Out of grocery cash, but well stocked!

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Registered: 11-09-2004
Out of grocery cash, but well stocked!
3
Sun, 05-07-2006 - 11:59pm

I'm out of grocery cash until next Friday (payday), but we are well stocked with snacks, dinners, and drink mix. I spent Saturday afternoon (2 hours) making 12 Dream Dinners to freeze. I had to clean out the freezer (and toss some empty boxes, but no food!) before I could fit them all on the shelves. It was interesting to see what we still had in the freezer. When I emptied it out and re-organized, which was all I needed to do, I noticed that all of the items were things I expected to cook in the near future. It's nice to know that there weren't any green fuzzy things, or unidentified mystery meat in there, which has happened before.


Not only that, but when I mentioned dinner, DH actually suggested we eat one of the Dream Dinners! This is a new thing, since normally I have to bring it up, and insist that I'm interested in cooking. However, this week, before I headed off to Dream Dinners to assemble the meals, I asked my DH to help me pick out the 12 meals I would make from May's menu. (www.dreamdinners.com for more info)


He helped me choose some yummy items from the menu and now he feels some investment in eating these dinners, especially since the prices for each were listed. Not *only* did he suggest we eat the Dream Dinners, but he suggested we eat some of the older ones from previous months that we hadn't gotten to yet. He was helping me put them away and couldn't figure out how to fit them all in the freezer (because things were stacked halfhazardly). In the process, he noticed we still had a few dinners left (just two) from the previous month.


So, Saturday night, we had one dinner, and Sunday night we had the other! So now, everything in the freezer is less than a month old, and I have plans to use it all up, including the Dream Dinners, before June. I think my DH is noticing my willingness to cook more often. Since I'm a pretty good cook and he likes my favorite recipes, this works for both of us.


It has taken a few weeks of insisting that cooking is fun for me (but doing dishes

Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke

Geeks on Tap: Mission Accomplished

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Registered: 12-12-2004
Mon, 05-08-2006 - 12:48am
Hi, Lindsey---You have my attention---I need to cut down on grocery $$. I am cooking a lot now and trying to use up all the canned goods we have. Dream dinners? Does it have portion control for "diets" and calories? Whiz.
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Registered: 11-09-2004
Mon, 05-08-2006 - 9:46pm

Hello Whiz,


If you'd like to see the Dream Dinners menu (and incidentally whether there is a location near you) go to www.dreamdinners.com. Nutritional information is available for each menu, including fat, carbs, fiber, calories, etc.


Basically, you order 12 dinners from the menu, paying for it a few days in advance, then you go into the Dream Dinners store, which is basically like a big kitchen with stations set up for each recipe. All of the ingredients are prepared for you, so no dicing, slicing, or cutting. You assemble everything in zippered freezer bags, ready to cook, then pack all of the dinners into a cooler. It takes about 2 hours for me to assemble 12 meals. Then, I take the meals home, put them in the freezer until I'm ready to cook one. I pop it in the refrigerator in the morning to thaw, then take it out at dinnertime (sometimes putting it in a sink full of warm water for 15 minutes to finish thawing). The directions are included with the bag (you put a sticker label on each bag with cooking directions), so I just follow the directions to make the dinner. All of the prep work was done "by me", so I know what went into it. I like to modify the recipes a little, maybe using more garlic or less spice depending on my taste. =)


Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke

Geeks on Tap: Mission Accomplished

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-10-2003
Tue, 05-09-2006 - 10:40pm

What a neat idea!!! I looked at the website and they don't have any sites in Canada *sigh*. I tried to do my own version of this last week. I borrowed a slow cooker from my friend and had two slow cookers going at once!! It was neat. I made a huge pot of chili and hungarian goulash, and froze it for my meals for the week at work. Since there is only one of me, my pot of chili seems to be never ending!! But as far as budgeting goes, I got about 15 meals for $20.00 worth of ingredients which means the excess money can now go to fresh veggies for salads (I really don't like frozen, and I am trying to eat better)

Congrats on getting hubby on board. That must take some of the pressure off!!!

Bex


Bex -