Meal Swap: It’s What’s For Dinner

Strange Gatherings

For the past two years, every 6 or so weeks, I have been making 10 recipes of the same meal, prepped for the freezer, lugging a heavy ice chest to the car, picking up a friend and her overflowing ice chest, driving to a suburban neighborhood where 8 other ladies are emerging from their vehicles with ice chests. About an hour after arriving, we exit the house, still toting our large food-laden containers and get back in our vehicles and disperse.

I have often wondered what the neighbors think when they see us descending upon a house, all of us carrying or dragging heavy ice chests. What are we doing, you ask? Why, swapping meals, of course.

Unexpected Responses

In my two years with this group a few members have come and gone, but the majority of us have held on for sheer joy and convenience of knowing we'll have 10 easy, nutritious, tasty meals in our fridge every 6 weeks. I get lots of comments and curious stares when buying 10 pounds of meats and 10 packages of pasta or 28 cans of black beans and corn, etc. Everyone always has the same reaction when I explain the reason for the gargantuan amounts of groceries. They always ask, "How do I get in on that?"

And yet, time and time again, we also hear, "That would be great, but I don't have time for that?" Well, let me assure you that if the 10 of us in my meal swap group have the time, so do you! Our group is made up of full-time work outside the house moms, stay-at-home moms, and a few of us who weave in and out of both of these extremes; each of us are very busy with work, kids, house, family and everything else that goes along with being a mom.

Creating a Meal Swap Group of Your Own

This is how it works:

1. Find 10 or so families who want to maximize time by having simple meals in the freezer, thereby affording more time with family and less time standing in the kitchen trying to prepare nutritious home cooked meals;
2. Make a list of food allergies, aversions and preferences for the group. {for example, we use only whole grain pastas, rice, breads, etc. and have one walnut allergy};
3. Find a simple, not too complicated, entrée recipe with a short list of ingredients that will freeze well {or go all out with a crazy, complicated recipe; it's up to you};
4. Make out a grocery list X 10 and be sure to add large freezer bags to your list, and go shopping. I have found that on average the 10 meals will run about $100. There are certainly exceptions when it's more or less, but approximately $10 a meal isn't bad;
5. I find it efficient to make 2 to 4 combined recipes at a time; and Voila! Ten meals are made in no time;
6. Exchange 9 of your meals with your meal swap group; and
7. Now you have 10 different meals home cooked by a mom, just not you, at your disposal for easy meal options for the next 6 weeks.
8. You don't have to supply sides or bread, etc. All you have to provide is the main meal.

The actual meal prep takes me anywhere from 1 hour to 3 hours. And if I have the time, so do you; believe me! In fact, I, the consummate multi-tasker, like to set up a Netflix movie on my laptop in the kitchen and watch while I make my meals. And recruiting the husband to help is always a good option.

I'll admit that the first few times was a bit tedious; measuring out all the ingredients; quadrupling recipes, etc. Your math skills will be tested, but after the third or fourth time of preparing 10 meals, it doesn't take much time at all {unless you choose a time intensive recipe that requires pounding 20 pounds of chicken to a 1/8 of an inch or 200 waffles, for instance}.

Feeding Each Other's Families

We have had meals ranging from sloppy joes, to soups and stews to ribs to Mexican chicken in the crock pot to quiches and egg bakes to pasta dishes to pizzas and calzones to waffles and pancakes to every kind of marinated meat you can imagine and the list goes on and on. It's fun to try new things and there's no guilt about having take-out one more time or making a frozen pizza again. Each of the meals is lovingly made by a mom.

An added bonus: making a new circle of friends. As the months have turned into years of meeting together, the longer our swap meet-ups take on Sunday evenings. The more we get to know each other, the longer we chit-chat and linger and laugh over our frozen bags of food. And really, the very nature of what we are doing for each other, feeding each other's families, brings us closer together.

The Scoop

This weekend is a meal swap date. This time I'm making Barbeque Bistro Chicken for the grill. Let me know if you want more information about getting started with your own meal swap group or are looking for some tasty freezable meals. Over and out...

Anna

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Comments

[Miacupcake]

Super excited about this idea....going to try and start one with my mamas group!

[Sarah]

Great idea Anna... now I have to recruit women to do this with!