I saw an offer on my Sunday paper about HomeBistro.com's meals (a mail-order food delivery service, things are shipped with dry ice.)

Everything sounded delicious (blackened chicken in a champagne cream sauce, shrimp & garlic ravioli with vodka cream sauce) so I decided to give the Web site a look.

To my delight, nutritional information IS available for all their dishes (complete list here) - and most of the complete meals are surprisingly nutritionally sound ~ around 500 to 600 calories for most items so something I easily fit into my daily caloric budget. Ok, I'm sold and signed up for their introductory sampler - $19.95 for four meals. (Intro offer URL here).

After S&H I paid about $27 for four meals, pricey for essentially frozen meals but if they taste as good as they sound for the calories they contain, would be well worth it for me (since I know I could be paying more than $7 to make or eat out something similar.)

So, two days ago I had my first HomeBistro dinner: Salmon filet with chili hollandaise sauce, green beans almondine and mexican rice.

Preparation was amazingly simple, the sauce, salmon & the two sides come in separate pouches, and all I have to do is heat up a pot of water to simmering and just drop the pouches in and heat for about 10 minutes. (I also steamed an extra cup of veggies, just in case I don't get full enough). Afterwards, just open up the pouches, drain as needed, then plate.

And, to my delight again, the dinner turned out to be very delicious. Salmon was buttery & moist, the green beans crisp and the mexican rice fluffy with just enough kick ~ and the creamy/spicy chili hollandaise, that's just icing on top of the cake, who'd thought I can have THAT while trying to lose weight.

And the portions were substantial enough (my separated mixed veggies weren't even needed, but I ate them anyways - only 25 calories... and more stuff for me to lap up the hollandaise with) but also sensible.

So yes, overall, a very enjoyable and fairly healthy frozen food experience, a good thing, especially for a company that doesn't try to market itself as healthy (but they do also offer items that are specifically low-fat & low-carbs too). However, the regular prices (~$12 per meal) are quite a bit higher than what I'm willing to pay, so if interested I'd definitely sign up for the e-mail list and maybe check it out when they have a significant sale.

(the only other thing I have a minor issue with is that they used Atlantic salmon, which is most likely farmed in an "un-green" manner; but that's just the environmentally-conscious part of me.)

But all in all, quite impressed with what this company is offering. Fairly quick way to get a gourmet-like meal portioned for one. I can see health- & food- conscious yuppies all over this already...

Hi,
I checked the web site out. It does look yummy but expensive. When looking at individual dishes I was not sure if they per person or for 4 servings or what though. I did send for a free catalog too.
I am making spagetti tonight for dinner. I use frozen meatballs(beef italian style) but tonight I am sneaking in turkey frozen ones and Barilli wheat pasta. I know everyone will be able to tell the difference. The only thing is that the turkey meatballs simmering in my sauce smell gross! I hope they tast better than they smell!
I am always looking for quick meals (frozen is ok too). If you have any suggestions for any other low fat/low cal frozen or quick dishes let me know!
Thanks for the Home Bistro tip,
Lisa

It's individual servings, so especially good for singles like me.

And yes, it is expensive for its category (frozen meals/snacks) - but putting it in perspective, it does taste good and can fool me for restaurant quality. And I can pay similar prices (if not more) at a restaurant and NOT know how many calories went in there. So a bit of tradeoff. And as noted in my original post, I'd sign up for mailing list and wait till they announce a sale.

And the linked intro offer is significantly better on the prices.

I love things like that. And I don't mind paying a little more if the quality is good. I'm also single, so this sort of thing is a good fit for me.

I think Home Bistro has come sort of connection to Diet to your Door. In fact they are changing their name to Bistro M.D. , lol. I tried DTYD last year and noticed that some of their foods matched Home Bistro foods, down to the ingredient list and exact nutrition info.

Have you seen www.artikochef.com? They include nutrition data for most of their foods, and have some interesting offerings. I also recently stumbled across http://www.whitetoque.com/index.php and have been browsing it with interest. Their shipping seems awfully high, though, and you'd have to order a lot of food for it to balance out.

AquaWarlock,

I have been searching for some gourmet frozen dinners exactly like what this company does. While the regular prices are a bit steep, having something this good in the freezer when you're tired kills the desire for a large combination pizza, wings, and sodas, which can run you close to $30 these days!

Thanks for the heads-up! Our order is on the way.

Suzanne, thanks for those other sites! Both looked interesting so budget & freezer-room allowing I look forward to checking those out as well.

Kylie, let me know whatcha think when they arrive. I hope you liked them too as much as I did (can't wait to dig into my 2nd one on Wednesday!)

Aquawarlock...OMG!!!! The dinners arrived today and we had the salmon and the blackened chicken tonight. WOW! My DH wants to break into the other two right now!

We're actually going through the catalog and trying to come up with some good things for next month. The DH is trying to rationalize the strawberry swirl cheesecake! HAHAHAA

So, no surprise, I'm going order from these guys again, particularly after I did the math. Buying 8 for the month (with restraint) will actually save us money.

Wait a second...I'm rationalizing too!

Anyway, thanks for the heads-up. I owe you big time on this rec.

K