What if cooking at home were easier than eating out?
With Super Suppers in Ridgeland, MS, it can be. Supper Suppers makes it possible to serve up a fresh, hot, home-cooked meal in thirty minutes or less — meals like Sunday pot roast with vegetables, shrimp and chicken casseroles, spicy chicken enchiladas, Asian shortribs with sesame and soy green beans, chicken and dressing, and many, many more.
It works like this: Super Suppers stocks all the fresh ingredients needed to create any of a dozen different entrees. For just a dollar per entree, the friendly Super Suppers staff will take your order, assemble your meals, and package them to go. (If you prefer, you can save the buck and assemble the meals yourself using recipes posted throughout the store.) Once home, most meals can be prepared and on the table in less than thirty minutes.
In short: Super Suppers is a godsend.
Convenience
At the end of a long day, deciding what to make for dinner, shopping for the ingredients, and cooking a meal often strikes me as more effort than it’s worth. As a result, Clyde and I eat out far more than we should — sometimes as often as fifteen meals a week. You can see the impact on our wallets … and our waistlines.
While I like the convenience of eating at a local restaurant, Clyde really enjoys a home-cooked evening meal. With his needs in mind, I made a vow to eat at home more often … but, despite my best intentions, that turned out to be a vow I didn’t keep. In the end, I’m just not enough of a Suzy Homemaker to keep fresh vegetables on hand, monitor a grocery list, and whip up a delicious main course with side dishes every night. Invariably, especially after a long day, I’d wind up avoiding the kitchen and taking us out to dinner.
Super Suppers is changing all that. Now, I go in once or twice a week, pick up six meals to go, and ferry them home to the fridge. At about 5:00, I go downstairs and pre-heat the oven. At 5:20, I pop an entree into the oven. If I’m in the mood, I whip up a quick vegetable side dish — like green beans or turnip greens or spinach. By 6:00, we have a fresh, hot, home-cooked meal on the table.
Frankly? Cooking this way is easier than eating out.
Variety
When I’m making all meals from scratch, I get in a rut. At the end of a long day, I’m inclined to go for easy fixin’s — which means stir-fry (I always make too much) or pasta (again) or pizza (yet again).
Super Suppers comes to my rescue. Their menu features a dozen entrees (with others occasionally available) and changes every month. Any of these can be dressed up with vegetable side-dishes, Parker House rolls, or inventive breads (chicken-cheddar braid, anyone?). The menu changes dramatically every thirty days, so, even if you make every dinner a Super Suppers dinner, you’ll never have the same meal more than three times in any given month.
Price
When I became determined to eat at home more often, I began by looking for a personal chef. Using the internet, I tracked down three personal chef services in the Jackson metro area. i was unprepared, though, for the prices personal chefs charge! The most basic service (five meals, prepared and frozen once a week at our home) would cost me a minimum of $400.00. That’s forty bucks a plate — far more than we would ever spend on a casual dinner at a local restaurant.
By contrast, we’re spending just $7.00 per plate on our Super Suppers meals. The shop offers half entrees (three generous servings) for $14.00 or whole entrees (six to eight servings) for $22.00. At that rate, preparing a home-cooked meal isn’t just easier than eating out — it costs less, too!
Tip: on the last day of the month, just before the menu changes, you can pick up outgoing frozen entrees at a ten percent discount.
Quality
Bad food isn’t a value at any price. I’m happy to report, though, that Super Suppers dinners are very good … and very good for you.
The Asian spare ribs were tender and succulent — as good as any you can purchase at an upscale Chinese restaurant. The sesame and soy green beans were crisp and savory. The chicken and shrimp casserole (with rice) was packed with juicy chicken and plump shrimp. The Sunday pot roast with potatoes and carrots (my personal favorite) was as good as Mom’s.
We’ve recently decided to avoid trans-fats, artificial sweeteners, and high fructose corn syrup — and Super Suppers fits right in with our diet plan. Every entree is trans-fat free, and the nutritional info for every meal is available at the store and on the website.
Service
Four people work at the Ridgeland, MS, Super Suppers franchise (five if you count the owner’s polite young daughter, who occasionally works the front counter with gracious efficiency), and every single one of these friendly folks is an enthusiastic missionary for what the shop has to offer. They love explaining how the Super Suppers program works, and they’re eager to recommend an entree that meets your needs.
Why Wait?
If you share my passion for great food, my obsession with convenience, and my desire to eat better by eating out less, the folks at Super Suppers are soon going to become some of your best friends. Stop by later today, pick up an entree or two, and give the service a try. Once you do, be sure to come back here and let me know what you think!
On your reccomendation, I stopped by and picked up a couple of things out of their freezer. You are right, the food is delicious and the people are helpful and enthusiastic (especially the young daughter.)When asked how I heard about them, I mentioned your blog. The daughter rushed over to the table where they keep the promotional material and showed me a laminated copy of your entry — she has highlighted the portion about her!Thanks for the referal. I feel like a halfway real mom again!
Mendy — thanks for taking the time to let me know about your own great Super Suppers experience. I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying their food as much as I am!
I tried some Super Supper entrees while visiting family in California and was impressed.
Sadly, there isn’t a Super Suppers within 4 hours of our home so I bought the cookbook. The food, to my delight, comes out just as good as going to the store!
While it isn’t as convenient, it’s less expensive and just as good.
I’ve read alot of blogs about how individuals have tried Super Suppers and they don’t think it is worth the money. I consider myself frugal, but I first heard about it four months ago and couldn’t imagine my life without it. I live in New Mexico, belong to the “Super Suppers Club” – which means you allow them to automatically bill your credit card once a month (you can cancel at any time). I get 24-half entrees (serves 3) for $198.00. If you belong to the club they will prepare your meals for FREE!!! That’s $8.25 for the family or $2.75 per person. It takes me about 20 minutes from the time I leave my house until I have all my meals for the month loaded in my car. I now spend around $325/month on groceries (including milk, snacks, etc.) vs. $400-$500 I was spending before SS. I save about an hour and a half clean up and cooking time EVERY NIGHT!! I also save about 3 hours of shopping time EVERY WEEK!! We are eating healthier than before, because I’m not throwing frozen dinners with tons of preservatives, msg, etc. on the table for dinner. We are also eating out far less and enjoy more time at home (another savings of about $300/month)!! It is by far the best gift I have ever given myself!!!!