I like the concept of the meal assembly kitchen. I could go to my local supermarket and spend lots…read moreof time and money to buy ingredients to make my favorite dishes OR go to Dream Dinners where all of the ingredients are there and ready to go with recipe cards at 6 salad bar type food prep statons. The staff is friendly and very helpful and will guide you along the way.
A few months ago, I had obtained a $50 gift certificate from a local radio station to Dream Dinners at the Sebbins Brook Marketplace in Bedford. Last month, I decided to give Dream Dinners a try and booked my meals and night session online. By all means, the food here is not cheap with a 36 serving minimum required and up to 12 people per session, no young children allowed during the sessions. However, there is a competing meal assembly place that allows young children and all I can say is it's located in Manchester in a strip plaza with a very popular Mexican restaurant and a Japanese restaurant with a hilarious hostess.
Be sure to bring a cooler or laundry basket to carry your meals away.
I arrived here on a very chilly night and the staff let me in (doors are locked at night). I was given my assigned meal label stickers and given instructions by the staff. I had to put on an apron and wash my hands (very often between food stations). Each food station has recipe cards (3 or 6 servings) with the raw ingredients, spices & measuring cups/spoons/scoops all in place. Much of the food is prepared in Ziploc bags and/or aluminum pans. Most of the ingredients used are restaurant quality, but the meats including the chicken breasts, beef, and steaks are frozen, just average cuts of meats. When I was done putting together each dish, I put each labeled meal in the cooler, on the racks with my name. If a food station for one of my items was occupied, I had to move onto an available station for another item. There were also some stuffed shells to snack on during my short breaks.
I had a great time putting together my awesome meals with very little effort and thought. It felt like I was Rachael Ray in Home Ec class. I was the only guy here and all of the others here were women, mostly wives (mid 20s to mid 40s). I finished assembling my 39 servings, in just under 2 hours. The staff gave me a cheat sheet with preparation methods/times and serving suggestions for my meals and helped me pack up my freezer-ready meals.
The actual preparation of the meals at home was very simple and I just followed the instructions on the labels, whether it's prepared in the oven or by stovetop. The meals I had were very tasty including the Oven Baked Almond Chicken, Beef Pasta Bolognese, Creamy Tortellini with Bacon, Pork Paprika, Caribbean Jerk Chicken, White Chicken Lasagna, Arroz Con Pollo and New Orleans Jambalaya. The only meal that disappointed was the Grilled Steaks with Caramelized Onions since the grade of meat was not premium and I could buy a nice cut of steak at the market at a lower price.
Dream Dinners did save me a lot of time, no hassle and no cleaning up the kitchen. I spent a total of $177 on 39 servings, less than $5 per serving.
