The Bottom Line
It may be one of the hottest new franchises around. With locations in Phoenix, Tempe, and, coming soon to Mesa, Dream Dinners now has more than 150 franchise stores in the U.S. and the business is only a few years old. For this review, I visited Dream Dinners at 1700 E. Elliot Road in Tempe, AZ.
Pros
- Allows busy people to serve variety, quality meals to family
- All the ingredients provided and measured
- Detailed preparation instructions provided
Cons
- Some meals require to much cooking time
- Rescheduling could cost you money
- You have to go right home after your session
- Need lots of freezer space
Description
- At Dream Dinners you get 12 dinners (serve 4-6 people) for approximately $210.
- Most of the meals at Dream Dinners don't come with sides. Additional preparation is always required.
- There is some entertainment value at Dream Dinners--it's fun to prepare the meals!
- It takes about 2 hours to prepare 12 Dream Dinners.
- Containers/baggies are provided. For smaller families, Dream Dinners may be packaged split in half.
- You can prepare 6 dinners instead of 12, but there is an extra charge for that.
- Nutritional information for each meal is provided online and at the site.
- Dream Dinners recommends sides and salads for each dish, but you're on your own there.
- Reserve Dream Dinners for parties, or bring the family (kids over 12) on specially designated days.
Guide Review - Dream Dinners
I've seen it referred to as assembly meal preparation. Here's how it works: you go online, pick the Dream Dinners location that interests you, schedule your preparation day, and then go to the menus. The prices of menu selections vary, generally between $15 and $25, for each entree that serves 4-6 people.
I tried two Dream Dinners: the Chicken Mirabella (highly recommended by both staff and a devoted customer) and the Pesto Cheese Ravioli. Both meals were great, tasted homemade, and were easy to prepare. We got six full meals from each.
Dream Dinners is not necessarily about saving money. In my case, since I don't enjoy cooking, it would afford the opportunity to serve items to my family that I otherwise wouldn't, lending more variety to our monthly menu. Dream Dinners allows me to prepare foods with items that I really don't have in my kitchen, or I'd have to buy specifically for a recipe, like prunes, Sauterne wine, capers, baby corn, pesto, etc.
The staff at Dream Dinners was friendly and helpful. There's a high degree of focus on cleanliness. I never had to chop or slice a thing, and I never had to clean anything--woo hoo!
I prefer not to spend an hour or more cooking the meals and sides--especially in Arizona in the summer, when I limit oven use. Be careful to note preparation times before ordering if this is important to you.
All prices and offerings subject to change without notice. Disclosure: Dream Dinners provided the two meals that I prepared for this review.
