4/15/2008

Co-op Cooking, How it is done

Talk About Tuesday






My moms group did this last month and will be doing it again at the end of this month. It is great to not have to think what is for dinner every night of the week! I got the idea from my e-book Co-op Cuisine
Co-op Cuisine introduces a new twist in bulk cooking. Each participant cooks one, or more, recipes multiplied by the number of participants. Everyone distributes their meals and ends up with a variety.

Click here to read more about the book and download a free sample book!

I did have pictures of my meals as I was making them, but in my last system restore it looks like I lost them.



Benefits of Co-op Cooking

There are many other benefits to Co-op Cooking besides being able to figure out what‛s for dinner. You will quickly see the benefit of knowing and sharing with others! What would have been an ominous task of days of planning shopping and cooking by yourself will suddenly become a team adventure! Knowing that there are others to share the load will make more people likely to join the adventure with you. And you will have helped to make their lives a little less stressful each day at dinnertime! Co-op Cooking is also a tremendous way to bless a friend in need. When my friend Tracy had surgery our cooking group was able to give her a gift too help her family out in there time of need. Instead of the 9 of us making 9 of each of our recipes we made 10 and were easily able to give Tracy's family a few week‛s worth of dinnertime peace! Even bringing one meal to a friend that is sick or dealing with stress or tragedy will help her bring balance to her world that day and lighten her load. And you will be able to do it without upsetting the balance in your own world!

How it Works, here is how Co-op Cooking works:

You will pick a recipe for a casserole and post what you are making on Assignment Day.

On Preparation Day each member will cook the chosen recipe but multiply the ingredients by the number of people participating. For example, if you have ten participants, each participant will cook only one recipe but multiply it by ten and then put it/freeze it in ten separate or pans ( I use Glad wear or the tin foil ones) We can reuse the same ones if we want every month. (When your group gets the hang of it you can then each do two recipes, etc.)

Then they will bring the frozen meals to Swap Day and distribute the meals so that each participant ends up with one of each of the meals that were cooked. Each of the ten participants will have a different recipe, so on Swap Day everyone will end up with ten different meals.


Preparation Phase

Assignment Day
After we have established the participants, we need to post what we are making.

choose recipes
Answer any questions

If one family doesn’t care for a particular meal they may choose to give that one away to a family in need or they may choose to swap for another recipe with another participant that doesn’t care for some other meal.

Swap Day

On Swap Day all of the participants should bring their frozen meals to the designated meeting place. It is best if they can bring the meals in a large cooler (or more than one) in order to keep the food frozen. If they don‛t have coolers, even a cardboard box will be more insulating and more convenient than just bags. Plan a large area and have each person put their name on a full sheet of paper in front of their coolers or boxes. Then have each participant go and distribute their meals into the appropriate boxes or coolers matching the name on the meal to that person‛s cooler or box. Everyone should have a copy of the Meals/Cooked By Sheet and should double-check that they have every meal on the sheet. If they are missing one then they will be able to tell by the sheet what is missing and who it is coming from.


What do you want to talk about? Stop on by the Lazy Organizer’s blog to see what everyone is saying this week.





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3 comments:

Lara said...

I think these are such a great idea! I had a really great friend in our last neighborhood and we started sharing meals with each other and taking turns cooking every other night. It was so nice while it lasted! Our problem was that our family's tastes differed. They didn't like spicy food or onions. It sounds like a little thing but we just couldn't cook or eat without spice and onions!

Mrs. O said...

My sis has been part of a cooking group for the last four years. She only has to cook once a week for five families, and she gets one week off a month. Cooking in groups can really expand your family's palate.

Lara said...

You are my TAT winner!