The Dinner Ladies homemade dinners: a great gift for new parents

Isn’t it funny how much you learn once you become a parent? How many of us have bought pregnant friends super-small onesies that fit their baby for just a few weeks? After having our own children, we become acutely aware of what new parents actually need. Teeny tiny outfits it’s not. But a stash of delicious homemade meals in the freezer? You bet! 

In those early days with a newborn, when cooking nutritious dinners is the last thing anyone has time and energy for, it’s incredibly comforting and reassuring to have a freezer stocked with family-friendly, deliciously nourishing meals. That’s any new parent’s language of love! 

Here are some good reasons a box of Dinner Ladies meals, or gift voucher, is the best present you can give.

Food is the gift of love

We cook special food for people as a way of showing we care. Never is this nurturing more welcome than in those tricky first weeks with a small baby. Rather than visits, or flowers, or teeny tiny onesies, new parents need to feel nurtured, comforted and looked after. Delicious nourishing food is an excellent way to say: ‘Congratulations! We love you and are thinking of you. We know this is a tricky time and we want to help.’ 

The Dinner Ladies’ whole business model is designed to make this happen, as easily as possible.

Convenient delivery 

With the Dinner Ladies service, you choose the date the meals are delivered, so you can ensure they arrive to coincide with the return home from hospital – at the time they’re needed most.

The Dinner Ladies van will deliver your order, packed in an insulated box with a frozen gel ice pack. No one needs to be home or to answer the door, but you do need to nominate somewhere safe for the box to be left. It is very chilled and can sit happily on the doorstep for several hours. 

Incredible choice

Just because you’ve had a baby, doesn’t mean you lose your taste buds! The Dinner Ladies team cooks up a huge menu of dishes every week to keep things interesting and make the most of seasonal produce and flavours. There’s also a range of ‘favourites’ that are always available.

From meal-in-a-bowl soups, family puff-pastry pies, pasta sauces, Mexican and Asian flavours, instant dinners-for-one and simple stir-fries, the range is mouth-watering (you’ll probably put in an order for yourself, too!)

Our personal recommendations? Don’t miss the bao buns with slow-cooked hoisin pork; marinated salmon with lemongrass and ginger; or Thai chicken curry.

Homemade, with real ingredients

They might have started off with just two Dinner Ladies cooking on a backyard trailer, but the team has come a long way since then! Now with a large kitchen and plenty more hands on deck, they take pride in cooking every dish as if they were feeding their own families. 

They source their ingredients carefully – poultry and eggs are always free-range and wherever possible meat is grass-fed and locally sourced, and fish sustainably caught.

Dinner Ladies snap-freeze all their meals immediately after cooking, to lock in the flavour and freshness, so they don’t need to add preservatives or colours, or anything you wouldn’t use in your kitchen at home. Their labels are written so you can see every ingredient. 

(They’d love to label their food ‘preservative free’ because they don’t add any, but some common ingredients, such as sauces or cheese, might already contain preservatives.) 

Quick and easy 

Some dinners can be cooked straight from frozen – no need to even remember to take them out of the freezer! Others should be defrosted first. 

Some just need popping in the oven and forgetting about for 30 minutes, or reheating in a pan; others might use some easy self-assembly or a quick stir-fry. 

The packaging explains everything clearly, so you can choose how much you want to do on any day… And perhaps chuck in a handful of frozen peas or fresh spinach, add a squeeze of lemon juice or some chopped herbs? 

No lock-in contracts

Unlike most other companies, there are no lock-in contracts with Dinner Ladies. You can order once a week, or once a year, and add as many dinners as you like to your cart. 

The prices are clearly shown on the menu next to each meal, so if you’re making up a gift box for new parents, it’s very easy – and fun! – to stick to your budget.

You know exactly what you’re spending, you’re not locked in – and you’re about to deliver the best gift ever! What’s not to love?

Find out more about The Dinner Ladies right here.