Have you ever been involved with a meal assembly business?

[Bmat]

There used to be one in this area.  You brought a cooler or laundry basket for your meals. You signed up ahead for which of the offered recipes that you wanted to make. Then when you arrived,  there were stations for each dish and directions, and the food was mostly ready to put together. You followed the directions, wrapped, and put the meal in the freezer until you were finished. Then you carried the meals home and froze them until you wanted to cook them.

When it was time to cook one, you pulled it out and followed the directions on the package. Cooking was mainly just putting the dish in the oven or some light cooking on the stovetop.

I got their meals for a couple years, then the business closed. Now I am back to planning and assembling my own meals.

[Bmat]

Something I liked about the meal assembly business was that the choices were interesting. There were recipes that I'd never thought of. Also, the ingredients, if the weren't something I would ordinarily use, I didn't have to buy a container of the ingredient just for a small amount for a recipe. The speed of preparation when it was time to cook the meal was a convenience, also.

[bigblueeyes]

i thought about doing one of those a few years ago....i forget the name of the company....but the area we were in was not a good area for something like that.....especially with the economy the way it was/is....i think it's a great concept if it can be done without it being more expensive than what you would spend at the store

[Bmat]

I couldn't imagine with all the working moms how the place couldn't stay in business and was so sad when it closed. I actually spent less on food while participating, and the meals were far bettter that my own cooking.-  edit: I spent less when grocery shopping, and even when I added in the cost of the meal prep the total was still less than I spend on groceries now that I am cooking on my own again. I saved money, in other words.

[single_and_preg]

My aunt orders from them,  went to her house and noticed all the prepared frozen foods in trays, and yeah they were also stuff i never heard of.

I would like to order from a company like that also...It would save me lots of time.

[rkoloms]

I have not. I have a couple of friends we occasionally trade child care and meals with; cook one meal, get three!

[KBix]

no :(

[singlemomof2nok]

Nope, i haven't.  But we have one in our area, or we did have.  I may need to see if we still do

[Bmat]

The one I liked was called Let's Dish. There was a different company, also now closed, that I tried but I didn't like their food.

[bigblueeyes]

that's cool!.....this one....my mil and i did the math on.....and even with spending less at the store because of doing the meals through that company......you were spending more.....maybe that happened with a lot of people and maybe that's why they are no longer in business....i liked that they had stuff that i know my family would like but i would never have thought of doing it because it's not something i would eat so i wouldn't be thinking of it.....lol

Quoting Bmat:

I couldn't imagine with all the working moms how the place couldn't stay in business and was so sad when it closed. I actually spent less on food while participating, and the meals were far bettter that my own cooking.-  edit: I spent less when grocery shopping, and even when I added in the cost of the meal prep the total was still less than I spend on groceries now that I am cooking on my own again. I saved money, in other words.

 

[AM-BRAT]

I have never even heard of this...