Simply Homemade

I'm always on the look out for places to go with my girlfriends, and I've always held places like Simply Homemade in the back of my mind. This is one of those prep kitchens where you go and make several freezer meals to save for a day when you don't want to have to plan a meal. I've always known about Dinner by Design which had a location in Tinley Park and one in Downers Grove. The Tinley Park one closed down and the Downers one only offers pick up options (they assemble it for you and you just pick it up - boring!!). I wanted something we could turn into a girl's night so I found Simply Homemade in Naperville.

This. Place. Was. Awesome.

When you register online for your date and time you also pick your menu items. Every month there are 22 different menu options and most of them include a side item. The items I picked for September were:

Fish tacos
Classic Pork Roast with Apples
Tuscan Tomato Bisque with a Bread Loaf
Penne Pasta al Forno with a Side of Green Beans
Beef Tips Italiano with a Side of Broccoli

I tried to pick things I don't regularly make. I make a lot of casseroles and a lot of recipes using beef, so I thought the pork and fish tacos would be a nice change of pace, as well as the tomato soup.

There are several meal packages you can pick from. You can choose 5, 8, or 12 meals which each serve about 4-6 (plenty for Mark and I plus leftovers), or you can pick 12 mini meals which serve 3 (good for people who live alone).

The menus you pick the meals from also include nutrition information (including weight watchers points) and many of the meals are really healthy. Four out of five of my meals were less than 400 calories per serving - the soup was only 153 per serving. Sweeeet! 

When you go to Simply Homemade, they have their kitchen set up in stations and each station has a recipe on it for you to follow. All the ingredients you need to assemble your dish are at the station - you hardly have to leave your spot to find something. The directions are simple such as: Take a quart sized bag. In the bag put 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, etc. etc. Close bag. Take a gallon bag and add meat from the refrigerator. Close bag. Take a quart sized bag and fill with broccoli. And so on and so forth. It is so SIMPLE (hence, Simply Homemade, right?) Then you put everything in one bag and put a label on it that has cooking instructions.

Here is what the label looks like on my fish tacos:

Cooking Instructions are literally to cook the fish in a pan, sprinkle on the seasonings it came with, add the bag of salsa, squeeze a lime over it, shred with a fork and make your tacos. Voila!

At home prep time: 0 minutes
Total cook time: About 10 minutes








and the Pasta:

Bake in oven for 40-45 minutes, uncover and bake for 10-12 more minutes. All done!

At home prep time: 0 minutes
Total cook time: About an hour








I made 7 meals (because two of the meals were rather large, so I split them into two containers for two separate dinners) for $105.00 and it only took me an hour to prepare them all at Simply Homemade's kitchen. I stayed longer to help a friend who was making the 12 mini meals. I consider that a great deal considering I did not have to grocery shop for 7 meals, did not have to do all the prep work OR the clean up, and it takes the guess work out of "what are we having for dinner." I am trying to save these meals for a day or week when I am too busy to think about cooking. Also, these are things Mark could easily throw into the oven and prepare.

If anyone is interested in doing this, let me know. I will definitely be returning!

Tonight I am making the fish tacos and will report back on how they tasted.

--T