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Fri, 18 Nov 2005
I think the most unusual is lavender, but at least it taste like it
smells.
Tue, 20 Sep 2005
Two Weeks of Meals - Some Assembly Required
How many times have you wanted dinner, but just didn't have anything in the fridge to eat? This happens a lot at my house. While I can follow directions, I simply cannot plan meals. Here is an example of my past meal plan:
Monday: Fettuccini Alfredo, Salad So there you have it. I needed help. Lately, there has been buzz about food preparation services. You visit a special kitchen every two weeks, mix ingredents together, use their kitchen to prepare your meals, bag them up, and freeze them. When it comes time to cook, pop it into the oven, wait for it to cook, and eat. The cost of a two week meal allocation? Depending on the business, it is the same or less than what I typically spend at the store each month on food. To put this into perspective, when I go to the store, i typically pay about $200 every two weeks for food for our family of 2 1/2. Sometimes, as much as $300 or $400. 12 complete dinners at MonthOfMeals.com was $135 after applying a 20% promotional discount. Delivery is also available, and at MonthOfMeals, the chef staff assemble things for you, another plus! You pick out what you want on the website, and it shows up to your door at the scheduled time and day. You can also pick up orders from the facility if you choose. Quality also comes into question. How good can frozen food really be? Are they like microwave meals, or the next best thing to your own personal chef? Thats what I set to find out. The New Meal Plan
I selected 2 servings per meal because that feeds my wife and I, with a little plate for the baby to eat. I suspect that an older child would also eat another portion. Doubling up on portions for two meals may be difficult due to the way food is presented. Make sure you make such arrangements with the vendor. For Monday night, I selected "Kicked-up Sweet and Sour Pork Tenderloin (Jasmine Rice Blend)". It tasted awesome...home cooked taste, without the grease one would expect from take out or dining out. Preparation was a bit of a surprise too. You are not just getting a cooked meal to "warm up" in the microwave. You get a container of a particular item, cooking instructions, etc. You *actually* cook this food...they are mostly raw ingredents packaged with everything you need to prepare. The pork dish required a pan to cook up the meat/fuit/veggie mix. A sauce was also provided. Follow the cooking instructions and moments later you have a meal. The rice just needed to be warmed up in the microwave. There are microwave instructions on a lot of these packages, but frankly, i would not recommend it. It would be like baking a pie in the microwave. :) The first night has saved me time and money. So I give MoM's and the entire concept an A+ for now. I am eating at home way better than before. For you seasoned cooks? Perhaps...its just like having a cook book with all the raw materials you need put together already. Update I wrote this article last week, and since then, tried quite a few of the dishes. We are close to restocking time. So far, all dishes have been very impressive -- resturant / cater quality. Right now i am baking the halibut (which came raw, along with a veggie/sauce mixture). Tomorrow night is Salmon. The biggest issue is trying to remember to prep your food the night before the day of the meal. This very slow thaw keeps frozen food as fresh tasting as possible, as quickly thawing food can not only be dangerous (bateria wise) but also lead to poor taste/flavor. For past blog entries, check out the archive on the side or click here. |
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Kumquat, lavender, lemongrass, or rhubarb soda, anyone? I picked up all
four flavors from my local Metropolitan Market. They are unsweetened,
hence the name