What is it?
Our Freezer Meal Co-Op is all about providing good, home cooked meals for our families in the most timely and cost efficient way possible. We have found that cooking in bulk not only saves money, but also saves a significant amount of time in the kitchen. Each group consists of 5-6 people, and we exchange meals once a month.
How does it work?
Each person chooses one recipe and makes enough for 6 meals. They package the meals to be stored in the freezer and label them with the name of the meal, the date it was prepared, and the cooking instructions. On swap day, we all exchange meals. Each person goes home with 6 different dishes (1 of their own and 5 from the other people in the group) to enjoy that month.
Several of us also make enough for a few extra meals to keep for ourselves. It takes very little extra time to make 2-3 more meals, and it is a blessing to have these!
I am a picky eater/have food allergies. Will this work for me?
Our group exchanged our "will not/can not eat" lists with one another at the very beginning. This helped give everyone an idea of what to fix that will still please most of the group. We also try to send the recipe we are planning to make that month to the group in advance so someone can speak up if there are any significant conflicts.
One of the members of our group has a dairy restriction and everyone was very accomodating to this. Cheese can always be left out/put on half, and olive oil can typically be substituted for butter. If everyone is willing to be flexible, it can work!
Keep in mind that there will be times you will get a meal that you do not think your family will enjoy. This is an excellent time to save this meal and give it to a family who has just welcomed a new baby, had surgery, experienced a death, or going through a difficult time. Food is such an easy way to bless another family!
I'm on a diet. Can I make this work?
We encourage each member to post their recipes on the blog with specific ingredient information (type of meat used, etc). This makes it very easy to calculate the nutritional information for the meal. We also try to keep casseroles (which tend to be full of cheese and other processed things) to a minimum.
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