TuscMoms.com

I've been reading up on this and a similar concept called freezer cooking where you prepare your ingredients and do most of the assembly and freeze before cooking. I was wondering if anybody does this or knows more about it?

I used to prepare a month-long menu and it sure made grocery shopping easy and eliminated the frustration of "What will I cook tonight?". Also, it kept us from the fast food places. I fell out of the habit and am now trying to start back. I was thinking I could take it a step further and try this. I would appreciated any feedback.

There is this company out there called "A dinner a-fare" and it's the most awesome thing ever. You make an appointment to go and prep your food. We did it on a Sat morning, took about an hour and half to do. They walk you through 12 to 15 meals (good quality meats and ingredients) and you put it all in prep bags (zip locks) and bring it all home in a cooler complete with cooking instructions on a cute little card. Now you have 15 meals just sitting and waiting in your freezer for you to chow on. Chris (my hubby) and I did this and it was gourmet instead of mac-n-cheese and hot dogs when in a pinch. These meals take only 20 to 30 minutes to cook. Things like, stuffed shells, pork dishes, beef kabobs, coconut shrimp and chicken enchilada's. The cool thing about you doing the prep yourself is if you know your family doesn't like garlic or onions, leave them out of the recipe.

Look on-line for a store near you, we have one 5 minutes from us. Oh yeah, and the cost for the 15 meals is roughly $145.00 to $165.00. There are gift cards you can buy (Christmas coming, hint hint) and they are also great for things like getting a group of women together to make a few meals for a sick friend or new mother to put in her freezer!

Here is the link: http://www.dinnerafare.com/

grndhogmom, that is a great concept. Wish there were something like that in T-town.

I agree it would be great to have something like this in Tuscaloosa. I good idea for someone wanting to start a franchise.

There are three of these places in Birmingham. You can pick up prepared meals or you can assemble them yourself. Generally speaking they are very good, easy to prepare, and not too expensive for what you get.

http://supersuppers.com/

http://www.supperthymeusa.com/index.jsp

http://mealsinthemaking.com/

I was looking at the dinner-a-fare website and there are indeed none in Alabama, but the closest one is in my town which is 2.5 hour drive from T-town. Just thinking down the road to an idea that we can expand on possibly. If we got a group of 10 moms interested to go in together for a Saturday afternoon time slot we could all meet (caravan with coolers), drink some wine and do our prep together at the kitchen (like a food party) and then bring our meals home. Sure we couldn't do it all the time, but once a quarter or so would help out. Of course - - after the holidays. Just a thought for down the road maybe.

What a fun idea!
I know, planning meals is such a chore. These services are a great idea.

I also read in Parents there is a website that will mail the meals to you. I have not personal tried it, but here is the site magickitchen.com

Publix is experimenting with the concept in Florida:
http://www.publix.com/about/newsroom/NewsReleaseItem.do?newsReleaseItemPK=2785

Let's hope store managers in the T-town area are reading about all this interest.

I used to do this during my maternity leave and when i was working. I had this cookbook, but if you search Meals for the month on amazon.com you will have alot of options.
http://www.amazon.com/Everything-Meals-Month-Cookbook-R...id=1212676942&sr=8-1
I would purchase very small metal toss out baking pans/ small entree dishes and divide the meals into small 2-3 person portions. It was awesome, after work I would just take dinner out of the freezer, pop it in the oven and play with Olivia while it cooked. Then i would just toss the pan in the trash afterwards. I made up two weeks of meals before my surgery and it was a lifesaver. Now that I don't work I just cook dinner every day but I still keep about 15 meals in the freezer in case we've had a bad day and don't feel like cooking.

On another message board I'm a member of one girl talked about how her mom's group did something like this where each mom made a large portion of a certain dish, everyone brought thier own containers and went home with a couple dinners. Also my old boss used to go to Meals in the Making in Bham and she said it was very yummy and fun. She and some friends have a private party there each month.