Food Swap

A lot went on this weekend so I need to break it up into a couple posts.  On Saturday I hosted a freezer meal food swap!  This is the second one I've done and they've both been a huge success.  The info is posted below but basically you make a lot of the same meal and get a bunch of different, delicious meals to keep in your freezer for those nights you are short on time or have no idea what to cook :)

I made butternut squash soup (which I have to say was a huge pain in the neck to make, but tasted pretty darn good!) and rolls.  I attempted homemade rolls that you would freeze then raise when you're ready to bake them... but those ended up in the trash so I had to purchase frozen rolls of dough.  Oh well, at least the soup turned out great!  I used local squash and onion, which gave it great flavor.

There were so many yum meals at the swap - now our freezer is stocked with butternut squash soup (you make an extra to keep for yourself!), Thai stir fry w/ basil over rice, vegetable curry, chili, and vegetarian lasagna.  Some of the other meals people brought were chicken sausage & polenta, taco casserole, bolognese sauce, African peanut soup, and a different version of chili with turkey.

If you're interested in doing a swap, here's how we did ours:

Invite people and have them respond with what meal they will be making.  Depending on how many people you have, break them into groups so that each group has a good variety of foods.  Each person will need to make one meal for themselves and one for each person in their group.  We had groups of 4 so each person needed to make 4 meals.  We also suggested making an extra to bring to swap with another person in a different group.  Allow a couple weeks for cooking time - let everyone know when & where the swap will be.

We suggested making the meals enough for 4 servings.  They need to be packaged in freezer ready containers or bags.  Freezer bags are good for soups or sauces because they can lay flat and take up less space.  We also asked everyone to try to use real food recipes and incorporate vegetables into their meal.  And make sure to include the cooking instructions and the recipe!