Last week, I kidnapped my mom for an evening, which wasn't that difficult considering she was staying with me, at my house, and had no choice!! I had been invited to a "Let's Dish" party, signed myself up to make 12 meals (which is insane, don't try this alone! what was I thinking???) and needed her assistance. She was a slightly reluctant, but what could she do? She was my guest for my birthday week - how could she abandon me during my time of great need???
Off we went, to Let's Dish in Columbia. I had preordered the meals I wanted to dish them up not really knowing what this was going to look like. I chose to make 12 as opposed to 8 because they were cheaper that way. I'm cheap, but not always wise! How I thought I could dish up 12 meals alone in one evening is beyond me, but back to my story...
When we walked in, we were directed to the apron and head wrap bins, hung up our belongings and found a card with all the meals listed that I had proposed I would make. They were pre-ordered, prepaid, so that's all I had to do. I also had brought along a large cooler - don't forget this or a laundry basket or something large. You'll need it!
Inside there were about 6 "stations" that looked like double sided salad bars. Underneath them were refrigerators containing replacement food items, inside the salad bar sections were all the ingredients needed to put together these meals. Above the refrigerated items were all kinds of spices and dry ingredients or oils and sauces. Each side had a preparation area and at the end of each station there was a cart with other ingredients and plastic bags, foil and anything else you might need in order to package your meal.
Each station was set up for a different meal and all the instructions along with a measuring guide were posted above the station. The instructions were easy, well thought out and the measurements were uniform throughout the entire place - color coded. Blue handled spoon was one cup, green handled was 1/2 cup, etc. Each of my meals was packaged in different zip lock bags. Once you complete a meal, you head to the central station where you find labels for each meal with directions for preparation. You stick that on with your name and the date and head over to the large refrigerators and start your pile. Then you go back and repeat with another meal.
I'm not a huge cook because I hate cleaning up a mess. I'd cook all the time all day if I didn't have to clean up, so for me this could become a great habit. It took my mom and me about 2 hours to prepare these 12 meals plus our free dessert for RSVPing on time. Had I been alone, I'd probably still be there! The idea is to freeze these meals until you are ready to make them. Most need to be thawed in the fridge, so today I am cooking a pot roast (it smells soooo good) and have another meal I am thawing in the fridge for tomorrow or Friday. Each meal serves 4-6 people and the one we have already eaten, Chicken Chili, was delicious!!!
They really make an effort to cater to your own tastes, too. Because you put the meals together you can skip ingredients your family won't eat, like mushrooms, and add more of what you all love, like corn or carrots. You can also divide a meal into two separate servings, which I probably should have done but didn't think of because it was my first visit and overwhelming at that! There were more than enough ingredients and many of the spices were things I would never purchase myself, so great to have them to put in a meal but not have sitting in my cupboard forever! I also love the variety of meals they offered, and the choices change each month.
I would highly recommend this for working moms, as they are delicious meals that you have "prepared" yourself without having to spend hours in the grocery store collecting all the ingredients. The other thing that I found was that I learned a lot about seasoning food - things I never would have thought to add or things that would have seemed difficult to make now seem quite easy. The socializing is also fun and for each party, they serve brownies, cookies and coffee in their lounge area!
If you have one of these in your area, it is worth trying out. At ours, the 8 meals ended up being about $15 each and 12 ended being about $13 each. Considering you are getting the meat, vegetables, spices, sauces and all the clean up done for you - no shopping! I think it's well worth it! And the aroma in my house right now? Well, that just seals the deal for me! And my mom? she couldn't stop telling everyone about it when we got home. We took two of the meals home with us for her - she definitely deserved them! In fact, I think we better head back up there this weekend to help her eat them!
Off we went, to Let's Dish in Columbia. I had preordered the meals I wanted to dish them up not really knowing what this was going to look like. I chose to make 12 as opposed to 8 because they were cheaper that way. I'm cheap, but not always wise! How I thought I could dish up 12 meals alone in one evening is beyond me, but back to my story...
When we walked in, we were directed to the apron and head wrap bins, hung up our belongings and found a card with all the meals listed that I had proposed I would make. They were pre-ordered, prepaid, so that's all I had to do. I also had brought along a large cooler - don't forget this or a laundry basket or something large. You'll need it!
Inside there were about 6 "stations" that looked like double sided salad bars. Underneath them were refrigerators containing replacement food items, inside the salad bar sections were all the ingredients needed to put together these meals. Above the refrigerated items were all kinds of spices and dry ingredients or oils and sauces. Each side had a preparation area and at the end of each station there was a cart with other ingredients and plastic bags, foil and anything else you might need in order to package your meal.
Each station was set up for a different meal and all the instructions along with a measuring guide were posted above the station. The instructions were easy, well thought out and the measurements were uniform throughout the entire place - color coded. Blue handled spoon was one cup, green handled was 1/2 cup, etc. Each of my meals was packaged in different zip lock bags. Once you complete a meal, you head to the central station where you find labels for each meal with directions for preparation. You stick that on with your name and the date and head over to the large refrigerators and start your pile. Then you go back and repeat with another meal.
I'm not a huge cook because I hate cleaning up a mess. I'd cook all the time all day if I didn't have to clean up, so for me this could become a great habit. It took my mom and me about 2 hours to prepare these 12 meals plus our free dessert for RSVPing on time. Had I been alone, I'd probably still be there! The idea is to freeze these meals until you are ready to make them. Most need to be thawed in the fridge, so today I am cooking a pot roast (it smells soooo good) and have another meal I am thawing in the fridge for tomorrow or Friday. Each meal serves 4-6 people and the one we have already eaten, Chicken Chili, was delicious!!!
They really make an effort to cater to your own tastes, too. Because you put the meals together you can skip ingredients your family won't eat, like mushrooms, and add more of what you all love, like corn or carrots. You can also divide a meal into two separate servings, which I probably should have done but didn't think of because it was my first visit and overwhelming at that! There were more than enough ingredients and many of the spices were things I would never purchase myself, so great to have them to put in a meal but not have sitting in my cupboard forever! I also love the variety of meals they offered, and the choices change each month.
I would highly recommend this for working moms, as they are delicious meals that you have "prepared" yourself without having to spend hours in the grocery store collecting all the ingredients. The other thing that I found was that I learned a lot about seasoning food - things I never would have thought to add or things that would have seemed difficult to make now seem quite easy. The socializing is also fun and for each party, they serve brownies, cookies and coffee in their lounge area!
If you have one of these in your area, it is worth trying out. At ours, the 8 meals ended up being about $15 each and 12 ended being about $13 each. Considering you are getting the meat, vegetables, spices, sauces and all the clean up done for you - no shopping! I think it's well worth it! And the aroma in my house right now? Well, that just seals the deal for me! And my mom? she couldn't stop telling everyone about it when we got home. We took two of the meals home with us for her - she definitely deserved them! In fact, I think we better head back up there this weekend to help her eat them!
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