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Join the Dinner Revolution and pinch a few pennies

July 20, 2010 – 12:06 pm

If you’ve dished with us this summer, there’s no doubt that you’ve heard about the Let’s Dish! Dinner Revolution, our initiative to change the way 2010 families eat dinner! For the past 5+ years, we’ve helped over 100,000 Mid-Atlantic families realize that it can be easy and affordable to put a healthy dinner on the table each night… and it’s time to spread the word!

We’re just about halfway into the Dinner Revolution, and over 500 new dishers have come through our doors! We often hear questions about the value of Let’s Dish!, including this recent one from a new disher: “Is this really comparable to purchasing ingredients from the grocery store and doing it myself?” Our answer? Yes! Plus, there’s no planning, shopping or chopping… or clean-up!

To illustrate this point, we comparison shopped the ingredients for Let’s Dish! favorite Thai-Style Shrimp and Noodles at a local grocery chain. Here’s what we ended up paying:

Shopping for the ingredients at local grocery chain ended up costing $6.77 per serving (6 servings per meal). Now, compare this to Let’s Dish!:

It’s hard to believe, but Let’s Dish! can save you almost 50% per serving! With rising food costs it can be hard to put a healthy and delicious meal on the table each night. We’re truly proud that we can help families pinch a few pennies, and be part of the solution.

Ashley Signature

PS: If you haven’t joined the Dinner Revolution, what are you waiting for?! New customers can try dishing at a discount, and seasoned dishers can receive up to 3 months of FREE meals. Find out how!

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By Ashley (Click the author to see all his/her posts.)

Good Deeds Make Good News Stories

July 15, 2010 – 3:52 pm

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A few weeks ago, we wrote posted a letter that we received from Dave Abel, a brother of the UVA Chi Psi Fraternity, that described a truly heartwarming story of brotherly love. We weren’t the only ones who thought it was newsworthy. Earlier this week, the Charlottesville Daily Progress picked up the story… and included us! Click here to read the story.

We’re thrilled to be part of this incredible story. Thanks again to the Chi Psi Fraternity brothers and to the Charlottesville Daily Progress.

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By Ashley (Click the author to see all his/her posts.)

Sending Brotherly Love

June 29, 2010 – 11:42 am

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You may have noticed that we’ve taken a little hiatus from our blog, but I think this letter is a great way to kick it off again! Enjoy this heartwarming story from a group of truly awesome guys:

Dear Let’s Dish!:

I am writing to say thank you! I am a UVA alumnus, class of 1991 and a member of the Chi Psi fraternity. One of the main reasons our fraternity was so successful was because of the contributions of a single man: Billy Hearns. Since the 1940s, Billy gave of himself unselfishly to the fraternity as both a brother and caretaker. Unfortunately, 2008 was a bad year for Billy. First, the fraternity closed because it was no longer sustainable after Billy’s retirement. Then, Billy’s wife passed away.

Billy is 82 years old and generations of UVA Chi Psi brothers wanted to take care of him through this difficult period. Over the years, we have all scattered across the country and many of us can’t get back to help Billy in person. Fortunately, we found Let’s Dish!. We have set up an ongoing calendar on Google and we “sign-up” to take turns sending dishes to Billy. No matter where we live, brothers from around the country can easily log on to your site to help him. About once every two weeks, Billy receives eight half-sized meals and sometimes sides and desserts from one of the brothers. Billy says he really enjoys the variety and since he hasn’t done much cooking in the past fifty years, he enjoys the simplicity, too. We can’t be with him, but we can take care of him, just as he did for us.

Thank you!

Dave Abel

Dear UVA Chi Psi brothers,

It is truly a privilege to be a part of your group effort to take care of Billy. He must be a great guy!

Your Friends at Let’s Dish!

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By Ashley (Click the author to see all his/her posts.)

It takes a village…

May 5, 2010 – 11:26 am

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We’re all so busy these days with our careers, children and countless items on our to do lists. Sure, Let’s Dish! helps by providing a healthy, quick dinner even on those crazy nights, but, let’s face it, it truly takes a village to navigate through daily life…complete with neighbors who care. It amazes me that we find time to go to bed at night!

A particular source of frustration to me it knowing what to purchase if I’m looking for a particular item. Everyone claims that they are the best in their advertisements and sale flyers. How do we know what to believe?

The best source for honest reviews are the ones written by customers who were not paid to write them… your neighbors! While there are dozen sites where you can look up reviews about businesses, there are two that I like best. They both generally provide a wide range of reviews, so I can usually spot a good trend.

One is yelp.com, which I’m sure we’re all fairly familar with (thanks for your great reviews about Let’s Dish!, by the way!). The other, however, may be new to some, and, trust me, it’s a gem! It’s myneighborsnetwork.com, developed by Sharon Rainey (a long-time disher!). Members can search and sort through over 10,000 referrals all divided up in hundreds of user-friendly categories. Need a window cleaner in Ashburn? Looking for a math tutor for your first grader in Alexandria? You can find it all. The referrals are all generated by the thousands of members, and are credible and honest.

My Neighbors Network is active with thousands of members in all parts of Northern VA and Montgomery County in MD. A year of membership costs $65, but Neighbors has generously offered a FREE year of membership to Let’s Dish! customers! Just enter promo code V555 when you sign up. You’ll need to enter a credit card but you won’t be charged and you’ll be given several opportunities to opt out a year down the road if you’d like (but, I bet you won’t!). There is no obligation and you can cancel at any time.

As you navigate through commercials, sales flyers and testimonials that seem to good to be true, I encourage you to take some time to read the reviews written by your neighbors (and write some, too!). It truly takes a village to get through life these days! Thanks to my neighbors who help me navigate.

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By Elizabeth Marcotte (Click the author to see all his/her posts.)

How we’ve lost over 40lbs with help from Let’s Dish!

March 23, 2010 – 10:41 am

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One of the questions we hear fairly often from new customers is “Well, is it diet food?” Of course, we say Let’s Dish! is technically not “diet food” as we all tend to think of it, but we do explain that our meals can certainly help busy families live a healthy lifestyle. When we heard this great story from the Parks family, we knew we wanted to share it with all of you, as a testimony to “eating right” with Let’s Dish! and perhaps as a little inspiration for those of us who would like to lose a few pounds! Enjoy!

Let’s Dish! is an integral part of our whole family’s weight loss success thus far. The key is delicious and satisfying meals that are portion-controlled. There’s nothing worse than being on a diet if it means coming home to a piece of boiled fish and a rice cake. Prior to discovering Let’s Dish!, we tried a diet food company with less than desirable offerings - imagine a “turkey burger” with the consistency (and taste) or wet sawdust. In sharp contrast, Let’s Dish! allows us to prepare gourmet-style, well-balanced, “regular food” meals that we look forward to. The best feature is that you’ve put the meal together yourself - you’ve set the portion sized and added the ingredients - and when it’s gone, you’re done eating. And, since you’ve just finished a great piece of flank steak or a juicy pork chop with delicious sides, you don’t need to raid the pantry to find something tasty when you’re through. Also, the Let’s Dish! menu is infinitely more varied and flavorful then our “pre-diet” fare of Monday spaghetti, Tuesday tuna casserole, etc. The bottom line is between the two of us, we’ve lost over 40 pounds in three months with exercise, lots of water and great ready-to-cook meals from Let’s Dish!