As a Board Member of the social club at my office I arranged a 10% discount for our members with Dashing Dishes. It expired June 30 so I figured I’d better use the discount myself and give the service a shot. It’s especially appealing right now since I don’t have a kitchen!
The Dashing Dishes website is very professional and easy to use. You can order 8, 12 or 12+ items. You go to their shop to pick up your entrees or you can pay $30 for delivery. They’re located rather central – just north of Memorial, east of the Deerfoot. When you place your order you get to choose which pick up date works for you, and the pick up hours are between 4 and 8 which is nice for those of us who work during the day. The facility is clean and spacious, with lots of counter top space for food prep and fridges for storage.
I chose 8 entrees for $215 – 10% = $193.50/8 = $24.19 each meal. They say each entree serves 4-6 people. Below are all the entrees I ordered and what they look like upon pickup. I’ll have to do another post as I cook them.
One of my biggest concerns with the entrees was not knowing exactly what came with them – in other words, how much food would I have to prep and provide on my own to accompany the entrees purchased. There are a number of entrees that could be full meals or could just be supplemented with a salad, for example, but the majority are just a protein and would require a carb and veggies still to be prepared. For $24 I really do struggle with the value of these meat only entrees. As a person who shops sales and stocks up on meat when it’s a good price, I don’t think $24 for a bag of marinated chicken thighs is a good deal, even if it does save me some time to make a marinade. Regardless of how these entrees turn out, I think the only way I will do this again is if I can choose meals that are more comprehensive.
Barbeque Sirloin Steaks with Blackberry Sauce – meat and sauce only – serve with your own carbs & veggies
Beef & Broccoli Stir Fry – a good selection of veggies and beef – serve with your own rice
Braised BBQ Beef – marinated meat only – serve with your own carbs & veggies
Greek Pita Pizzas – quite a few pitas and all the toppings mixed together in one bag – serve with your own salad
Honey Lime Chicken Thighs – marinated chicken only – serve with your own carbs & veggies
Indonesian Chicken Wraps – a good selection of veggies and chicken – serve with your own lettuce (as wraps) and maybe some carbs
Kauai Mango Chicken Wraps – chicken, sauce and tortilla wraps – potentially a full meal
Tequila Lime Shrimp – marinated shrimp only – serve with your own carbs & veggies
I once did a similar thing in Edmonton, but you had to go to the shop and put together all the meals yourself. All the food was prepped, but you had to mix things together in the Ziplock bags or put them into tin foil containers. I think it was cheaper because you were doing some of the labour (you could of course pay extra to have them do the work), but those meals included everything except a salad. If it was something you’d typically serve with rice (e.g. stir fry), they also gave you a bag of rice. It was more comprehensive than this Dashing Dishes offering.
I also purchased the BBQ Meat Pack for $100 when I was at Dashing Dishes… wagyu hotdogs?! I’ll have to get bakery fresh buns and awesome toppings for these puppies! For the price and what I got, It wasn’t too bad of a deal… I’m going to try cooking these steaks in my new Anova sous vide I think!
- Four 5-6oz sirloin steaks
- Four Maple Hill boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- Two packs (5 per pack) Brant Lake Wagyu 6″ hot dogs
- Two packs (5 per pack) custom-made Swiss/bacon smokies
- Two packs (6 per pack) 4oz custom-made beef burgers
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