Tired of Eating Out?
There are days (OK there are many days) that we are simply too busy as a family that I cannot find the time to make a decent family meal, so we end up eating grilled cheese sandwiches or gasp – picking up fast food. In swoops Dream Dinners to save a mom’s busy day. Dream Dinners is a prep kitchen and a revolutionary idea that cuts out the middle man (aka the grocery store) in order to help us create healthy and delicious meals for our families. Their goal is to help bring family time around the table by simplifying the dinner prep experience. At Dream Dinners you make homemade meals for your family in their store, then freeze, thaw and cook when you are ready at home. I had the opportunity to attend a “Dream Taste” for review purposes, all opinions are my own.
Created by two stay-at-home mom’s looking to change up their regular dinner routine, Dream Dinners was founded in 2002 in Snohomish, Washington. There are Dream Dinner locations throughout the United States and their produce is supplied by Sysco, the largest food service distributor in North America.
Dream Dinners Prep Kitchen Setup
Dream Dinners Color Coded Measuring Spoons
Dream Dinners Prepped Dinners
Change it up
As parents it’s easy to get stuck in the rut of creating the same 10-15 recipes over and over and over again. Although I swore I would never have picky kids, somehow in someway they’ve slowly creeped into being the pickiest eaters on the planet. I am 100% guilty of just sticking to the regulars and creating the same recipes over and over again because it’s safe and at least I know my kids will eat. Dream Dinners is the perfect opportunity to create new and different recipes with ingredients you may have not thought of using before. Before attending my Dream Dinners taste, I would have never thought to create a recipe like the Chicken, Bacon, Ranch Stuffed French Bread.
Mary of Lets Play OC and her completed Dream Dinners creation!
The Dream Dinners Experience
The Dream Dinners kitchen is set up in two quadrants of buffet style kitchen prep centers. Everything is very well organized and color coded for easy use. After you choose your meals (which you do online) you will go to the according prep center and prep your meal. The recipe and step-by-step instructions are on the top of the shelf along with the dry ingredients and spices and the meats and other ingredients are below. Then with a series of freezer bags and different sized holding bowls you place your ingredients into bags. Once you’re done with the step-by-step instructions you place your meal into one large bag and pop it into the Dream Dinners deep freezer. I know I’m making this sound a lot more complicated than it needs to be! However, trust me it’s very easy and you’ll be able to catch on quickly.
The Chicken, Bacon, Ranch Stuffed French Bread
The Chateau Chicken
During my Dream Taste I chose to prep the Chateau Chicken, the Mexican Meatballs and the Chicken, Bacon, Ranch Stuffed French Bread. The prep was very easy once I got the hang of the Dream Dinners system and it was a fun experience. Once I was home, following the cooking instructions was just as easy. The three meals took between 30 minutes and 1 hour to cook, not quite fast food but at least I didn’t have shop for the ingredients or prep anything. To be completely honest, I am unsure if I will use them again but I can definitely see the benefit of Dream Dinners for newlyweds and other cooking adventurists!
Chateau Chicken Prep!
The Dream Details
Each Dream Dinners prep session requires 36 servings in any combination of 6-serving or 3-serving dinners. There are incentives to continue Dream Dinners prep sessions like their PlatePoints to purchase the required meal sides and even a few desserts. 3-serving meals range between $13 and $25 and 6-serving meals range between $25 and $47. Dream Dinners prep sessions require reservations so they have time to prepare your ingredients. Sessions are typically held Wednesday-Saturdays. Frozen meals can last months and months in a freezer and they’re very handy on days that you know you won’t have much time.
Head over to Dream Dinners locations now to find one near you!
Interesting concept………freezer meals are all the rage !
I used to do this all the time when I lived in Pasadena. I’d have a freezer full of meals that I could pull out and put in the oven at dinner time. I loved how the recipes were customizable (you could leave out the ingredients that our family doesn’t like or make it a little “plainer” for the kids) and it was really convenient. I know it’s not the cheapest way to cook and eat, but better than ordering pizza! They had great promotions when I was pregnant and it was a lifesaver with a new baby because anyone (dad, grandma) could follow the directions and have dinner ready.