Hey, y'all! I hope you're all staying well. We're doing well here at my house, and I've been cooking more than ever. We do order food from restaurants for delivery or curbside pickup on occasion. But for the most part, we've been making do with grocery delivery and digging deep into the pantry (hello beans and rice!!). :)
About three weeks ago, Myra Johnson happened to mention how much they're loving Dinnerly for meal ingredient delivery. Because I had been having trouble getting meat at the grocery at that time, I decided to give it a try. Myra sent me a coupon for my first box for free (+ shipping).
I have to say we're really enjoying it, too! There are a big variety of meals to choose from each week.The meals sometimes take longer than I would normally spend to prepare the food, but each time it has been worth it. And the food is healthy.
I've also found that I'm enjoying learning some new food prep methods that I haven't tried before or haven't thought of in ages.
This past week, this is one of the meals I made. Unfortunately, I didn't take photos of the ingredients. But it came with 4 small chicken breasts, fresh broccoli crowns, fresh green onions, fresh Yukon Gold potatoes, garlic, cream cheese and needed spices. I had to provide butter, salt, pepper, and olive oil (and on occasion have had to provide flour).
The chicken was seasoned with an "everything bagel" mix that has black sesame seeds, etc that comes on an everything bagel. So tasty on chicken! I pan sautéed it in olive oil.
The potatoes were cubed, then boiled. Then I saved some of the cooking starch water to mix into the potatoes (will use milk next time) along with butter, cream cheese and chopped green onions.
Here's a photo of the vegetables we had to ration. haha
We've had some really good dishes so far! I think my favorites have been a really nice pork tenderloin with a brown sugar and chili sauce, and yummy lemon garlic chicken. Oh, and really good steak tacos! We'll have another delivery tomorrow. If anyone wants to try it, let me know. I can send you a free box (you'll have to pay about $9 shipping).
There are a lot of these food delivery services out there, so check them all out.
I hope you all stay well!
www.missytippens.com
Missy, thank you for this! I know there are a lot of food services out there... And we've been making it a point to get food from a local restaurant once/week (which is rare for us, but they need our support) and we're not using coupons or our gift cards because that would defeat the purpose of supporting them... their cash flow now has taken a mega hit.
ReplyDeleteBut we also drive to the next town and get a supply of Abbott's Frozen Custard every week or two. Four or five pints gets us through. :) That is my weakness. I can cook from the freezer, but I can't make their custard so we use the drive-through window and it keeps me from killing people.
Probably an exaggeration.
Slightly.
Ruthy, we've also been getting food from our local Chinese and Mexican restaurants. Oh, and we've also picked up from Longhorn and several times from Five Guys, Wayback Burger, and Zaxby's. Our local pizza place had a flood and hasn't been able to serve! So I was disappointed not to be able to help them.
DeleteBut after a while of ordering out, I was putting on weight! So I started using this service to try to cook more. :)
This sounds a lot like the hello fresh boxes. We tried that once because we got a free box and for what we got I would not have paid full price. However I have been getting misfit market boxes. It is produce. Since this Covid 19 started I have changed to the larger box so I can take some to our pastor to give to those in need of produce. Sometimes it's even neat to try new things since I can't pick everything out.
ReplyDeleteKatie, I love that idea! Do you buy them at your grocery? Or is it a service that delivers?
DeleteWell, I googled it and answered my own question. :) Very cool service!
DeleteIt is nice. We started before this pandemic. We use to have something more local in South Dakota and I know there are some coops here, but most of them you have to go get and with work I don't have time at 11am on a week day to get it. So this comes right to us on Saturday and with the larger box they added a new thing if you want you can go pick out some items :) tomorrow I'm supposed to get purple brussel sprouts in our box.
DeleteI've seen those meal delivery ads, but have never considered them. I know our youngest daughter and her husband tried one for a while, but she said it got too expensive, so now she just does curbside pickup (even before COVID) at her local grocery. Me, I've got a stocked freezer and pantry, so I only hit the store every week to ten days. And yes, we do beans and rice at least once a week. With sausage, of course. Not because we're lacking, but because it's one of our favorite meals. And it's easy. We've had some nice weather, so the last thing I feel like doing after working outside is cooking. I can put the beans on at lunch and they're ready for dinner. Throw some meat on the grill and we're good to go.
ReplyDeleteI love beans, too, Mindy! But my family doesn't love them as much as I do, so I can't make then as often as I'd like. When I want some for just myself, I usually just open a can. However, I do make bean soup in the winter!
DeleteI've never tried one of those meal services. Like Mindy, my pantry and freezer are stocked. Buying 1/2 a steer back in January seemed like a stretch back then, but now I'm glad we have it. We have beef in some form a few times a week, and vary it with chicken or ham (also in the freezer!)
ReplyDeleteBut I can see times when a delivery of everything you need in a box would be so much fun. A new and different recipe, maybe a main course you haven't had for a while, or to just break out of a rut are all reasons that pop into my mind.
And we've been doing the McDonald's drive-through when we go grocery shopping (about once a week,) and we've ordered pizza from our favorite local place a couple times. It's twenty minutes to order it, drive over to pick it up, and then back home. Not quite as hot and fresh as eating in the restaurant, but still fabulous. And it's supporting a local business to boot. Can't beat that.
Jan, using the service has shown me just how much of a rut I was in! :)
DeleteI so wish we could stock up a freezer full of food. But we don't have an extra freezer at this house. And our freezer-on-the-bottom seems to hold less than our old freezer. I never feel truly stocked up!
I haven't tried those meal service wither. Partly because I'm vegetarian and I don't think there are many options for me, but also because they are much pricier than making my own.
ReplyDeleteOur local farmer's market has started home delivery though since they can't set up yet so I'm going to start using them for my fresh produce. They are offering free delivery during shut down and their prices are reasonable -- sometimes better than in the grocery store. I'm craving me some strawberries!
Kav, that's wonderful that you can use that service!! I was craving strawberries this week, but Amazon Fresh ran out before I checked out. I had planned to get enough to make a jam recipe I just found. Will share that when I get a chance to make it!
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