Guest Post – Pam’s “Dream Dinners” Experience

Like pretty much everyone else I know, I’m starved for time. I’ve got a one-year-old baby, a photography business, a very high-maintenance cat—and cooking dinner is just one more thing on my plate so to speak. I get by thanks to a repertoire of decidedly unexciting meals I make over and over. And over. Case in point: spaghetti topped with jarred sauce and sliced Armour breakfast links. (Honestly, it’s not as bad as it sounds. Add enough sauce and you can barely taste the ‘”breakfast” in the breakfast links.) Throw in a healthy dose of Trader Joes frozen entrees, and I manage to keep my family from starving and myself somewhat sane.

So it was with considerable excitement that I went online to select the entrees I’d prepare at my Dream Dinners session. My mouth was watering as I perused my options: layered manicotti and sausage bake, Greek island shrimp with pasta, caliente pork chops with garlic mashed potatoes…serious yum! I decided to do the $75 introductory offer, which included 18 servings (or six meals).

I headed down to Dream Dinners at Damen & Chicago on a Saturday morning. Staff member Roman was super friendly and helpful. He walked me through the meal prep process, stayed close by at my first prep station to make sure I got the hang of things, and was even kind enough to discreetly clue me in that my apron straps tucked into the back of my jeans when I left the bathroom.

Preparing the dinners was really easy and fast. All the ingredients were laid out for you with fool-proof, color-coded measuring spoons. You just toss everything together in Zip-Loc bags. I made six dinners in about an hour. And the best part—no cleanup! I packed my meals in my cooler and went home to put the food in the freezer. I breathed a sigh of relief knowing I didn’t have to plan a single dinner for the next week.

But the true test, of course, would be to see how the food tasted. First my husband and I tried the ravioli bake, and it was de-li-cious. Next we tried the Greek island shrimp with fettucine – loved it. Next we had the broiled salmon with corn medley – awesome. Excellent center cut of salmon, At this point my husband is ready to call up Dream Dinners himself and sign me up for a lifetime membership. Let it be said that my husband is a kind soul who has in the past been kind enough to tell me he likes my “cooking” (the quotes are mine, not his), but still he had a hard time containing his excitement for the Dream Dinners meals.

And I absolutely loved having quick easy meals I could get ready in under a half hour. My only concern was the cost. Would my cat have to forgo his fancy-shmancy organic cat food so we could afford for these meals? I’m pretty frugal, and I assumed going in that Dream Dinners would cost more than shopping and cooking myself. So I was surprised to see that one of Dream Dinner’s selling points is the value – they say it costs $4 per serving. Not bad. Even better, we had enough leftovers to get another night’s dinner out of most of the meals, so that cut the cost in half. Cha-ching!

So I will definitely be going back to Dream Dinners. I’d do a couple things differently next time. I’ll avoid going on the last day of the month, which I was told was the most crowded. I will not park directly next to the Pay to Park ticket box and Pay to Park sign that the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation was kind enough to place in a tow zone. Seriously??? (Luckily all I got was a $60 ticket, not a tow.)