Customer Reviews

Dream Dinners: Turn Dinnertime into Family Time with 100 Assemble-and-Freeze Meals

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I am pretty upset. I just ordered a brand new cookbook, followed the recipe for a triple batch of the artichoke chicken casserole (which was about $50 worth of supplies. I knew better...I knew there was no way that 1 1/2 cups of uncooked rice would be able to reconstitute with the amount of liquid in the sauce. But, I trusted the book. What a disaster. I am about to call Papa John's. Here is the corrected cookbook (sorry, I didn't think to check for corrections since I just bought the book).

Woops, there are 45 PAGES OF CORRECTIONS!!!! Seriously? How did this book make it through to publishing? Whoever edited it should be fired. If you go to the dream dinners website there is a link with all of the corrections.

Here are the recipes that have erros:

DREAM DINNERS BOOK
RECIPE REVISIONS/CLARIFICATIONS
Baked Stuffed French Toast
Beef Stir-Fry
Chicken and Artichoke Casserole
Cinnamon Apple Cake
Grammy's Chocolate Chip Cookies
Kielbasa Bean Soup
New England Pot Roast
Penne with Rosemary Chicken
Three Cheese Spinach Soup
Grandma Rue's Peanut Butter Fingers
Cider-Braised Pork Chops
Pork Medallions with Pears
Fettuccine with Chicken and Asparagus
Tried and True Lasagna
Breakfast Eggs w/ Potato Crust
Beef and Corn Enchiladas
Baked Spaghetti
Karlene's Cottage Cheese Pancakes
Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole
Margarita Slush
Raspberry Margarita Slush
Baked Shoestring Potatoes
Baked Pasta and Lemon Chicken
Baked Pesto Ravioli with Chicken

I've been to the Dream Dinners franchise several times now and like about 80% of the meals I bring home. I was hoping the book would provide many of the recipes that I had prepared at Dream Dinners but it doesn't. I can understand they don't want to compete with their franchise stores.
Many of the reheating directions are vague and several of the recipes you don't know whether to freeze the meat in the sauce or freeze them separate. Not one picture, doesn't Morrow Cookbooks have a food photographer? And the labels in the back of the book (for labelling your food) why didn't they make those sticky labels? The book started out at $19.95 less than a month ago, it's already down to $13 on Amazon and even cheaper through other sellers so that should tell you something. Would recommend Super Suppers Cookbook or Don't Panic - Dinner's in the Freezer: Great-Tasting Meals You Can Make Ahead for the same concept but better recipes.

Make sure you visit the dream dinners website. There are over 45 pages of corrections for this cookbook! what? You're telling me that between the authors, editors and whoever else had a hand in this cookbook that there were 45 pages of mistakes? Ridiculous. See the comments, I added where you'd have to go to the website to find them. Thus do not give this cookbook as a gift unless you want to print 45 additional pages and add to the gift bag!

I would also recommend Cook Once, Eat Twice Slow Cooker Recipes (Bertter Homes and Gardens), it's more a slow cooker cookbook where you make two nights worth of meals in the crockpot and then turn the second night's dinner into something different. It's really a good cookbook. Anything is better than this one.

I am an avid freezer cooker and have a few cookbooks I like to reference. I have never been to a Dream Dinners business (or any of the others like them) but I thought what the heck, I'll get the book. There are some decent recipes in it but for the most part, a lot of the recipes aren't exactly what I would deam "family friendly" for those of you with small children under 10. My kids eat a lot of different foods but the recipes I did try out of the book did not appeal to them. I found "Don't Panic: Dinner's in the Freezer" by Suzie Martinez to be a much better cookbook for my needs. I use the Make a Mix and More Make a Mix cookbooks alongside the freezer cookbooks to make cooking dinner much easier. I do like that Dream Dinners seems to try to make an effort to have healthier freezer dinners by incorporating egg substitute and fat free products instead of real eggs and full fat items. I was already doing that but it's nice to see it implemented in the book itself to try to make people aware that you can cut the fat without losing taste.

I was so excited when I first heard about this book. It's a great idea--prepare signature Dream Dinners recipes from the comfort of your own home. But...many of the recipes I was hoping they would publish in the book are not included. And the recipes that are included look less than stellar. Were they afraid of printing too many of their signature dinner recipes for fear that it would turn people away from sessions? And where are the pictures? I thought they would at least print 2 or 3 pages with photos, but there is not one photo of a recipe included. "Don't Panic: Dinner's in the Freezer" by Suzie Martinez is a much better freezer meal cookbook. I guess I just expected a little more out from the founders of the country's #1 meal assembly business.

I have attended several Dream Dinner sessions and was disappointed to find that none of the recipes that I prepared at the sessions were in this book! Upon asking my session manager about it, I was told that discontinued recipes were used for the book. Does that mean that they were not popular recipes? Also the quality of the book was below average. The ends of the pages are cut uneven so it is cumbersome to thumb through the book. Overall, I was barely satisfied with the book.

I've been to Dream Dinners and my family liked the meals. This cookbook has helped me do a lot more freezer cooking, which is nice as a busy mom of 5. However, I am continually disappointed by the sloppy nature of this cookbook-it seems like they just threw it together. There are numerous errors in the recipes, and the directions are sometimes vague. I do cook a lot and was able to spot many of these, but it is still frustrating. Many of the recipes are very good, but just as many are poor. If you are looking for a "best of " Dream Dinners, this is not it. I do use the book a lot, and often use it as a reference on how to multiply and freeze some of my other favorite recipes. A good book which I would recommend, but not really what it should be.

I have been intrigued with the concept of the Dream Dinners and I bought the cookbook to hold me over until a franchise opens here in Canada. I love the little excerpts about conversation starters and the like and all of the low(er) fat ingredients but sadly, I've tried 3 recipes so far, and all of them came out horribly.

I've contacted Dream Dinners and am waiting for their response. I'm apprehensive about trying the other recipes I've already bought the ingredients for. It's getting expensive throwing things out and making another dinner for my family and it sure isn't make my life any easier.

Another thing that irritates me about this book is that many of the recipes cannot be frozen. Why include them in this book then??

UPDATE: It took ages but Dream Dinners admitted to the errors and has finally posted corrections on their website.

I was patiently awaiting the release of this book and I was definately not disappointed. This book is based on the Dream Dinner Francise concept of preparing meals and then freezing them before cooking. Then defrosting and cooking them when you are ready to eat. However, the book focuses on preparing three meals - one to eat now and two to freeze instead of preparing them in batch. It does mention a few hints for preparing the meals all at once, but the focus is more on making extras for later.

The layout of the book is very easy to read and follow. Each recipe is on a two page spread with the left side containing the ingredients and portions for both 1 and 3 meals. The right side of the page contains directions for putting the meal together, directions on how to eat it now, and then directions on how to freeze it. The book also details the type of container (either pan or bag) to use for each recipe. The back of the book contains labels to use with cooking directions for each dish. These are especially helpful if you are giving the meals to neighbors or friends as gifts. Throughout the book there are sidebars with hints and tips on how to enrich family dinner times, such as rituals and conversation starters. I thought that these were a great addition to the book and give you concrete ideas on how to make mealtimes a special time.

The book contains a variety of types of recipes and is not too heavy on any type of recipe. It includes recipes for appetizers, salads, soups, side dishes, pasta dishes, dinners, and desserts. The bulk of the book is main entrees (dinners and pastas). It includes a few recipies that cannot be frozen such as a Layered Salad, but I believe that there are only a few and they are either Salads or side dishes. If you aren't a fan of soups or fish, there are only a few of these types of recipes. I am very pleased with the recipes included. I have made several of them at dream dinners and tested a few out at home. I have to disagree with the reviewer who commented that the meals are not kid friendly. I have a 3 and 4 year and felt that they would eat most of the meals in the cookbook. The book contains such kid friendly standbys as Spaghetti Pie, Pot Pie, Chicken Cassarole, Beef Stir Fry and Baked Ziti. It also has food that is more elegant such as an EXCELLENT sesame London Broil and Shrimp Creole. I think that it is a great mix between kid friendly and adult friendly food. The BBQ Beef recipe included in this book is the best BBQ that I have had and I live in NC, so that is a strong statement.

My only negative comment about the book is that there are no pictures. However, I highly recommend this book and am pleased that I purchased it.

I purchased both the Super Suppers cookbook and this one as well for my family to have homecooked meals each night,there are no pictures and the book is confusing. I prefered the Super Suppers cookbook over this

I've been to Dream Dinners a couple of times and loved it so I eagerly anticipated the release of this book. I was SO disappointed with my first 2 meals. They're not giving away any secret recipes here...

There seem to be errors in the recipes as other reviewers have said. The Chicken & Artichoke Casserole calls for uncooked rice. Of course, the rice never cooked when I baked the casserole. Yet, the page facing the recipe has a big box explaining "Cooking Rice in Large Quantities". I had to keep adding water to the baking dish to slavage the meal.

I also find it quite strange that when I have gone to the Dream Dinners franchise, the pasta part of the meals call for the pasta to be boiled on the night you are serving them which works out great. This books calls for boiling then freezing. My pasta came out terrible.

I expected so much better from this book. It seems like it wasn't even proof-read.

I did try the Slow-Cooked BBQ Beef on another reviewers suggestion and I will say it is AMAZING.

Also disappointing is the lack of ANY photos. The labels are another story. There are 3 lables of each recipe in the back. It would be nice if they could also provide PDFs of the lables on their web site so I don't have to go to a copy center.