Meal preparation places

I don't normally buy the paper on any day but Sunday and even then it's only for the funnies and the coupons (whcih have sucked lately by the way). So, I didn't know about this article regarding meal preparation places until the owners of the place I frequent sent it to me.

Magical Mealtime has got to be the best in the area. As a busy mom, I LOVE their meals, their products are always fresh and I don't have to worry about buying spices I might use only once or twice in a given 6 month period. I can spend 2-3 hours on a Saturday morning prepping meals to go in my freezer and I'm done for the week or even longer. E and I usually just do a 6 half meal session. Why? It's just two of us. Duck will usually eat chicken fingers or a peanut butter sandwich. We will easily get two full meals out of one half meal from MM. Which means, for the low cost of $79, I can get at least 12 dinners and most often 6 lunches. Even with just 12 meals, that's just about $6 per meal.

While I understand that there are cookbooks out there like "30-Minute Meals" by Rachel Ray and others, these often require me to still have items on hand that I might not buy every week. And I certainly try to only buy items that I know I'll use in the next 5-7 days. Problem is with that concept (for me anyway) is the last thing I want to do after working an 8-hour shift, driving to pick up Duck from the sitter's is to spend 30 minutes in the kitchen.

Alos, with being 1200 miles away from much of my family and friends (though we do have WONDERFUL friends here), we don't necessarily have a base to do meal exchanges with. And again, I'm prepping meals in my kitchen, leaving a mess to clean up behind me.

Meal preparation places like Magical Mealtime are God's gift to busy families. And whose family isn't busy these days?