So...with cold weather approaching Ive decided now is the perfect time to get a group of women together and start a Freezer Meals Swap. Ive been looking online for tip and tricks to make this run smoothly and here is what Ive come up with!
How it Works:
-Once a month you will choose your swap dish. Now this does NOT have to be the entire meal, just the main course! Adding a few fresh sides will complete the meal. However if it is a 1 dish meal...FABULOUS! Just not a requirement!
- about a week before SD (Swap day) we will have a participant deadline. This is so we know who all is planning on participating that month.
-You will make enough to feed a family of 4, and will make 1 dish for each family. (Example: if 5 women sign up you will make your recipe 5 times (1 is saved for you, and 4 will be swapped)
- Each month we will designate a meet up spot (still working on the best way to do this since its getting cold)
- Bring all of your dishes in a cooler if possible. Makes for easy transport.
-We will all meet up at designated spot, pop our trunks and all swap our meals.
- I'm still working on making a list so that we can sign off when we receive each meal. That way we know no one is going home with duplicates of a meal ( a common thing I see when I look into other swap groups)
Its easy as that. They say the average prep for making 10 meals is about 4 hours, and then when you swap you come home with 9 meals! That's awesome!
Things to consider:
- Are their any allergies in your family? If so please list them on our FB page when you sign up
-Do you have any dietary restrictions? No Pork, Vegetarian etc
-make sure to keep an eye on our FB page. If you miss the sign up date, you will not be able to participate that month. This is because the number of ppl that sign up tells us how many meals to make! if you just show up, there may not be any meals for you to take home!
Tips:
These are a few things Ive read in other Swap groups that may help you!
-Keep in mind that you only need a few swap dishes, if this month you make a soup and next month is a broccoli chicken casserole, the next month you could easily make the same soup again! You don't need a TON Of recipes! Just a few of your favs! Your top 4 should work!
-We will try to keep the swaps to the same time every month (at least the same week) so keep a look out for items as they go on sale throughout the month!
-One of the hardest parts of an exchange is..what do you exchange meals in? You definitely don't want to use your best Pyrex, as you may never see it again! The suggestion is for soups, or meals you dump in the crock pot, to use either freezer bags or food saver bags. For casserole you just take out of the freezer and put in the oven, to use the disposable aluminum pans form the dollar store. After your meal is over if they can be salvaged, keep them and reuse them. (if anyone has any tips on cutting down the waste of ziplocs and pans let me know!)
- when your meals are ready make sure to label the bag/pan etc with the Date and whats inside. Its also nice to put on the bag how to reheat (example: 10/10/12, taco soup, place in large pot on stove top, cook on medium heat until thawed and warmed through, serve with tortilla chips, cheese and sour cream) That way no one has to keep up a card telling them how to cook/reheat!
If you think of any other tips/tricks please leave a message here or post to our FB page!
XOXO-A
Monday, October 15, 2012
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Wedding Recap! **LONG**
I'M BACK! & a MRS.! I must say as sad as I am that the wedding went by SOO fast, I'm oh so glad that the wedding planning and stressing is over! Here is a short recap of how the wedding week/weekend went!
Wednesday Sept. 26th.
I worked night shift the night before but THANKFULLY a coworker agreed to split the shift with me and I only worked until 1. I was home and sleeping like a baby at 2. Jake's alarm clock went off at 6 am....and I got up with him... yup..only 4 hrs of sleep (in hind sight...NOT smart!) First thing I did was to go to my girlfriends house to pick up my dress, and a few other things I had left at her house. After that was all loaded up, I went to my moms house to get all the wedding boxes packed into her car, make last minute lists, and give her the rings, and marriage license. After things were packed we headed to a local wholesale floral place to pick up my flowers. We shopped around for over and hour and left with a shopping car SPILLING over with flowers! We brought them all to my apartment and got them into bucks, coolers of water and the bathtub! (you should have seen my guest bathroom!)
At this point I was really starting to feel the pressure of "times running out and I'm running only 4 hours of sleep in the last 24 hours!" So Jake and I headed to our friends Beth's house to start working on the wedding favors. These adorable birdseed heart favors! Thank goodness for great friends who pretty much did them all on their own! I was almost no help! And I'm pretty sure I wasn't that pleasant to be around!:(
On the way back from the favor making Jake dropped me off to meet my mom and go get our spray tan. This part went easy peasy:)
HOWEVER!....I get home and at this point I am SOO beyond tired! I still have a LIST of things I wanted to get done (or so I felt) I was getting nervous about everything getting done. I still had a MAJOR task in front of me to get done and to top it off I knew that we were scheduled to leave at noon the next day to head to the venue! Its about 11pm, I'm getting ready to go to bed....PEOPLE.....I STARTED WASHING MY FREAKING FACE (whats the big deal you ask?) I had JUST had a spray tan done 3.5 hrs before! I started FREAKING OUT! I'm talking, blubbering, snot-flying, cry fest! I told Jake I was just ready for this to all be over. I'm pretty sure I scared him to death and I have no idea how he still wanted to marry me after my 1 and only Bridezilla moment! LOL
I was passed out by 11:20- puffy eyes and all....
Thursday Sept 27th (rehearsal day)
I get up, shower, and to my LOVELY surprise, my little face washing fiasco from the night before turned out to be fine! I had a light lovely tan glow and no streaky-orange face in sight (which was my nightmare)
Jake leaves to go do ...something ( cant remember now what it was) and I started on bouquets. This was by far my most favorite part of the entire wedding planning! For the first 45 minutes or so It was just me in my quiet apartment making my wedding bouquet! It was very therapeutic! My mom and sisters showed up and as I put bouquets together, they adorned the stems with twine and burlap. At about 10 am I realized we wouldn't be leaving at noon. My mom eventually assured me that it was fine...as long as we left by 3 we would be ok to make it to the rehearsal dinner. We ended up leaving at about 2, got to the hotel, changed clothes and make it to our rehearsal right on time. Rehearsal went great and although the service was "EHH" at the rehearsal dinner place, everything went great!
Friday Sept. 28th- WEDDING DAY!
I slept in semi late (7:30...i was sure Id be up at the crack of dawn!) and it honestly didn't feel like it was my wedding day...it was so surreal that it was here! We went and had breakfast at the hotels little restaurant. Packed our stuff and headed to the getting ready house. My hair dresser showed up at 10 on the dot and by 11 my hair looked lovely! Once my hair was done I did a quick dash to the venue to answer a few questions my coordinator had about decor and then headed back to the house because Jake was on his way with the wine and a few other things. by 2 my photog was there and by 230 I was slipping into my dress. Now let me tell you...I had been second guessing my dress for a few weeks, thinking it was pretty but just not pretty ENOUGH! But when I turned around to see myself, hair done, makeup done, jewelry on...it was soo pleased! I felt BEAUTIFUL! I couldn't wait for Jake to see me and I think this is the point where I started getting a tad nervous!
At this point they swept us over to the venue so the boys could come over to start getting ready. While they were getting ready we took my bridal pro traits, pics with my girls and then hid me upstairs where I grabbed a bite to eat while Jake came to do his pictures. At this point I realized it was only 415! I still had an hour and 15 minutes before ceremony time! It seemed soo far away! But before I knew it they came up and got my girls so they could go line up! I remember saying "what!? don't leave me" (this is when nerves hit me! LOL) to which my coordinator replied...do you want me to send your mom or dad up? umm "YES!" After my girls left and before my mom came up I just bowed my head and said a little prayer thanking God for giving me Jake, thanking him for bringing us to this day and then prayed he would just guide our ceremony and reception so everything would go smoothly and if it didn't that I would be reminded of why we were really here!
My mom came upstairs and about the same time it was time for me to go line up. NERVES! Seriously! Like stomach in Knots! LOL! My wedding coordinator kept telling me to BREATH! HAHAHA!
It was so strange to have all of our family and friends STARING AT ME! LOL But it was awesome to see the look on Jake's face when our eyes met for the first time! He looked so happy and like his breath had been taken away! (just the reaction I wanted LOL) The ceremony went great and before I knew it we were being pronounced ans husband and wife!!!
The reception went great as well! We had tons of compliments on the food, lots of tears during the dances and toasts and I really think everyone had a great time! I was a little nervous about us leaving so early ( we were scheduled to leave at 1030) but by 10 several people had left so we decided to go ahead and call it a night and BOY WAS I GLAD! I didnt realize how tired I was until it was over! LOL
On the way to the hotel I made Jake stop at gas station because I had a HEADACHE! LOL that was a sight I'm sure! :)....then I made him drive through McDonalds because we accidentally left the the food our caters packed up for us :( BEST CHEESEBURGER EVER!
All in all it was an amazing day! Great weather, great friends, great family! Wouldn't change a thing! :) pics to come!
Wednesday Sept. 26th.
I worked night shift the night before but THANKFULLY a coworker agreed to split the shift with me and I only worked until 1. I was home and sleeping like a baby at 2. Jake's alarm clock went off at 6 am....and I got up with him... yup..only 4 hrs of sleep (in hind sight...NOT smart!) First thing I did was to go to my girlfriends house to pick up my dress, and a few other things I had left at her house. After that was all loaded up, I went to my moms house to get all the wedding boxes packed into her car, make last minute lists, and give her the rings, and marriage license. After things were packed we headed to a local wholesale floral place to pick up my flowers. We shopped around for over and hour and left with a shopping car SPILLING over with flowers! We brought them all to my apartment and got them into bucks, coolers of water and the bathtub! (you should have seen my guest bathroom!)
At this point I was really starting to feel the pressure of "times running out and I'm running only 4 hours of sleep in the last 24 hours!" So Jake and I headed to our friends Beth's house to start working on the wedding favors. These adorable birdseed heart favors! Thank goodness for great friends who pretty much did them all on their own! I was almost no help! And I'm pretty sure I wasn't that pleasant to be around!:(
On the way back from the favor making Jake dropped me off to meet my mom and go get our spray tan. This part went easy peasy:)
HOWEVER!....I get home and at this point I am SOO beyond tired! I still have a LIST of things I wanted to get done (or so I felt) I was getting nervous about everything getting done. I still had a MAJOR task in front of me to get done and to top it off I knew that we were scheduled to leave at noon the next day to head to the venue! Its about 11pm, I'm getting ready to go to bed....PEOPLE.....I STARTED WASHING MY FREAKING FACE (whats the big deal you ask?) I had JUST had a spray tan done 3.5 hrs before! I started FREAKING OUT! I'm talking, blubbering, snot-flying, cry fest! I told Jake I was just ready for this to all be over. I'm pretty sure I scared him to death and I have no idea how he still wanted to marry me after my 1 and only Bridezilla moment! LOL
I was passed out by 11:20- puffy eyes and all....
Thursday Sept 27th (rehearsal day)
I get up, shower, and to my LOVELY surprise, my little face washing fiasco from the night before turned out to be fine! I had a light lovely tan glow and no streaky-orange face in sight (which was my nightmare)
Jake leaves to go do ...something ( cant remember now what it was) and I started on bouquets. This was by far my most favorite part of the entire wedding planning! For the first 45 minutes or so It was just me in my quiet apartment making my wedding bouquet! It was very therapeutic! My mom and sisters showed up and as I put bouquets together, they adorned the stems with twine and burlap. At about 10 am I realized we wouldn't be leaving at noon. My mom eventually assured me that it was fine...as long as we left by 3 we would be ok to make it to the rehearsal dinner. We ended up leaving at about 2, got to the hotel, changed clothes and make it to our rehearsal right on time. Rehearsal went great and although the service was "EHH" at the rehearsal dinner place, everything went great!
Friday Sept. 28th- WEDDING DAY!
I slept in semi late (7:30...i was sure Id be up at the crack of dawn!) and it honestly didn't feel like it was my wedding day...it was so surreal that it was here! We went and had breakfast at the hotels little restaurant. Packed our stuff and headed to the getting ready house. My hair dresser showed up at 10 on the dot and by 11 my hair looked lovely! Once my hair was done I did a quick dash to the venue to answer a few questions my coordinator had about decor and then headed back to the house because Jake was on his way with the wine and a few other things. by 2 my photog was there and by 230 I was slipping into my dress. Now let me tell you...I had been second guessing my dress for a few weeks, thinking it was pretty but just not pretty ENOUGH! But when I turned around to see myself, hair done, makeup done, jewelry on...it was soo pleased! I felt BEAUTIFUL! I couldn't wait for Jake to see me and I think this is the point where I started getting a tad nervous!
At this point they swept us over to the venue so the boys could come over to start getting ready. While they were getting ready we took my bridal pro traits, pics with my girls and then hid me upstairs where I grabbed a bite to eat while Jake came to do his pictures. At this point I realized it was only 415! I still had an hour and 15 minutes before ceremony time! It seemed soo far away! But before I knew it they came up and got my girls so they could go line up! I remember saying "what!? don't leave me" (this is when nerves hit me! LOL) to which my coordinator replied...do you want me to send your mom or dad up? umm "YES!" After my girls left and before my mom came up I just bowed my head and said a little prayer thanking God for giving me Jake, thanking him for bringing us to this day and then prayed he would just guide our ceremony and reception so everything would go smoothly and if it didn't that I would be reminded of why we were really here!
My mom came upstairs and about the same time it was time for me to go line up. NERVES! Seriously! Like stomach in Knots! LOL! My wedding coordinator kept telling me to BREATH! HAHAHA!
It was so strange to have all of our family and friends STARING AT ME! LOL But it was awesome to see the look on Jake's face when our eyes met for the first time! He looked so happy and like his breath had been taken away! (just the reaction I wanted LOL) The ceremony went great and before I knew it we were being pronounced ans husband and wife!!!
The reception went great as well! We had tons of compliments on the food, lots of tears during the dances and toasts and I really think everyone had a great time! I was a little nervous about us leaving so early ( we were scheduled to leave at 1030) but by 10 several people had left so we decided to go ahead and call it a night and BOY WAS I GLAD! I didnt realize how tired I was until it was over! LOL
On the way to the hotel I made Jake stop at gas station because I had a HEADACHE! LOL that was a sight I'm sure! :)....then I made him drive through McDonalds because we accidentally left the the food our caters packed up for us :( BEST CHEESEBURGER EVER!
All in all it was an amazing day! Great weather, great friends, great family! Wouldn't change a thing! :) pics to come!
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