Aka: I don’t have to cook tonight. Or perhaps ever, again.
As I am sure you are all aware, by my incessant whinging, I recently moved house. A process I wouldn’t wish on any of you. Weeks of packing things into boxes, then onto a truck, only to carry those boxes into the new house and unpack them. A month long pain in your shoulders, back, head and wallet. Yes, it’s hideous. So my one saving grace during this period was the fact that there was no way I was cooking, you know, since half of my kitchen was in boxes and the one cooking implement I might have needed was always going to be already packed. Ah well, take away for us!
But after several nights of Thai and Pizza, even I get bored and crave veggies. Actually, pretty much anything home cooked. The timing of Gourmet Dinner Service could not have been better. Did I want to test their dinner service? Um, hell yes!
I envisioned a Lite ‘n’ Easy esque delivery of pre-prepared meals – things I could easily microwave and serve in the plastic with a fork and be done with it. I had thought how easy it would be whilst moving house to not have to worry about pots and pans and the like. And when the delivery arrived, a polystyrene box filled with ice and food, I was partly right. But this was going to be so much better than the likes of Lite ‘n’ Easy (and I know this because my old housemate used to eat it).
Even the names of the meals sounded exotic. Arabian Beef and Cinnamon Scented Lamb… and these were the ‘microwaveable’ dinners – there were also meals that required some ‘proper’ cooking, but all the prep had been done – Greek Lamb and Peri Peri Chicken, together with a collection of sides like sweet potato mash, broccoli with garlic oil and chana dhal. And the most impressive feature of all? Everything we were sent was gluten free (one MASSIVE shortcoming of other pre-prepared dinner services!!)
Amidst the moving boxes, we ate the microwavable dinners with plastic forks, and upon moving into our new abode, we served up the meals that required some cooking without the need to venture to the supermarket after a hard day unpacking. By simply adding rice to some of the meals (which I already had in the pantry), I could stretch them to feed us both and one thing on my list of ‘all the stuff I have to do today’ was ticked off.
Gourmet Dinner Service was obviously my saviour during a major life event, but for the everyday person, or couple, who is working hideous hours or trying to feed children or get to the gym after hours, this kind of service gives you the flexibility to have microwaveable, decent food, ready to go in the freezer, or saves you that 6pm run to a busy supermarket with every other person who has waited til on the way home to pick up what they need for dinner. It’s just EASIER. And the food tastes great, Win-win.
