I’ve noticed a boom of several Super Supper franchises open up in my area and was always was curious as to how helpful it could be for my already hectic life.  You know what I’m talking about…these are the places where you can come in either by yourself or with a group of friends and assemble your own meals.  You don’t cook anything, they have everything there for you.  Some other ones I had heard of were Dream Dinners and Supper Thyme USA.  However there are TONS of these franchises, so I’m sure you have different examples in your area.  My interest in utilizing the services of one of these meal assembly shops was when I kept complaining at work that my kids were not growing up with flavorful homecooked meals.  During the hectic work week, I was reduced to either serving them mainly rice, a protein and canned veggies or fast food (I have to say that I’m proud to say that I definitely stay away from “boxed food”).  However, the kids were getting bored with baked chicken, broiled steaks, or ribs.  They’re itching for more flavor.  Now I know I can easily crack open a cookbook and follow recipes…however that would require planning in advance and making sure I purchase all the ingredients at the grocery store.  There was a period of time years ago where I stayed at home and stocked my pantry and fridge with enough basics and spices to whip up flavorful meals…however after being back at work for 5 years I’ve slowly forgotten all of that!  So Super Suppers seemed like an option.  After checking their site, I saw that you can preorder online your prepared meals in advance for pickup…how is that for making things easy?

Last week I stopped in to Super Suppers and discovered that they had grab n’ go meals.  “You mean I don’t have to actually come in and prep?!!!”  This seemed to me an amazing option especially since at least once a week I normally cave into purchasing a rotisserie chicken for dinner after leaving work, picking up kids from day care, and running errands.  Needless to say, my family is tired of rotisserie chicken.  Picking up a grab n’ go meal may be a more interesting choice.  So I picked up a couple to deliver to a friend who just had twins.  It cost $12.95 per entree that could feed 2-3 people.  Again, please be reminded that everything is preassembled and you just have to follow the directions on the label and cook it at home.  I don’t think that is that bad considering this is the cost of a usual entree at a sit down restaurant.  And honestly…we always honestly cave in to eating out at least once a week when we’re craving a real meal with flavor.  I think $12.95 vs. the typical $50+ for a dinner out with the family isn’t so bad.

So today I took my kids and we did a “walk-in prep”.  I thought they would have a good time with it.  The place had a very luxurious Tuscan themed decor with warm red and mustard wall paint, dark wood flooring, and dark wood ceiling panels.  Wrought iron chandeliers with grape vines and sconces lined prep areas.  The whole place was very clean, organized, warm, and inviting.  Someone even came by and provided us with complimentary Lipton White Tea w/tangerine to drink while we prepped!  Each month there is a designanted menu of entrees to choose from.  We prepared “Pecan-Mozarella Chicken with Basil Pesto” and “Caribbean Pineapple Chicken”.  It was fairly self-explanatory as there were prep stations with all the ingredients and a framed recipe prep card.  They gave us aprons and pretty Tuscan sink counters were available nearby for us to wash our hands.  Someone gave us an overview of what to do and dropped in and out to assist us.  The Caribbean Chicken was basically 3 chicken breasts with rice pilaf, pineapple chunks, and a sauce made of coconut milk, chopped red peppers, and curry.  What’s nice about prepping the meals yourself instead of simply picking up the grab n’ go is that you can actually add more or less according to your taste preferences.  I definitely lightened up the curry as I know my husband is not a fan of it!  You basically just dump all the ingredients into the foil pan they provide (pre-mixing was necessary for the sauce).

The pecan dish was a bit more complicated as you had to smother 3 chicken breasts in dijon mustard in a bag.  You then filled another bag with the coating for crust (bread crumbs, pecans, and olive oil).  The pesto sauce was already pre-made.  One thing I noticed is that salt and pepper were not available (at least I didn’t see it…so you’ll have to add that yourself when you actually cook the meal. 

When we finished, we were given labels of cooking instructions and nutritional information for each.  Here is what everything looked like:

Caribbean chicken:

Pecan-Mozarella chicken:

I’m going to cook the Caribbean chicken tonight and will let you know how it turns out!