Picture wonderfully organized Tara, having meal planned for the entire week, I spent hours slaving in the kitchen and carefully packaging away pre-portioned meals, freezing for later in the week, cleaning my kitchen immediately afterwards and sitting back with a glass of wine and a pat on the back with a spotlessly clean house.
Hah… anyone else? That isn’t how it goes at my house either. On the best of days I am usually scrambling to throw dinner together after a 10 hour day at the office. I have my staple go-tos, but to be serious my family moans a little bit with the typical “not this AGAIN….”.
Fact is, life is busy. Whether you are in a home where both parents work, or are a single person with a packed schedule, or just an over worked mom who needs a break from the kitchen – this is for you!
I stumbled across Dinner’s Ready Personal Chef Services on Facebook and reached out to the owner Victoria, I wanted to know more about having my very own personal chef (who wouldn’t!?). Immediately I was so impressed with her passion for food, she loves to cook and she knows that not everyone has time to pull off gourmet meals during the week – even when we want to.
I learned through my chats with her that she’s found the perfect mix of keeping her costs down by buying bulk, having a set weekly menu and making the best out of items that are in season to maximize flavour profiles.
Our review couldn’t have come at a better time for me, I had just had my gallbladder surgery and wasn’t allowed to stand on my feet for very long or lift anything over 5lbs – cooking and eating a balanced meal was a challenge and I personally don’t like burdening people!
The menus aren’t simple either, check out our menu below and what we thought.
Meal 1 – Hawaiian Teriyaki Burgers with a nectarine, prosciutto and parmesan salad. (pictured up top)
Our thoughts: I was impressed with the sheer size of these burgers! Nothing is left out in the meal, Victoria includes everything right down to the buns you need and a single serving of fresh parmesan for grating. The salad was fresh, with just the right amount of saltiness from the proscuitto and parm – we split this meal between 3 adults, my mom and I shared half a burger (it was HUGE) and we had more then enough salad for everyone.
Meal 2 – Raspberry balsamic chicken flatbread with bacon & sweet onion, with a caprese salad.
Our thoughts: holy cow. I wish I could have recorded the look on my face when I opened these up, they are huge and the fresh raspberries on top were a total win. The flatbread was ready in under 30 minutes in the oven and demolished in less than 10. The balsamic dressing balanced out the sweetness of the onion and the bacon added just the right amount of salty (my fave!). The salad was delicious with fresh mozza, and we even had dressing included! I wish I could have grabbed a photo of the salad, but someone ate it all…
Meal 3 – Tuscan pasta with italian salami, portobello mushrooms, peppers and fresh mozza, with garlic bread
Our thoughts: I am a total pasta junkie, I won’t lie about how much I love my carbs and I’m not ashamed of it either! The only way I could describe the sheer size of this portion was “Costco” size. Our package was to include meals for 2, but so far we were easily able to feed 3 adults! The Tuscan pasta meal was no different – with big chunks of italian salami and peppers it was the perfect mid week meal. We forgot our garlic bread but I’m pretty sure that would have been delicious too. I topped this with a bit of the extra parmesan we had left over from meal #1.
Meal 4: Sweet & Smoky BBQ Pork Tenderloin with scalloped potatoes and roasted veggies
Our thoughts: Sadly, this was not a good day for me food wise and I didn’t get to try – or photograph this meal. However, the man of the house had no problems preparing everything – every detail you need right down to suggested temperatures and cooking times is on the package which is fantastic! He also really enjoyed that the pork was sliced up into individual pieces so re-heating was quick and painless without it drying out. I never make scalloped potatoes because I always ruin them – but he went back for seconds – total win!
Meal 5: Baja Cod Fish Taco’s with a topping box (cabbage, avocado, cherry tomatoes) and sweet potato fries
Our thoughts: I don’t love seafood to be 100% honest but as I was prepping the fish tacos I was won over – the cod was perfectly cooked, moist and just the right amount of seasoning – and Victoria picked the perfect accompaniments to include in the toppings box. I was able to make 4 generous size tacos with what we had and we ate every single bite! The cherry tomatoes added just the right pop of flavor and color. It felt like a Friday meal for sure with fish tacos and fries!
Final thoughts:
Anyone who knows me, knows just how cheap frugal I am. I am pretty meticulous with our grocery shopping and I know what it would cost to purchase all of these ingredients on their own to make these meals.. plus the time I spend grocery shopping, and the time preparing it each and every day, or doing it all at once and spending all day in the kitchen. There was definite value to this service for me. It certainly doesn’t have to be a constant service but I can guarantee that each and every one of us has needed a break from cooking at one point or another. Have someone who is recovering from surgery (like I was?) this would be the perfect gift to help with their recovery and keep them on point with nutrition. My recovery was rough, and I really really appreciated knowing that I didn’t need to worry about what to feed my family that night – and I loved that if we chose to skip a meal and have a “fend for yourself” night, I could just pull out the next meal the following day.
I can think of a dozen different scenarios where someone would benefit from a week’s worth of dinner’s taken care of for them. As I mentioned above, our meal plan was for 2 people but we easily fed 3 each day, depending on the menu you may even be able to stretch it to 3 + a kid – it all depends on your families appetite!
Family Value Program Information – includes 5 meals
Meals for 2- $120
Meals for 4- $200
Meals for 6- $285
– All packages include meals, sides and salads. Every thing you need to make the menu item is included in your package. Menu’s are prepared weekly and available for pick up on certain days. Items come pre-portioned in freezer safe packaging.
Do you want a Personal Chef for a week? Dinner’s Ready Personal Chef Services has generously given us a weeks worth of meals for 2 to give away to one lucky reader! Enter below.
Giveaway is open to residents of British Columbia. A new menu is posted weekly and you will have a maximum of 4 weeks to redeem your prize with Dinners Ready. You will need to pick up your prize in Langley on a designated pick-up day.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
{Disclosure: We received samples in exchange for our post, all opinions are our own and not influenced by sponsors.}
