Do you love cooking but struggle to come up with inspiring delicious meals every night? Do you find yourself cooking the same old dinners every week because you are just too tired to think of what the whole family are going to enjoy? More so, do you hate going shopping for everything only to find you have forgotten one of the key ingredients for your dish?

Sound familiar?

I LOVE cooking. I really do. I enjoy prepping meals that I know my family are going to enjoy or hosting neighbours and friends as we catch up over yummy food. I love the way enjoying a meal can bring family and friends together after a long day, where a tasty meal is at the heart of good conversation and happy banter.

What I really struggle with sometimes though, is deciding what to make every night and the mission it can often be of seeing what I need, writing a list and then getting to the shops to get everything on that list. With three kids in the picture I don’t always have time to page through recipe books for inspiration or getting to the shops for dinner things. And I hate to say it, but I’ve become like and 80′ housewife (bless you mom!) who literally has her standard weekly meals of spag bol (usually Mondays), roast chicken (Most often than not on Wednesdays), Beef and veg soup and Chicken asian stir fry just about every other night. Nothing wrong with those meals by any means but I mean I think I hear the 80’s calling? I think they want some of my old-school dinners back!

I experienced Like A Chef for the first time last week and I am feeling so freshly inspired about our dinners guys! I have to say… I was pretty blown away. And so were  my neighbours and family! We chose the Foodie Box, which is their more specailised box with a selection of real gourmet meals. We had a box of the most delicious and fresh ingredients to make the following four meals :

1. Kingklip and Bulgar Wheat Risotto – We enjoyed this meal with my folks and we were all really impressed. The fish was so fresh and the Risotto was rich and delicious. it was my first time making Risotto and it’s certainly given me the confidence to make it again. Decedent is the perfect work to describe this tasty dish! YUM!!

2. Chicken and Tahini curry –  With my hubs in Jhb, I got to enjoy this one with my neighbours and i think it’s fair to say they were also pretty bowled over. It was so tasty and we loved how it was served : op top of a toasted naan bread sprinkled with cashews and spring onion! What a winner!

3. Bacon and mushroom Gnocchi – Brendon was also away for this one but because there was so much, I saved him a portion for the following night. The boys LOVED helping me make it and they both licked their plated clean. I also sent a portion up to another neighbour friend who said it was one of the tastiest meals he had ever had.

4. Lamb burgers with Carrot dippers – I purposefully saved this one for Friday night because we usually do burger/pizza friday and I knew the whole family would enjoy it. It was so easy because I froze the lamb mince and bagels on the Monday I recieved the box and simply took it out on the (Friday) morning. The Lamb Burgers were made with lamb mince, mint, parsley and paprika! They were served with an Harissa yoghurt and delicious carrot dippers. My boys love helping make them and Noah even managed to eat his entire one. It was so huge, not evenI could finish it. It goes to show how much the kids enjoyed theirs though!

So what was our overall experience like?

• The food was of exceptional quality. I think I often get frustrated with food that I purchase that is so close to its sell by date, where if it’s not cooked on the day it goes old. Beside the lamb and bagels which i froze (only because we had them on Friday night), everything stayed perfectly fresh in my fridge and was so fresh and full of colour!
• Each meal was so well thought out and there was such a great selection : Chicken, fish, bacon and Lamb. No chance of anyone getting bored with this menu!
• The ingredients were all perfectly measured out and pre-portioned which meant 1 : it was easy and simple to follow which resulted in a no-mess-nofuss dinner and 2:There was NO waste! We used everything in our box, down to the last mini pack of herbs. It was amazing knowing we didn’t have to throw away any left over food stuff.
• The portions are really big and satisfactory. Many of the dishes could easily feed an extra person or offer a delicious left over lunch the next day!
• The delivery of the box was set at a specific time frame and delivered intact, all beautifully presented with ice packs for the proteins to keep cool.

The one thing I tried hard to gauge was the cost of these meals and see what it would cost me if I sourced and bought all the ingredients myself. The box we chose retails for R1230 for four meals for four people (Bare in mind this is the most pricey of the range) That works out to about R307 per meal and just over R76 per person per meal. And here’s what I realised:

1. With this box, the section of ingredients is amazing and some of the meals included some really expensive ingredients like cashews, tahini, kingklip and coconut milk. Theses kinds of produce don’t come cheap! If you want fresh, yummy food and wholesome food, you are going to pay for it. Sure I could cook a regular dinner for less than this, but for these kinds of dinners? Not that much cheaper I have to tell you. For example : Four portions of Kinglip from Woolies would cost me close to R200 alone. Add in all the extras and I’m pretty close to the full R307 anyway.
2. You pay for the convenience. No matter who you are : a young professional, a student living in digs, a young mom with mom with new borns and toddlers or a more seasoned mom with kids in high school. You are busy and life is full and sometimes relying on something like this is what makes all the difference to our days. Sometimes, knowing we have that one last thing to do at the end of a long day taken care of is the difference between a hard day and an easier one.
3.  Knowing I’m not wasting food is such a weight off my shoulders. I know Im saving this way! My mom will be proud knowing that last week I had no food to throw away when she was cleaning out my fridge!
4. It’s cheaper and more healthy that a takeaway. If you fall into anyone of the above categories you will know how easy it is to fall into to the trap of weekly take-aways. Ordering your weekly meals this way is no doubt a lot cheaper and healthier than succumbing to takeaways during the week. i loved knowing what I was making and subsequently what we were putting into our bodies!

Now that you’ve heard about our experience, let me tell you how you can WIN a box of FOUR meals for yourself:

1. Like and share the post on Facebook.
2. Follow Like A Chef on Facebook
3. Comment with your choice of Classic, Foodie or Wholesome and tag a minimum of two mom friends on the Facebook thread. (Not below, on Facebook please!)
4. For a bonus entry, subscribe to their newsletter by clicking here. (you can scroll down to find the box where it’s as simple as typing in your email address) Please let me know in the comments below or Facebook if you have done this.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

• All three steps need to be followed in order to qualify for the prize. The fourth step is a bonus step.
• Winner is selected via random.org and my decision is final.
• Prize cannot be sold or redeemed for cash.
• Competition will run until  Tuesday 25th Septemebr and announced soon after. .
• This prize is open to South African residents only.

For more info email info@likeachef.co.za or call 082 680 0481or visit their website to see what amazing dishes are ready for pre-oreder today!

GOOD LUCK!!

Hi I’m Leigh! Did you enjoy reading this post? I really hope so and would love you to stick around a little longer! Please feel free to browse my blog for other articles or to keep up with all the latest news and to be the first to hear about some great competitions, come and find me me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You can also email me directly at leeloobaggins@hotmail.com or simply subscribe below and never worry about missing out!