Dashing Dishes - Fast and easy meal pre-prep

[ExtraSlow]

Just went and did this again recently, and I was reminded how much I like this service.
Their website explains it pretty well: http://www.dashingdishes.com/calgary/

The basic deal is this, you sign up, pay your money ($265 for 12 meals = $~$22/meal), then show up and "assemble" your meals into ziplock bags. They have all the ingredients ready to go, chopped. My wife and I can assemble 12 meals in around half an hour. If you are new at this, it'll take up to an hour.

Common Questions:
- What kind of food is it? The menu varies each time, but it's a single dish, usually made in one pot. Sometimes slow-cooker or oven. Always a couple vegetarian options, the rest are meat. Every dish is somewhat "balanced" with meat/veg/grains.
- How big are the portions? Enough for 4-6 Adults. You have the option of splitting the portions in half if you are feeding just two.
- Is this a good value? sort-of. You aren't buying ingredients that you'll end up using only half of, so that's a savings. There's no wasted food with this system. Also, the value of the ingredients is pretty good. When it's a meat dish, it's good quality meat, and lots of it, so that's probably worth $10 or so per dish. You're really paying for the prep time and convenience, since you don't spend any time chopping vegetables etc. YOu can get home from work and just throw the contents of the bag into a pot, dinner is ready in 30-ish minutes. Very handy.


And no, I don't work for them, I'm just a big fan of the service.
Any other beyonders using them?

[dirtsniffer]

I have friends that recommended me to them and they really like it. I think I will give it a shot. It will probably save me money out taking the lady when she doesn't want to cook

[blitz]

We do this on a regular basis, very handy for busy days without resorting to unhealthy food.

[jsn]

when you said 265 for 12 meals, is this meals for 2 people? On their site it says it feeds 4 people. If it's around $22 dollars for 2 people, that's a pretty good deal. $10 dollars for a pre-prepped meal for myself is a pretty good deal IMO.

Have you tried the option where they pack it for you? Does this cost extra?

[CompletelyNumb]

Apparently popular, all their 'events' are booked for the month it seems.

[egmilano]

So you show up and they have tubs of ingredients ready to scoop into your ziplock bags or Tupperware ? .....

[Disoblige]

Yeah I'm not sure how this really works still lol.

[CanmoreOrLess]

If my life was to degrade into the abyss of eating food from a Ziplock bag, I'd seriously consider moving back home with my parents. Seriously, how busy can your life be (or a kitchen spaz) if you can't find time for a slow cooker, rice maker or for the seriously unskilled.... pasta. Salads? You do know they take about three minutes to make including a dressing from scratch.

Take the time to learn how to make your own meals, odds are you'll be eating food for the remainder of your life.

[ExtraSlow]

Originally posted by jsn
when you said 265 for 12 meals, is this meals for 2 people? On their site it says it feeds 4 people. If it's around $22 dollars for 2 people, that's a pretty good deal. $10 dollars for a pre-prepped meal for myself is a pretty good deal IMO.

Have you tried the option where they pack it for you? Does this cost extra? They'll pack it for you, but they do charge for it. I've never used that service.
It's ~$22 for a meal that serves 4-6. So yes, it's a pretty decent value.


Originally posted by CompletelyNumb
Apparently popular, all their 'events' are booked for the month it seems. Yes, you need to book several weeks in advance.


Originally posted by CanmoreOrLess
If my life was to degrade into the abyss of eating food from a Ziplock bag, I'd seriously consider moving back home with my parents. Seriously, how busy can your life be (or a kitchen spaz) if you can't find time for a slow cooker, rice maker or for the seriously unskilled.... pasta. Salads? You do know they take about three minutes to make including a dressing from scratch.

Take the time to learn how to make your own meals, odds are you'll be eating food for the remainder of your life. Super helpful comment, thanks. I agree that cooking is a skill that everyone should have.

[max_boost]

Originally posted by CanmoreOrLess
If my life was to degrade into the abyss of eating food from a Ziplock bag, I'd seriously consider moving back home with my parents. Seriously, how busy can your life be (or a kitchen spaz) if you can't find time for a slow cooker, rice maker or for the seriously unskilled.... pasta. Salads? You do know they take about three minutes to make including a dressing from scratch.

Take the time to learn how to make your own meals, odds are you'll be eating food for the remainder of your life.

That's my life and I'm sure I will die of msg related causes.

[ExtraSlow]

Originally posted by egmilano
So you show up and they have tubs of ingredients ready to scoop into your ziplock bags or Tupperware ? .....

Originally posted by Disoblige
Yeah I'm not sure how this really works still lol. I wish I had a picture, that would explain a lot.

How it works: When you sign up, they have a selection of 14+ dishes, and you choose which ones you want to make. You can make two of one if you know it's a favourite.

When you get there, they have a station set up for each recipe. The stations have everything you need, aside from the meat. The co-ordinator sends you to a station that isn't busy, and gives you the meat. The recipe is at the station, and the measuring spoons/cups are beside each ingredient. They are very organized, if you need 1/2 of a tablespoon, they'll have a 1/2 TBSP in front of that ingredient. Things like pasta, tortillas, pitas etc get put into a separate bag obviously.

If there is any particular ingredient that you don't like, you are free to skip it. I usually go lighter on olives, and I take a slightly larger scoop of minced garlic if it shows up in my recipe.

you get a sticker for each dish with the cooking instructions. After you are done your dish, put it in a cooler and go back to the co-ordinator to get your meat for the next dish.

Little bit about the meat: It's not just low-grade cheap cuts. For the shrimp dishes, they are nice big shrimp. I built a slow-cooker pork recipe, and it was two big pieces of pork tenderloin.

Anyway, hope that clears it up.

[FixedGear]

$22 to assemble your own ingredients into Ziploc bags? :rofl: Then you still have to cook it? Kind of silly to pay for that hassle when it takes just as long to go to the market.

[blitz]

They provide the ingredients. You portion it out into 4 person or 2 person servings.
For my family of 4 we split the meals and it works out to $11 per, and it's all real food.

Only on beyond would this be a thread that dissolves into bitchy posts :rofl:

[ExtraSlow]

Somehow I knew this would dissolve into this. Ah well. What else did I have to do with a snowy Sunday?

[abyss]

We got a gift certificate for them when the middle kid was born. A couple of the recipes were great (the pork with date sauce!), a couple not so much. It was frustrating trying to find a month where there were enough things I was willing to try without having to pick some that I wasn't really interested in or getting 4 of the same dish over and over again (I guess I'm super picky!) However, I LOVED the concept of the freezer meals ready to go so you don't have to meal plan or try to figure something out last minute in a pinch. I have friends who use them for almost every meal they make, I don't think that's worth it when you can do the same thing at home without using them as a middle man, but when you have a new baby it's nice to have a couple options for a home cooked meal without the hassle of pre-planning marinades, etc.

My experience with them the one time was great though, they're really helpful and all the staff were awesome.

[CompletelyNumb]

Next time you cook up a full portion extra slow, mind posting up a picture? Curious what they determine to be a 4 person meal.

[bleu]

Originally posted by CanmoreOrLess
If my life was to degrade into the abyss of eating food from a Ziplock bag, I'd seriously consider moving back home with my parents. Seriously, how busy can your life be (or a kitchen spaz) if you can't find time for a slow cooker, rice maker or for the seriously unskilled.... pasta. Salads? You do know they take about three minutes to make including a dressing from scratch.

Take the time to learn how to make your own meals, odds are you'll be eating food for the remainder of your life.

Slowcookers are great for busy people. Prep is minimal and nothing beats coming home after a long day of work to have dinner ready.

I use the slowcooker about twice a week.

[NoFlo]

sorry I have to add my two cents...these meals do NOT feed 4 to 6 people! no way, unless you are feeding 6 children or 4 skinny ladies under 100lbs each.

as for the quality, it is decent but don't expect much for $22. we will NOT be doing this service again. I have only enjoyed one meal from them...even though there was just enough to go around. the rest was not my 'cup of tea' in terms of taste and quality.

[ExtraSlow]

Originally posted by CompletelyNumb
Next time you cook up a full portion extra slow, mind posting up a picture? Curious what they determine to be a 4 person meal.
Sure thing. I have one thawing right now for use today or tomorrow.



Originally posted by NoFlo
sorry I have to add my two cents...these meals do NOT feed 4 to 6 people! no way, unless you are feeding 6 children or 4 skinny ladies under 100lbs each.

as for the quality, it is decent but don't expect much for $22. we will NOT be doing this service again. I have only enjoyed one meal from them...even though there was just enough to go around. the rest was not my 'cup of tea' in terms of taste and quality.
I guess that's a matter of opinion. I can see if you are a big eater, it sure wouldn't feed six. I think they advertize 4 people per meal. As for the taste, there have been a couple that I haven't been super excited about, but that happens when I cook myself too.

[taemo]

I guess this is a great way to get exposed on to different dishes.
Saves you time on figuring out all the necessary ingredients, going to the store and prepping them.. but IMO that's part of the fun of making your own meal but I also understand that some don't like doing it nor have the time.

So the sessions are 2 hours each then about 10min per station to learn how to cook the dish and also grab the necessary ingredients? About 12-14 dishes per session then?

Curious to see how big the portions are

[ExtraSlow]

They don't really provide any "instruction" on how to cook. They are all pretty simple, and you get written instructions for each one.
It's open for two hours, but it'll take under an hour for your 12 (or fewer) dishes.

[flipstah]

So I'm paying for prepwork?

[Disoblige]

I picture Mongolian Grill basically, except to-go and you cook it yourself.

[ExtraSlow]

OK, as requested, here's a short review and some pics of a dish i recent made.
Tex Mex Pasta Bake
First Pic, you can see the two bags, one is penne noodles, and the other is the "sauce". Sauce bag contains sausage meat, Onion, Green Peppers, Diced Tomatoes, Cheddar Cheese, Corn and some dry spices that I can't recall.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5608/15592118598_15a2be3be0.jpg


Instructions (paraphrased by me), Thaw in refrigerator (overnight from previous day), cook pasta (or slightly undercook, since you are baking later). Simmer contents of sauce bag 5-6 minutes.
Stir together and put in baking dish (I used 9x13 pan, it fit well).
Bake 10-15 mins at 350.


Result, after two adults and two little kids had eaten:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7469/15158108563_c65248dca7.jpg

We ate about half of it, maybe just more than half. My kids don't eat much.

My review, well, this isn't one of the best looking dashing dishes I've ever had, in fact, it looks very weak. When I was cooking it, I thought that there was nowhere near enough sauce for those noodles. However, when eating it, it worked pretty good. A pretty "dry" recipe, but that's okay. Wasn't lacking in flavour, and no shortage of sausage meat

Honestly, I wish the one I picked for a review on beyond was something a little more visually appealing, but well, this was the one that I pulled out of the freezer.


Hopefully this answers some questions. If you have any more, feel free to post them. I find this service to be very helpful and a real time saver.

Future dishes (already in my freezer) include:
Barbecue Chicken Drumsticks
Crispy Chicken
Lemon and Ginger shrimp
Mouth Watering Pork Spare ribs
Orzo Delight
Pesto Chicken Tortillas
Thai Style Pita Pizza
Tomato Roasted Pork

If anyone has one they'd really like to see, let me know, they'll all get eaten eventually.

[ExtraSlow]

Originally posted by flipstah
So I'm paying for prepwork? Yes, you are paying for prep, and for the ingredients themselves, and I suppose you are also paying for the "effort" of deciding what's for dinner and looking up the recipe.

While you do have to cook each dish, and that takes some time, it's generally not too hard, and if you have kids, you'll appreciate that you're spending 20-30 minutes working not very hard at cooking super, rather than 30-40 minutes of being pretty busy. That's kind of hard to quantify, but it has a value to me.

[FixedGear]

I bet I could make that for under $5

[Strider]

I'm sure this isn't one of the better examples, but that seems like a very small amount of prep work being saved

Pasta - no prep, pre-measured in box
Sausage - no prep, buy fresh uncased sausage
Onion, Green Pepper, Tomato - dice, roughly 30sec - 1min each item
Shred cheddar - 2 minutes (could buy pre-shredded if lazy)
Frozen corn - no prep
Season with spices while cooking - no prep

So you save maybe 5 minutes with this one.

[FixedGear]

not to mention the recipe looks like something off the back of a Campbell's soup can, or pasta box :rofl:

[flipstah]

Originally posted by FixedGear
I bet I could make that for under $5

Lol altogether or per serving? I cook and there's no way in hell you can do all that for $5.

Invest in a crock-pot. It's like having a housemaid.

[Disoblige]

Yeah, pasta probably is a bad example. I could make that for under $10.

Maybe post what you get with the protein dishes. Like pork spare ribs or chicken drumsticks. I'm still skeptical it's worth $22 but meh.

[flipstah]

Originally posted by Disoblige
Yeah, pasta probably is a bad example. I could make that for under $10.

Maybe post what you get with the protein dishes. Like pork spare ribs or chicken drumsticks. I'm still skeptical it's worth $22 but meh.

I'm curious how much you chicken or ribs you get for $22.

Three whole chickens at Costco is $24, while one whole uncooked chicken is ~$9-10.

+1.

[ExtraSlow]

This is fun. I'll grab one of the meat-heavy dishes and do it soon for y'all. I will try to weigh the meat before cooking, so it'll be easy to come up with a comparable grocery store cost as well.

[HiTempguy1]

Originally posted by FixedGear
I bet I could make that for under $5

Uh, 1 pound of lean ground beef is $6, so I don't think you could. :dunno: Sausage is more expensive.

I think this is pretty good. Lots of the people on here commenting don't have kids (neither do I), but for the parents I know, this is healthier than "hamburger helper" and the pricing is really not that bad. When you work 8-5 with kids, you're up at 630 (at the latest) to get them ready for the day and off to school, then you have to take care of everything when you get home. Having to spend even 30-40 minutes (I don't know how long it takes some people to clean the kitchen, but thats an easy 10 minutes additionally) and you basically spend an hour cooking a meal.

I spend tons of money on food/base items for cooking that go to waste as a single male. I only have so much freezer space. This would work awesome for me, and I really don't mind repetition, hell, I'd be perfectly fine taking only 4 different meals.

My question is how much per "adult sized" serving does it work out to? $10 and under and that is way better than me going and buying lunch every other day, plus its approximately infinitely healthier than fast food and a pop!

[ExtraSlow]

I'm home sick from work today, so I have some time to update this. Not long ago, I ate the dish they call "mouth watering pork spareribs", and busted out the kitchen scale.
Two bags, one of sauce, which you pour over the ribs before you put them in the crock-pot. I can't recall what the sauce ingredients were, but I think it's safe to say there was nothing unusual. Probably chopped garlic, Ginger, green onions, soy and stuff like that.

By popular demand, I weighed the bag of ribs, so we can have a discussion on "value". it was 1.32 kg. I also went o safeway today and I say that pork ribs were going for $15.19/kg for side ribs, and slightly more for back ribs. I'm no butcher, but it's probably safe to say they were't an expensive cut.

So at safeway prices, that pork was worth $20.05. Clearly, this company isn't pay full safeway price for it's meat, but that is my nearest grocery store. Feel free to chime in with pork prices at your favourite stores.

[Strider]

Originally posted by ExtraSlow
Feel free to chime in with pork prices at your favourite stores.

Not sure what regular price is, but Co-op has side ribs for $3.99/lb ($8.80/kg) this week. I'm used to buying them (and occasionally back ribs) for $2.99/lb when they go on sale at Superstore.

[hampstor]

The default portions for the entrée are for 2-3 people. You can portion it down smaller if you need to.

Cost wise, it's not bad. $215 for 8 entrées -> 26.88 / entrée -> $8.96 / person. Many of the meals you still have to add your sides (roasted potatoes/rice/veggies/etc).

You could probably do it yourself for less - a warehouse pack of meat, buy the spices, and make the sauces. Portion, mix sauces/spices, and put in a freezer bag. You just won't get the variety unless you're buying a warehouse pack of chicken breast, pork tenderloin, and beef roast all at once. You're really just paying for the variety, and convenience of pre-proportioning it.

Our favorite so far was the pork tenderloins with date sauce (2 tenderloins in the pack).