I cook, I really do!

I had a Dream Dinners session last Friday. I really look forward to my Dream Dinners sessions, and last Friday was no exception. I love cooking, but I love that someone else is cleaning up after me even more.



I made some great dishes - Beef stew, Buffalo ranch chicken, Meatball marinara stuffed french bread, Chicken and dumplings, Arroz con pollo, and a few others - and I'm looking forward to eating each dish. However, I felt a bit guilty when I emptied my cooler full of freshly prepared meals into the freezer at home. I realized I had a lot of "frozen dinners" and felt as though I was somehow robbing my husband of a home-cooked meal.



I wondered why I felt like I was shirking my housewife responsibilities and it dawned on me - I'd convinced myself that I didn't actually cook for him because it was too easy.



Dream Dinners, and most of the meal prep places, run like this: pick the items you want to make, select a session, show up at designated time, make selected items, bring home dinners and place in freezer. (This explains it much more thoroughly.) They provide the recipe, the ingredients, and the measuring tools, and I follow the recipe, assembling the ingredients in a aluminum pan or plastic freezer bag. In some ways, it's like being on a cooking show - the ingredients are at the prep station, and all the chef has to do is put them together. It's exactly what I would do at home, except I'd be shuffling around my own kitchen, chopping and measuring and mixing and marinating (creating my own mise en place), and then putting everything directly into the skillet or baking dish. Instead, I stop short of cooking and bring it home to cook it later.



I remember my mom spending Saturdays cooking and freezing a bunch of meals, and I even did these during grad school so my husband could have a home cooked meal on nights I wouldn't be home. I did them because it was important to have a home-cooked meal and because it was a way of expressing my love and care to my husband. I usually spent all day Saturday or Sunday cooking, and the kitchen was a mess by the time I was done, but I always felt it was worth it to have dinners ready for those busy nights.



So how is it different when I go to Dream Dinners?



It's not, except I don't have to shop, it doesn't take me as long (I've never taken longer than 2 hours, and that's only when I'm preparing 12-15 meals), and somebody cleans up after me when I'm finished. It's easier for me, and somehow I equated easier as not cooking. Or maybe easier meant I didn't love my husband as much because I didn't spend hours cooking and cleaning to put food on the table.



Either way, I'm over it. I no longer consider myself a bad housewife because I use Dream Dinners. My husband and I eat a variety of food I'd never think to prepare otherwise- next month we're getting chicken vesuvio which I LOVE from restaurants but have never attempted at home - and I make sure we have a home cooked dinner every night. I'm saving us money by not resorting to take out on the busy nights, and I'm feeding him healthier food overall. I cook, I just don't have to clean up as much. And since I hate cleaning anyway, I think it's a win-win.



If you're in the Charlotte/Fort Mill area and would like to try Dream Dinners, please let me know - I have a coupon for $50 off your first session at the Fort Mill store!