Inside: Every part you want to learn about beginning a freezer meal swap group. Scale back “what’s for dinner?” stress and have enjoyable with your mates and neighbors.
It’s a weeknight. You’re drained and frazzled. Your individuals are hangry.
And you haven’t any concept what’s for dinner.
You’re able to hit speed-dial and order take-out, however you then keep in mind the casserole tucked within the nook of your freezer.
You slide it into the oven, flop onto the sofa, and provides due to three-weeks-ago-you for squirreling that sucker away.
Wouldn’t or not it’s good to have that sort of security web each week?
Meet the freezer meal swap!
A number of years in the past, a neighbor invited me to hitch a freezer meal swap group. The way it labored: We every made two dinner recipes for each individual within the group. Each month, we acquired collectively to socialize and swap dinners. And everybody went dwelling with a cooler filled with home made freezer meals.
It was an effective way to satisfy extra mothers in my neighborhood and broaden our household dinner rotation.
It additionally demolished my dinnertime stress–as a result of two nights per week, I may pull out a home made meal to reheat whereas I prepped a number of easy facet dishes. All of a sudden meal planning grew to become an entire lot simpler.
Sound like music to your ears? Wish to kind your personal group? Listed here are my finest suggestions for a profitable meal swap group.
Manage your meal swap group
Collect your group: A perfect group measurement is 4-5 members on your freezer meal swap. Greater than that, and it’s tough to organize so many meals directly. (And all the time conform to seek the advice of your entire group earlier than inviting different individuals to hitch.)
Ensure your cooking types and tastes align too. What are your loved ones’s favourite recipes? Do individuals within the group have comparable tastes? Do your group members like fundamental meat-and-potatoes meals–or extra elaborate dinners which may require journeys to specialty markets for elements?
Work out the main points: Work out the variety of meals you’re going to commerce. You would begin by everybody cooking one meal for every individual, and improve to 2 if that’s doable.
Discuss to your fellow swappers about preferences and any particular dietary wants. Any allergic reactions, intolerances, or different different dietary restrictions? Any elements households don’t like? Are natural elements necessary to group members?
Determine on recipes: Plan for a wide range of meals and a stability between dinners like soups, casseroles, fundamental dish meats, and meatless recipes. It’d go with out saying, however keep away from making an attempt a model new recipe for the swap. Check it at dwelling first to verify it really works and tastes good.
Set a swap date: We met each six weeks, which gave sufficient time for everybody to make use of their meals between swaps and never get a backlog of things of their freezer.
Make & pack your swap meals
Don’t overlook about your self: While you’re cooking recipes for swap members, be sure you make sufficient for your loved ones too!
Pack them up: We packaged our meals in disposables like a freezer bag (pressed flat, to save lots of area) for dishes like soups and spaghetti sauce. Disposable baking trays are perfect for lasagna, casseroles, and enchiladas. However your group may additionally spend money on reusable containers (glass or plastic) for the swap, or you possibly can return containers to one another each month.
For disposable packaging, write the date and cooking/reheating directions proper on the bag or foil with a Sharpie. Or you’ll be able to maintain a gaggle Google Doc or different digital file to share, so you’ll be able to all the time entry the directions.
Add up your prices: Calculate how a lot cash you spent in your meals, together with the portion you made on your personal freezer. Embody any cash spent on objects like freezer luggage or containers. We didn’t rely some issues, like a number of teaspoons of salt, drizzle of oil, or a pair cloves of garlic. However take into account including a small quantity (like $1.00) to your whole in the event you use quite a lot of your spices, as an example.
Trade freezer meals
Use a cooler: On the day of the swap, carry your meals packed in a cooler or insulated bag so that they keep chilly and frozen.
Settle up: Deliver a tally of how a lot you spent in your meals. Evaluate prices and discover the common (obtain this free value sheet for a how-to), then settle up so it’s even–money, Venmo, no matter is best for the group.
Maintain observe: It’s useful to designate somebody within the group to be a form of “membership supervisor” and maintain a file (paper or digital) of the completely different meals made, which of them have been hits/misses, and the common value per meal. When the group is stumped on what to make for the approaching month, you’ll be able to look again and see what went over particularly properly.
Plan for subsequent time: Set a date for the subsequent swap and determine which recipes you’ll make.
Take your meals dwelling and get organized: Listed here are my finest suggestions for organizing a backside drawer freezer and organizing a chest freezer. And right here’s a free freezer stock printable you need to use to maintain observe of your stash.
Swap group suggestions for achievement
- Be trustworthy. If a swap meal wasn’t a success, make certain it’s not repeated once more.
- Maintain your inventory of swap group provides separate. If the group pays on your field of freezer luggage, as an example, solely use them for group meals.
- Be versatile. The purpose of the group is to be a assist, not a stress. So if anyone wants an additional few days to get their meals collectively, roll with it. If the group desires to go on hiatus through the holidays or different busy instances, take a break and resume later.
- Communicate with members’ wants. For instance, one individual in our group wished much less meals and one other wished extra, so we made modifications accordingly.
- Suppose outdoors the casserole: You don’t have to produce the complete meal. Making a key meal element is useful too, akin to taco meat, spaghetti sauce, or grilled hen strips–which can be utilized in all types of various methods. Listed here are some concepts for this sort of batch cooking.
Freezer meal concepts
These have been a few of our favourite meals from the freezer meal swap group, plus extra concepts:
Soups
- Lentil soup (recipes makes two batches)
- Rooster taco soup
- Rooster chili
- Italian wedding ceremony soup
- Butternut squash soup
- Beef stew
Casseroles
- Rooster Tetrazzini
- Lasagna
- Enchiladas
- Rooster pot pie
Meats
- Marinated pork tenderloin
- Pulled pork
- Sloppy Joes
- Meatballs
- Taco meat (recipes makes 4 batches)
- Marinated hen for the grill
- Cooked, shredded hen
- Marinated steak or hen kebabs
- Filling for Baked Turkey Tacos
Miscellaneous
For extra meal swap concepts, try my submit 30 Wholesome Freezer Meals and the cookbook Repair, Freeze, Feast.
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