This post is sponsored by Wegmans. All opinions are my own. You can read my full Disclosure Policy here.
Have you seen that meme going around that says ‘everyone has practice so we can either eat at 4 o’clock or 9 o’clock? This is my life. I know it’s life for a lot of busy families, and then when you finally figure out when you’re eating, no one has time or energy to cook a decent meal.
For nights (seasons?!) like these, I rely on Wegmans for quick meals that I feel good about feeding my family. (SO thankful our Wegmans Lancaster, PA is open now. Take a tour here if you haven’t been there yet!) If we can avoid the drive through because I can still get a healthy meal on the table in 20 minutes, I call that a win.
Wegmans has tons of EZ Meal options that have saved our family dinner many nights. I’ve got some of my favorites for you below.
Ready-To-Cook Entrées in Oven-Safe Packaging
One of my favorite new discoveries are these Wegmans chef-developed ready-to-cook entrées in oven-safe packaging. This is genius, and a huge help when you want a REAL meal, but don’t have the time or energy to deal with prepping it yourself. Lancaster, PA shoppers, look for these near the meat section in our store.
These entrées stay fresh up to two weeks in the refrigerator, so you can just grab one to have on standby for those nights when you are not sure what your dinner plan is. Or, they can go right into the freezer.
Some of the major perks:
- Convenient: The food-safe package is designed for the oven—no prep and minimal clean up
- Delicious: My family devoured this meal!
- Food You Feel Good About: All entrées offered in Oven-Safe Packaging contain no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives
I grabbed the Chicken Cacciatore this week and seriously can’t believe how easy this is. Cooking instructions are right under the label. All you have to do is preheat your oven, peel off the labels, and pop the whole oven-safe bag into a cooking pan.
Boom. It goes right into the oven like this. Don’t punch holes in it, don’t do anything! It could not be easier. The packaging is designed to be oven-safe, so it will not melt or burn, and it’s BPA-free. Just follow the directions on the label (some of which include slow cooker instructions!).
I picked up a loaf of sourdough bread (my favorite at Wegmans!) and some shredded brussels sprouts in the produce section and this meal was about as low-maintenance as it gets, but I still delivered a quality dinner to the family.
The house smelled amazing while the Chicken Cacciatore was cooking, and my daughter had me laughing when she said, “Mom, how did you make this?” I went to Wegmans, girl. And I didn’t have to chop one veggie or handle any raw chicken.
Many of us would like to eat more seafood, my family included. We love it, but I have to be honest – I haven’t experimented with a ton of ways to cook different types of seafood, and during the week I don’t have a lot of time to try new recipes. Plus when you buy seafood, you better be ready to cook it soon because it doesn’t have a really long shelf life. Wegmans has a solution for this, too! Wegmans is rolling out ready-to-cook frozen seafood entrées in oven-safe packaging!
You’ll see this in 11 stores first (Lancaster, PA, not our store just yet), and then in all stores by January 2019.
How convenient is this? You can grab a whole meal out of your freezer, cook it right in the packaging it comes in, and boom, dinner! Look at the entrées we’ll see:
- Shrimp Scampi
- Salmon Teriyaki
- Mediterranean Cod with artichokes, tomatoes, and capers in a lemon butter sauce
- Scallop Chowder – a clam chowder base with scallops, potatoes, onions, carrots, and celery
- Seafood Bouillabaisse
- Garlic Broth Seafood Medley with mussels, clams, scallops, shrimp, calamari, and potatoes in lemon garlic clam broth
They sound delicious! And there’s no prep, barely any clean up, and meals are ready in 40 minutes or less. The packaging is actually designed to maintain flavor and freshness, and as always, Wegmans seafood is chemical free and sustainably sourced. I am SO READY for this!!
Ready-To-Cook and Ready-To-Heat EZ Meals
In addition to those Ready-To-Cook entrées in oven-safe packaging, there are a bunch of other Wegmans EZ Meals options, including some that are also just ready to pop in the oven, and others that are microwave-ready and can be on the table in minutes.
Just this week we had some Thai Chicken and Jasmine Rice, and some Sesame Chicken and Lo Mein that I heated up in the microwave. 5 minutes! FIVE MINUTES!! That’s how long it took me to get dinner on the table, and everyone loved it.
Like that meal, some EZ meals are all cooked and ready for you to just quickly heat up and enjoy.
Others are ready-to-cook so you can pop them in the oven with no prep.
The meals above are ready to be put in the oven, right in those metal pans. So simple! You don’t have to cut anything up, season anything, or make a mess of your kitchen before you even get dinner in the oven.
I was shopping with my daughter last weekend and near the meat section, a Wegmans employee was sampling these breaded chicken cutlets. We each grabbed a bite and loved them! So I bought a pack (and they come in 2-piece and 4-pieces pack) for our family this week.
They are delicious! And I was able to put these on a baking sheet with a slice of tomato and some cheese and have dinner ready in a snap. Do you know how nice it is to not have to bread chicken?! That’s a messy job I don’t enjoy so this was a big time saver. Served with bag of microwaved wild rice, and a steamable frozen veggie, this meal was on the table in under 30 minutes and I had almost zero prep work.
Another place to find time saving items for dinner is the produce department. The Veggie Market has a huge variety of cleaned, cut, and ready to use fruits and veggies, including fun stuff like veggie fries and spiralized veggies. When I was shopping last weekend, I watched them cut up a bunch of strawberries right behind the case. This stuff is VERY fresh!
If you need help prepping something you want to buy in the produce section, you can take it over to The Veggie Market and they will cut it up for you. Isn’t it so nice to have that option? (PS. We are currently addicted to shaved brussels sprouts, as you can see in my Chicken Cacciatore pic above. They are SO GOOD!)
Grab and Go Meals at Wegmans
Our routine when we shop at Wegmans is to eat first, then shop. We know our way around those buffet bars! There are a lot of prepared food options which work if you want to dine in (there is plenty of seating), or take your goodies to go.
Fresh food options at the Lancaster, PA store include The Burger Bar, which is Wegmans’ family-friendly casual restaurant. Of course they serve burgers, and you can also get sandwiches, salads, soups, and kids’ meal options. Want a glass of beer, wine, or a margarita with your meal? They have that too!
Our favorite thing to do is eat off the hot and cold prepared food bars. These are self-serve, so you get to mix and match all kinds of goodies. The Asian Bar is my personal favorite, and I love that if you follow a special diet, Wegmans makes it easy for you. There’s a Vegetarian Bar, and a Protein Bar, a gem for anyone with a low-carb lifestyle.
My son always hits the sandwich shop for a turkey sub. Also in this section right at the front of the store is the made-to-order Pizza Shop, made-to-order salads, and The Buzz Coffee Shop with their delicious hot and cold coffee and tea drinks. This is where I fell in love with the matcha latte!
If you just want to grab and go, and not wait to place your custom order, check the chef’s case for a bunch of ready-to-go sandwiches, wraps, and salads.
The good news about your child liking sushi is that you’ll have someone to go out for sushi with. The bad news? She’ll try to eat it all!
Thankfully Wegmans has a huge variety of vegetable, cooked and raw made-to-order sushi selections that are made fresh daily so we can each get our own. (Tip for you: If you’ve ever been wary of ordering sushi at a grocery store, you do NOT need to feel that way at Wegmans. We honestly get sushi every single time we shop – no one tell my husband I’m taking my daughter out for sushi weekly – and it’s super fresh and delicious, 100% restaurant quality. I’ve stopped going anywhere else for it!)
You can see Wegmans has a wide range of options for those of us running around, trying to juggle 500 things. That’s all of is, isn’t it? Work a couple of these EZ meals options into your weekly menu, and give yourself a break in the kitchen without giving your family a break from wholesome, yummy meals.
LEARN MORE ABOUT WEGMANS LANCASTER
The Wegmans website is loaded with useful info about their stores, departments, recipes, and much more. Don’t forget to visit the page dedicated specifically to the Lancaster store! They also share tons of delicious, easy meal ideas on social media, so be sure to check those channels out: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest
John Breeden says
I was told by one of your employees in your Midlothian Virginia store that your precooked meals like your Teriyaki Black Pepper Salmon and shrimp & chicken over noodles meals should be heated and eaten before your sell by date when another employee just a week earlier told me a day or 2 after would be fine, so what is the correct answer? Thanks!
Lindsay Frank says
Hi John, You will want to direct that question to Wegmans. This is a blog post I wrote about some of their EZ Meals, but I am not in a position to respond to your inquiry. Here is the link to contact them. Hope this helps! https://www.wegmans.com/service/contact-us/