Easy, Quick, Delicious Meals
Mom – I’m literally so over grocery shopping for the same things all the time. My meals have boiled into two categories: 1.) takes for fricken ever, uses 10,000 dishes, and is absolutely delicious. 2) quick, easy, and what the kids would call “mid”. I’m thinking of getting a meal subscription, does anyone have a good experience with a subscription worth trying? It’s gotta be basic enough that kids eat it, and quick enough where I don’t go nuts trying to prepare it. Something low dish is also a plus. I don’t own a dishwasher and let me tell ya, I am not trying to wash 400 dishes after ANY meal. Would be also cool if my 10 year old could help. As an aside—who teaches cooking classes to adults? I’d be down to take some classes and just be a better cook generally. I’d pay another mom to come over and show me my top three 1.) fried chicken 2.) bread with that self rising yeast (I can’t figure it out it’s devastating) 2) cooking the perfect steak. You do not need to be a professional whatsoever!! Picture of my most made meal, enchiladas are one of the few things I can make that actually tastes like the restaurant. Thanks mamas
SS – SSI recommend Natasha’s Kitchen cookbook. Easy, kid friendly recipes, and everything is delicious.
C – Not a meal subscription but another idea… I was in a similar boat and then found out I got the NYT Cooking App with the NYT subscription. Definitely leveled up our meals, I’m totally inspired to cook, and you can find easy enough weekday meals. My nine-year-old daughter is even cooking some recipes!
R – I wouldn’t call myself a professional chef, but have a lot of experience in the kitchen and I’ve been told my food is amazing. I got a lot of skills from my parents, especially baking from my mom. There are a few tricks to working with commercial yeast if that’s what you’re referring to. It’s not like sourdough, which is quite different. Some of my go to meals I could teach you are breaded chicken (it’s not “fried chicken”, but kind of like what you would get at Olive Garden with chicken Parmesan which Ioca can also teach you how to do), spaghetti with either meatballs or meat sauce, stuffed shells, lasagna, another version of enchiladas which has green sauce (the secret to making them restaurant quality is frying the tortillas beforehand for a few seconds on each side) several different soups, veggie stir fry, chicken teriyaki, yeasted breads like bagels/pizza dough/and loaf bread, tons of desserts and so much more!! I do have a cottage license and sell my sourdough bread and baked goods. If you wanna take a look, it’s Butterfly Garden Bakery on Instagram. I can also send you pictures of some of my savory dishes as well.
A – I dream of having a few moms in the neighborhood, say 3. And each picks a night to cook and package it up and feeds the other two families. 1 night of cooking turns into 3 nights of dinner.
R – great idea!!!
M – So hard to make that equitable though! I only have a family of three, if I had to start proving meals for a family of 5 during the week, I simply couldn’t afford it. Maybe if you could be matched with similar family sizes!
M – I’ve got a great cookbook but I really just don’t have the time to meal plan or track recipes to get the right ingredients. I just want it to show up ready!
F – Omgosh, same with the 2 categories, amazing or mid- and these people expect amazing way too many days of the week. Where are the ez and low dishes?!
T – The Best, Easiest Focaccia Bread , It’s focaccia so maybe not exactly bread, but I swear by this recipe from Alexandra’s Kitchen, I make this all the time, even the shortcut instructions to make it the same day! The Best, Easiest Focaccia Bread
M – Oooh I haven’t tried the same day… good to know! I use for pizza sometimes and that would be nice! Also, left the last one in the fridge for 3 or 4 days before baking and it was just as good as always.
W – Just wanted to say that I’d join in on a cooking class… I’m a pretty cook cook but I want to be better and branch out more.
K – Hands down Village Foods Her food is locally sourced, freshly made and can be delivered, scrumptious yummy and she’ll work with you. Village Foods – Family-Style Meal Prep Delivery
M – We’re on our first week of Hungryroot, and so far so good! We were stuck in a rut with the same meals, drowning in dishes and cleanup and defaulting to way too much takeout. Add in the mental load of meal planning… and we needed something to help take the load off.
This feels like a legit win-win. We’re getting time back, fewer dishes, and less daily decision fatigue, which makes the cost feel worth it. We mostly opted for dinners, though they also do breakfasts, lunches, groceries, and snacks. What really sold me is their family dinners that have kid-friendly meals that use the same ingredients as the adult versions but are adjusted for kids’ preferences. We’re spending around $150–$180 for the week.
P – I’ve done Hello Fresh. Super yummy but took 45 minutes to make!!! Lots of steps and although my kid has a palate for flavors, it was a bit beyond her interest.
I – Can’t recommend Locale High Protein Meals Designed For Longevity enough! We’ve been doing it for a few months and we’ve loved every single meal! High Protein Meals Designed For Longevity,
A – I am a professional chef and teach cooking camps for kids during the summer. I am actually just starting to tap into the market for adult cooking classes. I’m teaching one this Saturday, a Valentine’s Day cooking class. I have a kitchen in Soquel and if you’re interested, I would love to discuss doing a class for you and other interested people!
R – Kinderwood Farms? Lauren might be interested in doing something like this.
C – I find meal subscriptions to be super expensive. I subscribe to two emails lists that provide menus, grocery lists and prep lists so you can spend one day making a mess and the rest of the week the meals are done in like 15-20 min. It’s been a life saver, great for watching what I eat and my mental health
J – I follow a few different chefs, but find simplicity suits me best in this kid era of my life…I love pati jinich fort Mexican, cooking with grandmother’s for Italian and nourishing traditions or Weston A Price Foundation for traditional. I also try to keep things on the simpler side… most veggies end up boiled in a small amount of salt water, broccolini, asparagus, etc and steak is or new favorite fast food. The trick is to buy it thick and sear it on high fort about 6 min flipping it every minute or so. Be sure to put it on a plate of olive oil and season well beforehand with salt and pepper. Jamie Oliver can help too and Martha Stewart is great with baking. Just gotta find chefs you love to get inspired. Raising Generation Nourished has also been super helpful. Kid friendly recipes, advocates for including them in prep and does a lot of one pan or one sheet pan dinners. She’s also great for taking one thing you make and turning it into a few different recipes ie roast ck to broth to chicken salad. WAPF does this as well.
T – Home Chef has a $215 off, spread out over 8? boxes, plus a free extra, like dessert. I haven’t tried it yet, but the recipes sound good. I signed up because the meal choices with the discount will save mea few hundred $. Plus we’ll have some different meals for awhile. They have some big batch families meals that look good.
C – Cookunity
A – Girl!! Hellofresh changed my cooking game! You don’t need to hire anyone to teach you just find the meal delivery service and save all the recipes. I have a huge binder of all my hellofresh meals, I just go thru every week and pick out a few meals to buy the ingredients to. I usually have most of the ingredients already.
M – Girllll! Let me borrow them and I’ll made copies!
J – I just tried Green Chef but it gets pricey and it’s SO much waste- plastic wise. Each individual item is wrapped in plastic, it’s just too much. I did like that most things were chopped or use the same pan type thing but we’re not keeping it because of the packaging. Safeway app actually has a meals hub and you can select meals and make a list from it. You can either go shopping from it or can do the drive up service to save time. and then have everything you need for the week.
C – Gobble is good.
K – fyi mamas i started a local biz to support with this exact thing! We’re called Village Foods and we do all the thinking, shopping, cooking AND dishes for you (and we deliver)! No subscription required, just a way to take a few meals off your plate each week. my kids and husband eat/ approve of everything too! We reopen next week and post a new menu weekly if you want to check it out. Family-Style Meal Prep Delivery.
M – Girl yesss! What day do orders open?! Monday 2/16!!! follow us on insta for updates and you can sign up for email list on our site.
D – I want to scream off my rooftop VILLAGE FOODS! Run by a local mom in Live Oak. Delicious, nutritious and saves my sanity every week. I highly recommend and refer people every chance I get.
