Let's Dish or other meal prep kitchens?

[deedee 5]

I've been curious about meal prep kitchens for a while now and wondered if anyone on here has any experience with them? I really want to cut down a bit on the eating out that my husband and I do. I am very conscious about making good food choices when we do it, but you never know all of the ingredients. I was thinking this might be a happy medium??? Here's a link to one in my area Let's Dish! - The healthy, fun, fast way to provide great meals for the whole family!.

Any experiences?

[*susan* 1,709]

The only place we have like that near me is "Super Suppers", but I don't think they are overly healthy dishes. I have thought about ordering a couple of their meals for nights when I just don't feel like cooking though.

[carolyn24seven 11]

I have several in my area. I eat so little it does not seem cost effective to order from them now. Maybe later on, like 6 months post op?

Let us know how this works for you.

My dear sweet Husband now wants to loose 8 yes a whopping 8 pounds. So he is eating Soup with me, but then goes in and gets Cereal or icecream etc. Poor guy. I will cook healthy for him. The fresh cooked healthy meals plan sounds good. We shall see.

[Malaika 50]

We have some here in LV but not sure what they are called. Since Bearded and I have both had the surgery, we just share our meals whether eating at home or eating out. Let us know if you decide to go that route how you like it.

[Chancie 65]

I'm lost, not sure what you all are talking about. Could someone explain?:huh0:

[carolyn24seven 11]

Chancie, there are home delivery and/or pick up business's that have opened up that are not restruants. They do not serve food at their place of business. They are "fresh meal prep kitchens". Basically you call in your order and they deliver on a regular basis. Or, you stop by on your way home and pick it up. Kinda like take out but healthier. It can be pricey. You would have to do your research to make sure they will cook low fat or lo carb or what ever you want. It started as a way for busy Mom and Dad's to give their kids a healthy "home cooked" meal after work, and stop the fast food habit. Now it has expanded to diet concious and gormet also. It can be cheaper than restrauant eating, with kids anyway. I am not sure how it would apply to sleevers. My Dr. friend who is diabetic uses a service in my area 3 to 4 times a week. It works for her.

To find them in your area look in the phone book. or call you local hospital and ask if there are services that they know of for diabetics. Call your Chamber of Commerce.

I truly think restraunts need to get on top of this. I know Olive Garden does special take out, but, again it is pricey. Polly's pies does a Turkey dinner with all the trimmings for 2 for only $39.00. I bet it would serve four easy. Or-probably 12 sleevers. HAHAHA

Anyway. That is what a fresh meal prep kitchen is.

[Chancie 65]

Thnak you Carolyn for explaining tha to me!!

I kinda read "between the lines" and thought thats what it was- but nothing in this small town of mine like that.... so I wanted to be sure!

Thanks again!

[carolyn24seven 11]

you are welcome Chancie. Maybe that is a business opportunity for you if you cook?

I have thought that would be a great "at home" business for stay at home mom's.

Getting the regular customers it the hard part. Other wise you would waste a lot of food. I thought people that run day care centers should do this also. Or, at least have it as an option. Slick way to increase profits I think.

[deedee 5]

I think I'm going to go in next Tuesday after my 4 month post-op visit. At this kitchen (from what I've read), you plan ahead by marking off the meals you want to make from their monthly menu. They will then have all the ingredients at your station when you come in. It says you can make substitutions/deletions of ingredients and it has very helpful nutrition labels for each meal and side dish available for the month. Once you have prepared your chosen meals, they have the storage containers you need to take it home and freeze it. I believe there is a label you put on each meal with cooking instructions, nutrition info., etc.

I'm excited to see how this works. I've definitely learned to eat left overs with the VSG for days on end:-). Each week I'm usually eating off 3-4 "regular" meals total so I think it might work if I only make a couple of these meals per week. My husband eats a regular portion and then I could possibly eat the rest over the next couple of days. I've never minded having the same thing for 2 meals in a day, but I know I have to watch it so I'm also eating a balanced diet.

Thanks again for the feedback!

[Itstime 0]

Deedee, sounds like a great idea. I had thought that these kitchens were set up for the customer to come and make several dishes of your choice with everything there for you to do it yourself and then like you said to take it home to freeze or use later on. Can't wait to hear your experience. Has to be better for you than eating out and you knowing what is going into the dish vs high fat and salt in take out.

Good cooking!!

[newmom 0]

Deedee - since we are in the same area - you may also want to try Diet-to-Go. Their food is not bad and I think you can order just a few meals per week. They usually change their menu weekly and have choices that are also always there to pick from. They have low-carb options too.

I heard there was a great place in Silver Spring...it was called dream dinners. Actually, looks like they have a bunch of locations:

Locations

HTH

[deedee 5]

Thanks newmom! I will definitely look into those options. I've decided to put the Let's Dish on hold until I can speak with the nutritionist today at a follow-up appointment. I will keep you all posted.

[joon 2]

Hey DeeDee, I use a prep kitchen occasionally ( like right before surgery) and I really like it. The only problems I have with it are that we eat mostly organic and local and the food there is not guaranteed to be organic and local. Second, the meals are not always terribly healthy. I do wish she would make the meals a little lower in fat and calories. I just try to choose the things that are going to be lower in calories and healthier. We also split the meals into two because we are just a small family of three ( one is small) and with addition of a salad and vegetable it is usually just the right amount. As far as cost, I think it comes out to 13-15 dollars a meal and I think thats pretty good for the convenience. I also do order prepared foods from local places or people I know who do cooking for families. I really like it because there are so many times when I get home from work and just cant bring myself to go through the motions of making dinner and if I do it ends up being late, my daughter gets to sleep late and we end up eating right before bed. Having these options makes our quality of life better.

[joon 2]

Hey DeeDee,

Did you decide to try the prep kitchen? Curious how you liked it.

[deedee 5]

Not yet. I convinced a friend to do it with me and we are going the week after Christmas. They have all their nutrition info posted, so I plan to stay as low carb/fat (my cholesterol was a little high last month) as I can. I will definitely post my thoughts after.