As a mom, I’m always on-the-lookout for ways to make easy, delicious, healthy meals…
So I’ve been thinking about trying one of the local dinner franchise establishments in my city: Simple Dinners, Dinner My Way, The Dinner A’fare, My Girlfriend’s Kitchen, Dream Dinners, etc.
My research indicates that the cost per meal ends up being only $3-6 per person (not bad). It’s a lot of money upfront, but it seems like a fantastic idea that will save us time and money in the end.
I’m looking for your feedback:
- Have you been to a make-it-yourself dinner franchise and, if so, which one?
- Was the establishment clean and sanitary? What was the environment like?
- How did the food taste?
- Were the serving “sizes” accurate?
- Was it worth the money?
I haven’t tried this, though there’s a place like this only 5 minutes from my house. I think in the end, it’s still more expensive than preparing food myself at home.
Heck yeah. I’ve done it a few times and really liked it. I’ve found it most worthwhile to completely empty my freezer in advance and buy as much as possible… the reason being that the time commitment is about the same for six dishes as for twelve.
Since the friends I went with bought fewer dishes, I enlisted their help to complete my set of meals.
To answer your questions:
1- which one? It’s called Dinner Source and it’s local to Emeryville, CA
2 Was the establishment clean and sanitary? What was the environment like? Clean and friendly. There was wine and beverages (but no dinner), we got aprons, and were encouraged to wash our hands frequently.
3 How did the food taste? Most tasted good to very good but it depends on the dish and whether it was my taste. The one here offers organic veggies and meats as an upgrade and I’m happy to pay more for that.
4 Were the serving “sizes” accurate? The servings are usually listed as 2-3 for a half meal and 4-6 for a full meal. I found that the smaller was good for me and my husband, so I’d say that the portions are a little small or else we’re big eaters. Also, you’d want to make a side dish of some sort to round out the meal like a salad or whatever.
More about our adventures at the dinner source here: http://www.rookiemoms.com/cook-and-play/
# Was it worth the money?
Hi I am new to your blog. My friend went to one of these and she loved it. She said it was expensive up front, but worth every single penny. She was a new mom at the time and she had a family of 5 but 3 were very little people. I believe she said she got servings of four. I am not sure what place she went to. She loved that she was able to leave out ingredients her family didn’t like and with a new baby all she had to do was pop the meal in the oven . I hope this helps. I know that if I had one near me, after hearing how much she loved it, I would go.
I’ve never heard of this before. They sound interesting. What are they exactly?