Sunday, June 7, 2009

Dinner Zen!!

Yesterday was my BIG TRIP to Dinner Zen!

My friend Amy and I arrived just in time to start. We had about a 10-minute orientation on food safety and how to prep the meals. The place was quite awesome. They had coffee and water if you needed it, and also had a baker going around with mini pastries for people to munch on!

Our first station was the crock pot barbeque. It was a good one to start with--a true dump recipe. Start with a pork roast in a bag, dump in barbeque sauce and vegetables, seal up, get your side dish, grab a bag of buns, and store in your bin in the cooler. Move on.

Some of the others were not quite as easy. The Big Bleu Chops, for instance, involved making a filling and then stuffing pork chops! The Mexican Lasagna was also fun but labor intensive. Things like the Bombay Shrimp Bowl, however, were easy and took just a few minutes to do.

As for the portions, OH MY GOSH.

What we signed up for was 12 full meals, to feed 4-6 people each. In almost all instances, they allowed you to split the meal. The only one where you couldn't was the pork roast. So in that case, we might have company, or just plan on eating left overs.

So let's look at the menu again:

Firecracker Chicken Quesadillas: Actually I was running behind and Amy made these for me. But they are so big that I think that 2 people can probably eat one for lunch. So we have 6 quesadillas, but it could be a total of 12 lunches.

Big Bleu Chops: As I said, labor intensive but they are going to be awesome. There were 6 and they are individually wrapped. I think since my son likes pork chops that this will be 2 dinners.

Mexican Lasagna: Lots of work here too. But fun! Think a lasagna only with tortillas instead of noodles, mexican cheese instead of italian, and mexican spices instead of italian. Yum. I split it into 2 pans instead of the 1 and I think they will each be a meal.

Asian Infused Flank Steak: Easy to make. And oh my gosh the steaks are so big. There were 2 steaks, and I think that it will equate to 2 dinners for the family and at least two lunch portions.

Scallion Sesame Burgers: Can I just say YUM. Really messy to make, but fun. You were supposed to make 6 but I made burgers the size we like to have them, and it ended up being 8 burgers.

Crockpot Pork Barbeque: as I said, I'm expecting this will be 2 dinners, just cooked at the same time :)

Bombay Shrimp Bowl: My husband is so excited about this one that we are going to eat it tonight! Very easy to put together, and to split. I split it in two and I forsee it being 2 meals.

Bourbon Chicken: Another dump recipe. Very easy. Split into 2 for 2 dinners.

Asian Pomegranite Salmon Packets: These were individually wrapped! Since my son usually rejects salmon we will probably have these as three meals. The salmon filets are huge too, so even if he likes it 2 are probably enough for all of us.

Quiche Florentine: No prep work at all--they have them pre-packaged. Now, as for our eating them--they are pretty big, and we remain only 2 adults and a toddler. I forsee 2 meals from each quiche.

Lemonade Chicken: How much fun is this? Easy to prep too. There were 6 chicken filets, and I'm now thinking I should have split it into 3 bags, but I did 2. We are used to eating small amounts of meat with more veggies in this house. That said, each dinner should be a dinner for the three of us and a lunch for either my husband to take to work or for me and the kiddo to share the next day. So in all, I'm thinking it's still 3-ish meals.

Pretzel Roll Toastie with Turkey: Have I saved the best for last? Haha. These are rolls that are made of pretzel dough, spread with honey mustard on both sides, with swiss and cheddar cheese, and turkey in the middle. You can bake them from frozen and they get crispy and melty. YUM. Can't wait. We have 6 of them, and they will probably be shared lunches for me and the boy (though I think the husband will probably take some to work too!)

All in all I am guessing that we have over 30 meals in the freezer right now. For $240. Worth it? YES. I seriously love how packed my freezer is today! I feel like I can make it for the next month with nothing more than defrosting and baking/crockpotting. My friend Oz asked me if I was going to do it again before the baby is born. I think that it would be a really good idea, though I might have to send my husband to actually do the work! It was two hours on my feet, and then I had to go out and show houses!

OK I suppose that if I hadn't had to show houses yesterday, two hours of standing would not have been so bad!

I mentioned to one of the staff that I was shocked at how much food there was. He told me that the owners like to err on the side of bigger portions. It was really cool. I can't wait to eat all of it!

So if you want to come with me in July, let me know, and we'll see what we can do!

2 comments:

  1. Yes, yes!!! I am totally in on this if I am around!! Let me know soon!!!

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  2. Oh awesome!! As soon as I know when we are going to do it I will let you know.

    If we can get 12 people btw, we can have a private party. Oooo.

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