Author Archives: Emily Blakely

Here are all the posts written by this author. Click each title below to access the entire post.

Walk-in Wednesdays now available!

Walk-In WednesdaysWe have gotten thousands of customer suggestions and requests over the last few years, and none as often as the request to be able to walk in and dish at Let’s Dish! store without an appointment. We’ve heard your feedback and are excited to launch Walk-In Wednesdays!

Now on Wednesdays, you can walk into any of our participating Maryland or Northern Virginia locations and dish anywhere from 1 to 13 meals at a time.* No appointment necessary. You heard right. No appointment necessary!

We are thrilled to try out the new walk-in idea, and summer is the perfect time for it - when everyone’s schedule become more hectic and planning a dishing session can seem nearly impossible. We think you’ll be excited too (hey, you’ve been begging us for it)!

If Wednesday is your regular dishing day, don’t fear - you can still sign up in advance if you wish, just like you normally would. That will guarantee that all the food you ordered will be waiting for you when you get there.

Check the online calendar for your store’s Wednesday hours and stop by to dish!

About Emily

*Participating Let’s Dish! locations include Baltimore and Columbia, MD, and Alexandria, Ashburn, and Fairfax, VA. Menu items are subject to availability. Only customers who make 4 or more meals will have those meals counted toward DishRewards.

RECOMMENDED LINKS
> 1 Dish? 6 Dishes? 11 Dishes? We’re Flexible.
> Bring your kids with you to dish this summer!
> Wow the crowds at home and on vacation!

Bring your kids with you to dish this summer!

Kids like cooking?  Take ‘em dishing!School’s out, now what?

That’s the question on many parents’ lips this time of year. Camp, the pool, vacations, etc., are all fantastic ways to spend your summer. But what about those times when the kids are out of camp and tired of the pool or god forbid it’s raining? Why not bring your child with you to Let’s Dish!?

Dishing is a great way for kids to learn about the things they eat and feel more involved in dinner time. It may also help those picky eaters to try new things. They can pick out dinners from our monthly menu and then help to make and cook them! Dishing can also be a fun bonding experience for the both of you.

This summer, we’re adding more “Parent/Kid Sessions” (specially marked as such) to our calendar for you to choose from. Kids 8 years of age and older are encouraged to come to these sessions and dish with a parent. We ask that you help ensure that your child is well behaved and mature enough to handle basic food safety procedures (hand washing, etc) while in the session. Children must be accompanied by a parent at the food stations while dishing. If you have any specific questions about brining your child to dish, contact your nearest Let’s Dish! store.

This summer, when that inevitable question of “what else is there to do?” comes up, you’ll be ready!

About Emily

RECOMMENDED LINKS:
> “Let’s Dish!: The savings might surprise you.
> “Kid-Friendly Let’s Dish! Meals featured on WUSA9â€
> “Wow the crowds at home and on vacation!
> “FREE Delivery for New Moms!

FREE Dinner for New Moms!

FREE Dinner for New Moms!Don’t miss our Mother’s Day offer of a FREE meal for those who became a mom (or became a mom again!) in 2008!

FREE Dishes for New Moms

Being a new mom is the hardest and most rewarding job we’ll ever have. Well, it just got a little easier… and more rewarding! This Mother’s Day Week, Let’s Dish! will give a FREE Ready Made meal to anyone who has become a mom ( or become a mom again) in 2008. Just come into any of these Let’s Dish! locations between May 4 and May 11 and pick up your free dish (serves 4-6). No obligation. No small print. See just a few details below.*

Pass it on!
> View your “Free Meal” invitation online
> Use our email “Email this” tool above to pass this on to your new mom friends! Or, share to your favorite group on Facebook or more using our “Share This” tool below!
> Buy Mom a Let’s Dish! Gift Card

LINK > See how Let’s Dish! always saves you time and money!

View this month’s menu

Click to continue reading “FREE Dinner for New Moms!”

The Difference a Dish Can Make

Last week, we shared with you how important community involvement is to Let’s Dish! in our post, “Supporting our Community: One Dish at a Time,” as well as how you can request support for your own personal causes with our newly-expanded Fundraising Program.

We also gave you some insight into our current partnership with Johns Hopkins, donating meals to families who have a family member being treated at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD.

No blog post could give you a full sense, however, of just what a difference a “dish” - a healthy, homemade meal with no effort - can make to a family going through a difficult time.

We’d like to share with you a few notes from recent meal recipients in hopes that you will join us in making meals for the families at Johns Hopkins. Or, maybe these posts will inspire you as to how you can get involved with Let’s Dish! to support your community through meals or funds raised towards a worthy cause.
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Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center

“Dear Let’s Dish!,
I just wanted to let you know how much we appreciated the dinners that you provided recently. We are staying at the Hackerman-Patz House at Johns Hopkins while my husband undergoes a transplant. We will be here for three months. One of the challenges has been trying to fix nutritious, tasty meals while away from home for such a long time. I was very excited to see that the menu for the latest house social was being provided by Let’s Dish!. I have been a “disher” at my home store or almost 2 years now and know how delicious your food is. Once again, thank you very much for your generosity.”

Click to continue reading “The Difference a Dish Can Make”

Plan a “Party of Five” and dessert’s on us!

Let’s Dish!I think it goes without saying that I love Let’s Dish!, and that I dish every month and can’t imagine my life without meals (and desserts) in my freezer. I’m young, married and super busy, so it’s a no-brainer.

However, my friends haven’t managed to get into the same groove. A majority of them are single, a few of them are still students, and some still have free time to dine out or cook from scratch (must be nice, right?). A lot of them say, “Oh, I really should dish…” or “Wow, Emily, this dinner was really good - I should go to Let’s Dish!”, but getting them there …

Click to continue reading “Plan a “Party of Five” and dessert’s on us!”

Supporting Our Community: One Dish at a Time

Community involvement has always been a key focus of the Let’s Dish! organization in the mid-Atlantic.

Throughout the years, we’ve been involved with several charities, non-profit organizations and community groups, and we’ve helped them to raise awareness about their cause, raise funds for their purposes and bring community members together.

Though the full list would be too long to post, here are just a few of the organizations we’ve worked with over the past 4 years:

…as well as many local church groups, sports teams, schools and families in need in our own communities.

Click to continue reading “Supporting Our Community: One Dish at a Time”

Fresh Ideas from Let’s Dish!

Spring flowers bring Let's Dish! fresh ideas!April is here - the unofficial start of spring for many of us - and we’re bursting with fresh new ideas from Let’s Dish!.

Over the next month or so, we’ll share with you a bunch of new ideas on how to make your life, and your dishing experience, even better. Stay tuned for great tips to get you out of your kitchen and out enjoying the spring weather.

Plus, we’ll pass on some new spring recipe creations from our food team, inspiring stories of community involvement (and opportunities for you to “dish” for a cause), and insider info on new Let’s Dish! promotions.

Click to continue reading “Fresh Ideas from Let’s Dish!”

Sort through clutter with “SOS” in mind.

Staying on the topic of whether or not you should throw things away, do you ever just look around your house and have the epiphany that you just have a LOT of stuff? This always happens when I’m spending a Sunday afternoon cleaning the house, and I realize that I have tons of stuff that is just taking up room in my house - everything from clothes and shoes that I don’t wear anymore to books and DVDs that I haven’t read or watched in a long time.

But I am always hesitant to throw away perfectly good things.

Click to continue reading “Sort through clutter with “SOS” in mind.”

Use an envelope to give loose contact information the slip!

Take a look at this very handy tip from professional organizer Monica Conners.  This is a great suggestion for organizing new contact information (and keeping your desk post-it note free).

Everyone has little slips of paper with phone number and addresses on them, and they sometimes get lost. You can tape an envelope in the back of your personal address book or hang a file folder on the side of the fridge so you can easily slip them away to write them in all at once. - Monica Connors of Smart Spaces Organizing, www.smartspacesorganizing.com

And if you’re anything like me, you’re VERY reliant on technology, especially computers and cell phones.

Click to continue reading “Use an envelope to give loose contact information the slip!”

Take small steps towards giant goals (even giant closets).

It’s the weekend, so we thought you might like a few extra tips and hopefully a lot of extra motivation!

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If you’re like me, you’ve made plenty of resolutions this year - so many so that it’s turned into an overwhelming to-do list! And so many of my resolutions seem great in theory, but I actually have no idea how to accomplish them! It’s easy for me to say “I want to get organized,” but much harder to actually make it happen. Joanne Ekeledo, professional organizer, has some great tips to help turn big, lofty resolutions into very accomplishable plans.

Approach organizing like eating an elephant.

Click to continue reading “Take small steps towards giant goals (even giant closets).”