buying two deals. This place was busy and getting in took a few weeks because I could only go on a Sunday. I guess the Groupon deal has been a bit overwhelming for the place. Despite, this all of the employees are very nice and extremely helpful. A regular seemed annoyed by the newbies, which I could respect. I get like that at places I go to often. So, I didn't take it personally. So, far we've had 2 chicken dishes and 1 cornbread chili. Both chicken dishes were flavorful and easy to make. The cost we figured is about $5.00 or so per meal (meal really is just a protein), but still makes dinner easy and to me worth it since I'm so busy. We've added our own sides, including a vegetable and starch (potatoes or rice). The cornbread chili was good, but not really something I'd eat regularly. Definitely into chicken dishes and the different seasonings they add really make each chicken dish different. I will definitely be going back. The price might seem a bit high, but it's definitely healthier than picking up takeout when you are too tired to make dinner. read more

So I'm a single mom of 3 (2 boys and a girl) One of my biggest frustration is "what's for dinner?" My oldest son said that I always make the same things. He was so right I was in a food rut. Dream Dinners has been my solution, I can have my kids start dinner with their easy to read directions and get dinner on the table most of the time in less than an hour. The best part yet, they are delicious! I can now prepare fish, chicken, and meat differently. They have great sauce's and dishes and now that i buy in bulk it generally cost me $4.35 a serving. I have taken both my son and daughter to help me prepare our meals and it is always a great experience. My kids have fun with me while they learn measurements and increments! Lastly, I love supporting a business that can think and have compassion for people. When my grandmother was in her final days and my mother just simply didn't have time to make dinner or prepare meals, they prepared her meals for her at no additional charge. OUTSTANDING! read more

This place is amazing and the staff is incredibly helpful. I'll be going back regularly.

The women that works here seems to be extremely lonely. They take every opportunity to chat with you about themselves when you are trying to concentrate on the recipe and need to get out of there because you only have so many hours in the day. Every time I ask someone for help on a recipe, they take an additional five minutes to talk about themselves, why they work there, where they worked before, etc etc etc. When they were checking my food out, the lady spent an extra 20 minutes talking about herself even though I kept saying I had to go. She took forever to check me out and comment on every bag of food that I had. Don't get me wrong, these are friendly and helpful gals - but I am here to make my food, and I have 4 kids and I really need to run in and run out. The place is clean but the food is meh. Any type of beef you get is going to be cheap flank steak that taste like rubber when you cook them. Every single menu item is practically chicken. A lot of the pasta dishes are overly creamy and heavy, and their sandwich and burrito/taco items aren't very good because these aren't meant to be frozen and cooked type of foods. read more

Cynthia and her team are the bomb! We have been a customer since 2013 and absolutely love everything about this place. Someone gave us a gift certificate and we were hooked after that. The food is outstanding as well as the customer service. The menu selection is vast and there are always new items to try. You make it yourself and freeze it and take out as needed throughout the month. We love the fact that we can control all ingredients. This is a huge time saver on week nights when time is short and the family is hungry! Love this place. Cannot say enough wonderful things about Dream Dinners. read more

Great fresh food! This is a fun event to do with a group. We each made three dinners to take home and freeze. So nice having an already made dinner available. My family loved all three dinners, i will be back! read more

Amazing, professional, helpful and FUN staff! Making meals here saves me time, is really fun and it is a great deal. Come with a group of friends and make an evening of it. Nothing better than getting home to a hungry family after a busy day and being able to put a healthy, delicious dinner (that you have pre-made from scratch, so you know all the ingredients) in front of them in ~20 minutes. I strongly recommend you try Dream Dinners Torrance! read more

Went today for the first time (with my Groupon). It was a fantastic experience. Everything is so organized and clean, and the employees were so helpful and friendly. I left with an arsenal of meals. I'm sure my kids won't eat them because they are full of flavor ;) but my husband and I definitely will. Their regular prices seem a bit expensive, but if they run another Groupon I'll be sure to get a few. read more

I have been using Dream Dinners on and off for about 8 years. I have been going to the Torrance location for about a year or more. The Torrance location feels very neighborly and wholesome. They are really pleasant people. I only stop using Dream Dinners when I want to use my own cooking for a while or if I go on some fad diet. I like the food a lot. They always have healthy options, hearty options, and in betweens. I lost weight on dream dinners before using weight watcher points. They have it all. Sometimes I like to order a dish or two for a pot luck or for a party. It makes me look like a super star. I did their thanksgiving meal sides for turkey day after I had my first baby. I thought it was good. Now that I know a lot of the reoccurring recipes, I pick and choose my favorites for holidays and I mix it up with my own things so I have the simplicity of Dream Dinners and my creativity is preserved too. I don't grocery shop as much, I just buy vegetable sides, breakfast food and packed lunch items. I rely on Dream Dinners. It makes my life much easier and my family is properly fed. read more

the staff here are great! and the food is very yummy. sadly, even though i'm a sahm and wife, i have zero skills in the kitchen. by the time i go buy all the ingredients necessary...chop, mix & cook, i'm so pooped and irritated that i can't even enjoy the meal. plus, it doesn't always taste right. dream dinners is a perfect solution! great, gourmet tasting meals. even for the ones that need to be cooked stovetop, it only takes about 30 minutes and washing one pot/pan. love it. no more using 3-4 dishes to marinate, mix & assemble. just toss the bags and then you're done! read more

My friends and I bought their Groupon deal and feel like we are getting the "Groupon" second class treatment. Have been trying to get someone to call us back or email us back for 2 weeks! Finally got a response and found out that we cannot order multiples of the same meal and that one of the meals is not even available (salmon). And it bothered me that they said if this was not going to work for us, that we should just contact groupon for a refund. What kind of customer service is that? Had been to a different Dream Dinner location years ago and that whole experience was wonderful. Maybe this location is great too once you get there, but we are having a hard time scheduling. In the future when putting out a groupon, please consider capping the number you sell if you cannot handle the overwhelming response. read more

I am a dedicated Dream Dinners fan! I have been going to DD (first in Burbank, now in Torrance) for about 6 years. It is such a lifesaver for someone like me who isn't the best cook and who works full time and doesn't have time for long, drawn-out recipes. I can make so many dishes for my family that they love, and I make so many dishes that I otherwise would never think to make on my own. It's so easy to put a few meals from my freezer to my fridge on a Sunday, so they're defrosted and ready to prepare when we need them. The staff at DD in Torrance can't be beat - so friendly and helpful. I feel like I'm hanging out with friends for a few hours. I tell all my friends they should try Dream Dinners - you won't be sorry!! read more

Have tried to contact DREAM DINNER TORRANCE for the past few week to redeem my groupon and no response to emails or phone calls. Very frustrated and stuck. There are three of us with this groupon and NO RESPONSE. Any suggestions??? Worked with other Dream Dinner locations and had great experience! Very frustrated!!!! read more