Meals

In an effort to keep food in my house for baby's arrival, I decided to go to one of the many food prep places in our area where you make meals ahead of time and store them in your freezer. These places seem to be popping up in every strip mall in Raleigh as families try to find a balance between a quick meal and a home cooked meal. I decided on a place that was close to my home, offered a coupon that would allow me to get meals at a little over $10 for 3 servings and they offered a tasting so that I could go in and try a few of the menu selections they were offering that month. I had the added bonus of having them prepare the meals for me for free which they will continue to do for 3 months after I give birth. I came home excited with my 12 meals, put them in the freezer and thought how convenient they would be to pull out of the freezer for a "quick" meal.

My husband does most of the cooking in the house, so I decided to do this more to have the ingredients for a meal in the house rather than the ease of preparing the food and it is a good thing because I don't see these meal as being any easier than preparing the food from scratch. For example, the first meal we defrosted was salmon with pineapple salsa. We grilled the fish per the instructions and then covered it in the provided sauce (which must have been adverse to freezing because the consistency was terrible). It would have been just as easy to grill a piece of fish and put our own sauce on it (and would have tasted much better as well!). And actually the theme in most of the meals in my freezer is 1) cook the meat 2) cover in sauce. It is "easy" but I think I was envisioning these pop in the oven casseroles where little effort was required. This has made me rethink doing this for any of my pregnant friends because it's just not that convenient - and so far I haven't been impressed with the flavor of foods. Other food prep places may be different, but from my experience I probably won't be doing it again.

On another note, one of my friends has greatly blessed my husband and I by creating a "meals binder" and has organized food for our family 3 nights a week for the entire month of May! She took the binder to my baby shower and to other friends and has coordinated everything. If someone needs to change their night, etc. they call her and reschedule. Now this is the way to have meals :).