I love to cook. My wife, though she is very good at it, does not. Between her job, my job and my writing, there is not a lot of time left over in our schedules for cooking. Actually, there’s plenty of time for cooking; it’s the planning and prepping that we are frequently too tired to do when dinner time rolls around. Fortunately, in Springfield, IL there is a middle ground between going out for a meal and cooking at home, known as Let’s Make Dinner.
Each month, Let’s Make Dinner has a menu of 14 or so entrees and desserts, along with assorted optional sides. How it works is that you make a reservation and pre-select at least four meals (we usually do four at a time). You get six servings (good-sized servings) of each meal for $26 apiece. Not too many places you can feed a hungry family of four for $26. The ones that I am thinking of would not be able to offer you this level of nutrition either. These recipes are delicious, and pretty much all of them are reasonably healthy.
If you’re REALLY pressed for time, you can order off their menu and stop in to pick up frozen, pre-assembled meals. But where’s the fun in that? The most enjoyable part of the experience for me has been getting my kids into the kitchen. This is definitely a family-friendly affair.
Preparing your own meals
When you arrive at your appointed time, you will find various stations set up with your mise en place, that is, all the ingredients for your pre-chosen meal prepped and ready to go, from left to right, as you follow the recipe.
The recipes are very easy to follow, and there is some wiggle room if you are not a fan of certain ingredients, or if you like your spicy food REALLY spicy.
Bring a cooler to transport your assembled and packaged meals home. You can either make one fresh right away, or pop them in the freezer for that day you know is going to come when you’re just…too…tired…to…cook. Most entrees do require thawing before cooking (the calzones don’t, really), so this does actually work better if you know in advance that you’re GOING to be too tired to cook. Just take it out of the freezer, and pop it in the oven.
Pro tip: with an entree, such as the Apple Stuffing Pork Tenderloin above, that is packaged and cooked in a foil pan, transfer it to some sort of platter before carving. Otherwise, you’ll cut through the bottom of the pan and make a heck of a mess. Not that I’ve ever done that. More than once.
Give Let’s Make Dinner a try, and let me know what your favorites are! Here’s one of ours. . .
Getcha some!