Dishing the night away

Last night, I went out for a few hours with a friend from my first new mom group. We were without boys or babies, and we had a great time. What did we do? Drinks? A movie? Nope. We made dinner for the rest of the month.

Forgive me, I’m about to sound like a commercial for this place. But there are certain things that make the life of a new mom a whole lot easier, like house cleaning services and grocery delivery, that are totally worth the money. Let’s Dish is one of those things.

The concept is this: the company has about 18 dishes on the menu each month for you to choose from. You can do 4, 8, or 12 dishes, and each one serves six (OK, they aren’t huge servings, so maybe it’s more like 4-6, but still). You sign up for a day and a time, and pick your dishes. When you arrive, they have stations set up with all of the ingredients prepared. Vegetables chopped, measuring spoons for spices, etc.. You put on your apron and bandana for your hair, and get to work. Each station has directions for one dish. Directions will be something like, “in a large plastic bag, add garlic, olive oil, oregano, and three chicken breasts.” Ingredients for a sauce or a side dish might go in a second bag. You put those into a large freezer bag, slap on a label that has the name of the dish and preparation instructions, and you’re good to go. It’s all stuff that freezes well, and the day-of prep is anywhere from just throwing it into the oven, to maybe defrosting and sauteeing. Most of the dishes can also be split with a friend (or yourself) into two 3-serving batches. So if you don’t want all 6 servings, you won’t have too much leftovers on your hands.

This is friggin genius. You’re still cooking. It’s real food. If you want a little more garlic or a little less salt? No problem. You’re making it. So I now have a freezer full of goodies, ready for a real weeknight dinner. But you know what I don’t have to do? I don’t have to come up with an idea for dinner, make a list, go to the grocery store, prep all of the ingredients, and find the time to cook it all before it goes bad in the fridge. Nope. I just pull out one of my big freezer baggies of goodness, and we manage to eat non-takeout-or-delivery, and it doesn’t take me until 10pm to cook it.

Oh, and in the meantime, it’s fun! My friend and I were out of the house without our kids, the place is colorful and brightly lit. They put out sweet treats, chips and dip, coffee and tea. If you feel like taking a break, you can just snack and socialize. And even then, my friend and I left, two hours later, with 12 dishes each. For two moms with four-month-olds, it was a fun night out. We laughed about how different our lives were last year, and how this wouldn’t exactly have qualified as a hot social activity back then. But times have changed, and we had a blast making dinner.

In the hopes of being indirectly compensated for this little infomercial of mine… If this sounds interesting to you, go to www.letsdish.com and see if there is one near you. If there is, let me know your email address, and I’ll “refer” you. That way, you get $10 off your first session, and for each person who signs up, I get $10 off, too! We all win…