Dinner’s ready: Quick, quality meals without the hassle

Dinner’s ready! They’re two of the best words said in most households every night. Those words mean a delicious meal is ready and everyone happily makes their way to the dinner table (or the lounge) with their plate of food in hand. The one person that might not be so happy is the person who’s cooked the dinner….

Now don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE cooking. If I could cook all day I would be one happy lady BUT the reality is that at this point in my life I just don’t have the time. If I’m super busy it often feels like more of a chore than something that I enjoy doing. I must admit, Mr Eat Canberra does chip in and he’s a pretty good cook but he’s extremely busy too and we don’t even have kids! When I do have the time I plan meals for the week, write my grocery list and go to the markets to get my fresh produce. But when I know I have busy weeks ahead my planning and organising for cooking dinner is at the bottom of my priority list. So for the weeks when I’m REALLY busy I’ve started looking for alternatives to take the stress out of worrying about what we’ll have for dinner. I recently came across Dinner’s Ready, a business based in Jindabyne that offers a large range of tasty high-quality pre-cooked meals.

Dinner’s Ready is run by husband and wife, Alison and Tim Wilson. The couple recently started taking their delicious home-style meals from the snowfields to Canberra because of the demand they’ve received from Canberrans.

“The main reason for moving our meals into Canberra was that we had a lot of loyal support from Canberrans who came down to ski.  Many were making a special trip in to see us on their way into the snow, and some were also buying food to bring back with them at the end of their stay.  They kept asking us to find a way to bring our meals to Canberra, so that they could continue to buy them on a regular basis, year-round,” said Alison.

She says that Dinner’s Ready is for people who love food, who relish something really tasty to eat at the end of the day, but who are sometimes just too busy to cook, and don’t want to eat out all the time.

“Our food bridges the gap that is currently missing between going to a good restaurant, and having to cook at home.”

“The food is made with love and care by real chefs, using great produce and are healthy and nutritious – a million miles away from the factory-made ready meals you’ll normally find on supermarket shelves.”

Dinner’s Ready started last winter as a shop in the Snowy Mountains and they quickly built up a following of regular customers (from both locals and visitors).

Their meals are available at Prohibition located at the Kingston Foreshore, and TwentyOne Café & Groceries in New Acton, with more outlets in the pipeline. Both shops have a freezer with 20-24 different types of meals to choose from, which is restocked at least once, often twice a week. You can also find their meals in the snowfields – two in Jindabyne, one in Cabramurra, and in Thredbo and Perisher.

I’ve tried the Butter Chicken with rice, Tortellini with Italian Sausage Sauce and the African Chicken (one of the most popular dishes on the menu) and they were all delicious. I just steamed some rice to go with the African Chicken and added some fresh coriander! I’m going to put an order in soon and really want to try the Boeuf Bourguignon, the pies and some of their other pasta dishes. There’s lots of options available and meals start from $8.95.

Visit the Dinner’s Ready website to check out the menu and take the stress out think about what’s for dinner when you don’t have the time. You can order online or pick up some of their meals from one of the stockists in Canberra or the Snowy Mountains.

This is a sponsored post but all opinions are the author’s own.