Dream Dinners?

[champagne27]

Has anyone used Dream Dinners? I wanted to give it a try but hate to spend the $$ without hearing from someone who has done it.

Thanks!!

 

[flagdaytwins]

I only did the free sample dinner -- I made one chicken dish.

Two things bugged me about it: one is they used canned ingredients, like garlic in a jar and frozen red peppers. I thought I was paying for fresh ingredients.....

And two, you still have to take the dish home, freeze it, thaw it, and cook it, following instructions (tedious). This may seem like a "no duh" but when you think about it, when you go to Dream Dinners you're really only saving time spent grocery shopping and prepping ingredients.

Having said this, I would give it a try -- I went in thinking it would be perfect for me, and it turns out it wasn't.

 

[champagne27]

Thanks for the feedback. I was wondering how complicated it was to cook after. I also agree - for the price I would expect fresh ingredients - that what they advertise - no chopping, cleaning, etc....

Hmm - will have to think about it some more.

 

[run4me]

I've used it 4 or 5 times. I've gone alone and with friends. It is fun and fast to make so many dinners . My family likes it and son will do dinner. The main problem I have is that I don't always like 12 of the 14 dinners.. Sometimes I do more on one dinner to make the 12. I've looked at doing my one cooking for amonth and with shopping, chopping, precooking, making, and clean-up time is an issue. At DD it is 2 hours and I'm done.

 

[strasfamily]

Where we live, there are so many of these places popping up, all seem to be having some sort of introductory special. We went to a place called Entrees Made Easy. They had a discount of $40 off so it only came to $175 for 12 dinners. I liked their menu alot - mostly good meat entrees whereas some of these places are more casserole and pasta type entrees. There is another one called Designed Dinners that has a wonderful menu too.

The meals are wonderful - nothing like I would have ever cooked myself. Definitely worth the money.

 

[tweetylori]

I have tried several of these types of places, and the value for me comes in the meals that are more meal-like and less of a marinated meat. What I usually do is split a session with a friend. Some places will only allow one of you to come fix the meals when you do this. Others will allow both of you to come. Dream Dinners lately has been more of marninated-meats and less of complete meals, so I haven't been lately. If you do a search for your area, you'll find which ones are near you, then you can compare their menus and see which one has the most items you'd like to prepare. Most of these places will offer you an extra free meal if you sign up for the following month while you're at your session. So it pays to plan ahead.

 

[molly2004]

I recently did one at Let's Dish, in Burlington. I agree that I was a little jaded because the ingredients weren't fresh. The other thing I worried about was that the meat looked as if it was previously frozen. It didn't occur to me to ask then. I only noticed that the coloring was a little off (beef look a little darker than it should have). I was also a bit peeved that for the price, it didn't come with a side dish.

For what it's worth, I may try it again. The dishes weren't terrific, but reasonably good. It works for me so far as emergency meals. There are some weeks when I get so busy, I can't even go to the grocery store. I send someone out for milk, but that's about it. If I send DH to the store to get food, he comes back with a pound of hamburger meat and wants hamburgers. I'm up to my eyeballs in hamburgers. So these meals work for such "emergencies."

 

[branv]

I've done one local place like that here. I like them better because you have individual prep stations for each person with your own ingredients (more sanitary), the food isn't prepackaged, they cut their own meats, etc. However, I'm finding that it becomes something of a waste when I don't like 1-2 of the meals. I mean, each meal at 6 servings total is about $18 (which, since it's only the two of us, is split into two dinners vs. one). When we don't like it enough to keep eating it it's an expensive risk. Luckily, like I said, we split ours so that when I know I didn't like the meal, sometimes I can "doctor" it the next time we try it...sometimes successfully, sometimes

I would say that I've compared Dream Dinners to Supper Supers (both chains) to the local place I just mentioned. Dream Dinners comes in last because they use Sysco products, nothing really fresh, some items don't allow "splitting" into 2 dinners, and they are far pricier. The only reason I haven't tried Super Suppers yet is because they were a little more expensive then my local place, but I may give it a shot.

What I've started doing is, rather then eating these for every meal, I keep them on hand for when I'm really tired/busy. On June 3 we bought a months worth of meals and here it is mid July and we still have half of them left. I cook some, eat out some, use the meals some. It's also been handy for me in terms of giving me ideas for freezing my own meals. They won't give you recipes, but some of them are so obvious and simple that it would be a sin not to go home and do them yourself. I've also discovered some of their recipes sure seem to be taken from a few magazines...borrowed those as well

 

[mjantz]

I took cooking lessons from the woman who started Super Suppers so I'm a bit bias. I am hopefully getting a new job in the fall & I'm looking into Super Suppers to help me get food on the table. I'm not the worlds best cook but I always liked the meals that Judie Byrd prepared when we went to her classes. I probably wouldn't do a full 12 meal month but I'm thinking that a 6 meal plan, along with some pre-packaged stuff from Target (the Italian meatloaf is *incredible*), leftovers & at least once a week out, would be enough. We could always upgrade to 12 if we wanted.

 

[ReneeQ]

We just had one of these places open in our area, it's locally owned, not one of the chains. I haven't been yet, so maybe shouldn't even comment.

BUT, here's what bothers me so far, from what I've read on their website.
Their best "deal" is 12 dinners for $205, which is $17.08 each. EACH! Each one SAYS it serves 4-6. BUT, in reading further, I see each one serves 4, and for an extra $10 PER MEAL you can make them serve 6. It's just me and hubby, but he's a big eater. When I cook, I usually make things that serve 6, he eats 2 servings, I eat 1, and then we have enough left for another meal.

They state each meal contains 1.5 lbs. of protein. Okay, I usually pay $1.99 a pound for meats, so that's $3 worth of meat. And the only other ingredients are pasta, maybe some onion or peppers, sauces, etc. SOME of them come with a side dish like green beans (a frozen bag of green beans is $1 in the grocery store).

Maybe I'm just cheap, but the price seems OUTRAGEOUS to me. And I don't like how they say "you spend $45 to take a family of 4 out to dinner, come here and we'll feed your family for only $17." Okay, maybe that's true, but for that $45 we also got AT LEAST 4 sides, maybe some bread, 4 drinks, free drink refills, atmosphere, crayons for the kids, and someone WAITED on me. I also didn't have to go prepare it, freeze it, cook it, AND clean it up. I don't think it's a fair comparison.

What is the going rate for these places in other areas? Like I said, I haven't been (and doubt I will), so can't comment on the ingredients.

 

[strasfamily]

I have figured out that the average cost is $2.78 per person. That would be if you spent $200 divided by 12 which is the number of meals you buy, divided by 6 which is the number of people most of them feed.

I am a family of 3 and we definitely get 2 meals out of each of the 12.

At the place we went to, we were able to pick and choose off of the menu which ones we wanted to make, so if we didn't like one of the choices we doubled up on something else.

 

[EthansMom]

I was thinking about doing Dream Dinners here. Then I looked at the website and found the price. And then I found that Dream Dinners is coming out with a cookbook in Sept.

In the meantime, I purchased "Don't Panic: Dinner's in the Freezer" which had good recommendations on Amazon. (Recipes so far have been pretty tasty, but recommended cooking times have been a little off on some.)

I do like having entrees already prepared in the freezer. By making the foods at home, I'm able to make 3 or 4 of the same meal at one time and save prep time vs. making the same meal 3 or 4 times. And, I'm able to take advantage of store loss leaders -- if chicken breast is on sale one week, I make up several chicken meals that week and next week when beef is on sale, I'll make up several beef meals. Also, I'm able to use fresh, high quality ingredients.

Not only have I been able to make the meals for far less than the cost of Dream Dinners, but I've actually saved money over my usual grocery budget lately. And, we've been less likely to do takeout since there's always something available in the freezer.

 

[powellrj]

When these places first came out, I was very interested in them. The cost is what I was amazed at. I have a family of 4 or 5 depending on who is home at the time. I also have teenagers which increases my cost. From what I am reading to feed my family, it would almost take 2 meals and at almost $17 per meal x's 2. For that price we can have huge steak dinners on the grill with baked potatoes and salad and still have the same amount of clean-up!

Maybe when we are empty nesters I would think about it, but when you have teenagers, there is noway I could ever afford to do this.

I have started power cooking and have found this to be a great way to save and feed my family. I shop "big" and then pre-make my meals for the week. Its a little more work, but its only a mess once a week and the rest of the week its just whoever gets home first sticks dinner in. I can do meals for the week and clean up in about 3 hours total, not including shopping time. I will admit I have 3 crockpots and many saturday mornings I have all 3 going so I can be cooking 3 different meats at the sametime!

 

[flagdaytwins]

Another good point prev posters mentioned: You don't get any side dishes!!

 

[strasfamily]

Another good point prev posters mentioned: You don't get any side dishes!!

That my just be the place she went to. All of these places in my area include the side dishes. There are a lot to choose from: Designed Dinners, Entrees Made Easy, My Girlfriend's Kitchen, Make and Bake Meals, and I'm sure quite a few more.

What I plan on doing is checking out the first time customer incentive for each.

 

[cnj]

I tried it and we ate 3 of the 6 dishes that I prepared there. They were so bad that the other 3 are still sitting in my freezer. I just can't bring myself to eat them. Maybe the other 3 are excellent, but for me, it was definitelly not worth it.

Jen

 

[Pigeon]

I did Dream Dinners once with a relative who talked me into it. I'm normally into cooking double and triple batches of stuff and keeping it on hand in the freezer. Dream Dinners was outrageously expensive compared to my usual freezer cooking. The food was good, but nothing special. I wouldn't do it again.

 

[mom2grace]

I have been doing DD since last October. I go about every 6 weeks. I have 2 preschoolers, so I split everything. For me, it's worth it to make dinner time prep less hectic, we are eating healthier, and eating out less. I do buy a big bag of frozen chicken breast at Costco and throw one into each of the chicken meals for leftovers for DH's lunch.

The other thing that I REALLY like about it is the portion control. At DD, the meals with chicken breasts or steaks or pork chops come with 6 4 oz portions.

We have considered doing it myself, but the thought of figuring out what to make, buying the stuff, preparing it, and cleaning it up is not very appealing, and my mom has the don't panic it's in the freezer cookbook, she's never used it either!

Also, we are pretty hard core Dave Ramsey people, our monthly food budget is $400/month and this includes the Dream Dinners. (AS of Monday, WE'RE DEBT-FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! except for the mortgage)

 

[christygobar]

I did Super Suppers here a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. I'll preface it by saying that I actually live alone and did the 6 meal plan. I paid $110, and now I honestly have about 36 servings out of it. Mine were all meat based (except for one ravioli), so I felt really like it was worth it!

The homemade sangria and chocolate chip cookies definitely made it worthwhile

Now, my mom will tell you of course you can do it cheaper in your own kitchen and with sales at the grocery store and I fully agree with her. I do enjoy cooking and I am not looking to replace that with the Super Suppers. It was just so much nicer to assemble everything in the ziploc bag and put it in a cooler to bring home. It seemed that most of my ingredients were fresh. My only complaint was that the pork wasn't as lean as I would have gotten....but I just cut off the fat when I thawed it out to cook.

My own kitchen is a tiny galley kitchen with not a lot of counter space. To make bulk meals can really turn out to be a big pain here.

I coupled that with the cheapest FoodSaver I could find and things are working out nicely in my freezer!

 

[golden1]

I tried Dream Dinners for a few months. At first I really liked it but it got old fast. Most of the meals were done with the similar ingredients and spices so it felt like I was eating the same thing over and over after awhile. The first month I really liked the meals but the second month was not as good. Some of the meals were downright inedible.