So, MyBlogSpark offered to send me things.
Free things.
I like free.
(I like free possibly a little too much. I’m looking at YOU seventeen gift with purchase lipsticks in my makeup bag)
(I may or may not buy things every time there’s a gift with purchase. It’s a problem)
Anyways…. They sent me these two lovely dinner kits
plus a gift card to do a “date night at home”
I’m a fan of some home date nights. Saving money = more $$ for wine and shoes.
And buying makeup to get my gift with purchase.
I tried out the Macaroni Grill kit. Inside the box were pouches with seasonings, sauce, cheese, sun dried tomatoes, and pasta
It said it could be made in 20 minutes.
I’m a skeptic. I don’t trust Rachel Ray and her 30 minute claims. I wanted to see if the box was more trustworthy than RaRay. So I set a timer.
You supply your own chicken, milk, and butter.
You start the water and cook the pasta.
While the water boils you melt butter
and saute the chicken
And add in milk and seasoning
Simmer it all up
Add in the sauce packet and the sun dried tomatoes.
I like how dried things look, Is that weird?
And then you mix together the pasta into the sauce and chicken
And eat!
True story: this is what the timer said at the end
Fifteen minutes friends.
I’m impressed.
And it was tasty! It’s a boxed dinner, it’s not going to change your life. But the sauce was yummier than a lot of ready made sauces, and there’s a lot of chicken in there, so it’s full of protein. For a real full dinner obviously add in some veggies and a salad.
But seriously for a date night, maybe it’s ok to have a giant serving of pasta. And a side of wine. It happens.
I’d buy it again. With a coupon, cause I’m cheap. (look friends! there’s a coupon!)
And here’s the rad part: you can win one of these sets too! That means two meal kits AND a $25 gift card.
Free money and free dinner my friends.
To enter:
1. Leave a comment of what you’d spend the $25 on to finish out the date night (you can have a date with yourself if you’re single. it’s all good).
2. Tweet ” $25 giftcard and meal kit giveaway from @eating_machine https://eatingmachine.wordpress.com/2010/11/18/giveaway/ ” and then leave a comment that you did
3. Because I like awkward stories: tell me a story about a terrible date you’ve had in the comments
Easy Peasy friends!
I will draw a winner on Sunday.
(disclosure like I said, MyBlogSpark sent me the meals and a gift card and is providing the giveaway prize, all opinions are my own)
I'm an Eating Machine! 
i would spend it on dessert. most time i skip the dessert, but id probably use it all on dessert and get a 24k flaked sundae or something.
the terrible date story:
ok it wasnt terrible for me but maybe for the guy. i invited him over for dinner, made lasagna and garlic bread and some dessert.
after he ate his meal, I broke up with him.
my cousins dub that dinner – ‘the last supper’
For our date night, I’d buy a bottle of wine or some beer and rent a movie. And if there was enough leftover I’d buy some ice cream because I am semi-obsessed. I love lazy staying in date nights.
Tweeted!
Awkward date story: Once I went on a date and the dude told me I could order any thing I wanted…at a fast food place. Gross.
ooh, I’m going to have the echo the majority of the crowd here and say… alcohol and chocolate. Wine and chocolate for an after-dinner dessert? Sign me up!
I’d get a bottle of wine and chocolate truffles for our date.
tcarolinep at gmail dot com
tweet.http://twitter.com/tcarolinep/status/5345730503905281
I was set to a blind date by my cousin without my consent, it turned out he was my 5th grade classmate who I hated. He smelled, period.
Date night has to start…and end… With wine!! And then a dessert to wrap things up. Alot of times, I really just want dessert! 🙂
Ok I can’t believe I’m saying this to people but my most awful date story is when this guy asked me out and took me to Carls Jr. Which is fine by itself. Then he proceeds to take out a coupon book and said that he ha been wanting to come there for a while before his coupon expired. He told to pick whatever because it’s buy one get one free!!! Then for conversation he told me he likes to invest in good mattresses.
I’m laughing as I type this disaster.
I would use my $25 to buy a bottle of Mudslide Mix – dessert and a drink in one! 🙂
My most awkward date moment – during dinner, my blind date started telling me about his rectal tumors. No kidding. I almost threw up.
susitravl(at)gmail(dot)com
Great giveaway! Meal kits aren’t very glamorous, but they are certainly a daily reality for a lot of people out there, and it sounds just about perfect after this VERY long Thursday. The $25 should just about cover a bottle of our favorite wine, with just enough to whip up a decadent tiramisù for dessert…which would go perfectly with that macaroni grill kit (and might be able to be finished within that same 15 minutes!). Add a rented movie, and some candles, and staying in never tasted so good. =)
Oh, and I tweeted, too! =)
Thanks for sharing!
I would use the gift card to get a really nice bottle of wine, not one of those $5-$7 bottles that I usually buy.
Actually my very first date ever would have to be the worse. The guy took me to Taco Bell drive-thru… oh and also the guy told me before hand that if I wanted to make-out with him I have to brush my teeth really good first, because I had braces at the time.
I would spend half of the $25 on cheesecake and the other half on wine. Yes I am a person who drinks wine that costs less than $12 a bottle.
I would buy a nice bottle of merlot and some death by chocolate cake…the kind I’d never buy at the bakery.
Oh, a terrible date….well which one. How about the one when I had a blind date to canoe on a canal with someone who couldn’t canoe. He was in the back steering and turned us over!
I’d finish dinner off with a bottle of wine and something great for dessert!
Awful date story: When I was in HS, my Mom set me up on a blind date with her co-worker’s son. We spent the day hanging out at the mall. It was so awkward (he wouldn’t talk to me!) that I called my Mom from the bathroom and begged her to come join us for dinner. She did, along with my brother and sister. She kept trying to find some sort of common ground to get him to talk – she brought up baseball knowing he played. My brother then made some snide comment about switch hitters and my date announced, “I’m a switch hitter!” I swear it was the only full sentence he said all day. My brother almost died laughing. I just wanted to crawl under the table.
Would use the gift card for Ice Cream and a movie 🙂 to round out the stay home date night
I tweeted – http://twitter.com/#!/threedifferent/status/5470220068069377
Awkward date….well how about the first date my hubby and I went on…he ordered ‘Onion Rings’, seriously…guess he wasn’t expecting a kiss that first date, LOL!
I would so love to take my boyfriend out for a “date”, take him to his favorite place to eat and an activity he loves to do!! I would love this!
The most akward date I ever had was with my friends cousin. He did not look at me the entire night, our conversations were one sided, meaning I talked to myself, and he hardly ate anything at dinner while I throughly enjoyed a free meal. Than he told his cousin I was the “one”.. WTF!!
Tweeted
I’d have to buy my liquid gold beer (aka: Russian Imperial Stout aged in bourbon barrels…now I’m drooling) with the gift card. It’s ass expensive for beer but the gift card would cover the cost with a couple of bucks left over for a chocolate bar. Yum!
I would buy chocolate and wine, and then cuddle on the couch and watch PVRd TV 🙂
The food looks awesome. I’d use the $25 for movies & wine & junk food snacks…It’s always fun in my house to watch rented movies with the kids and if they’re really bad movies, I’ll polish off the wine…heehee…thanks for hosting.
A terrible date I had was with a guy who showed up to my house drunk. We walked to McDonalds and he made an arse out of himself…asking the girl behind the counter why she had those big hickies on her neck, and then he threw his Big Mac all over the place when I left him there ranting and raving. This was a long time ago…my standards have since been raised.
One I went on two dates with two boys in one day. It was awkward. 🙂
Just had to say that I liked the idea of a wine tasting for a cheap date. I might do this soon!
I’d use it to buy ingredients to make an awesome homemade dessert… I’ve been meaning to try to make tiramisu, but the ingredients are so expensive and I’m afraid of messing it up!
Tweeted!
http://twitter.com/#!/FakeGradSchool/status/6145101537476610
Bad “date”: I was about 20 years old and my friend and I were working as waitresses at two different chain family-style restaurants. I made the mistake of telling her that “looks weren’t important” to me, so she decides I need to meet a friend of one of her co-workers who had “a hard time meeting women.” To avoid the awkwardness of a blind date, she decided to bring him in to my work to hang out for a while. Except that she fell asleep and didn’t show up, but he did. In additional to shortcomings in physical appearance and grooming, he stammered and had nothing interesting to say. All I remember is that he kept saying that the three of us should get together and watch Dirty Dancing as he had never seen it (this is in about 1997). I think he may have drooled at one point also. The entire time, everyone I worked with was snickering at me, and about every five minutes, I ran off to call my friend to see if she was on her way.