As you can see in the photo, we have a tent card for each member. When a member arrives for the exchange, she brings her cooler inside and starts placing a meal next to each member's name card. After all members have passed out their food, we all start to pack our coolers. The whole exchange takes about ten minutes if everyone arrives on time. Most of the time we all leave and go on with our day. Occasionally, we may make it a bit more of a social time.
Our swap occurs once a month. It is always held at the same house, on the same day of the month (2nd Friday) and at the same time. Keeping things consistent helps to eliminate confusion and ensures that no one will get frustrated by constant changes to the schedule. We have 2 full time teachers in our group. They cannot attend the exchange because we hold ours during the school day. No biggie! They just drop off their meals to one of our members to bring for them. They then arrange to pick up their coolers full of food at a later time. It works beautifully.
Do any of you do a meal swap? Is yours similar? We'd love to know how you conduct yours!
I'm in a meal swap group. Except for the fact that we meet the 2nd Wednesday of the month and we use a sheet with names on paper, you could've been describing our swap group. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing Kayte! It sounds like we both must be doing something right. :) How long have you been doing your swap?
ReplyDeleteHow does the money issue work for the meals...is it an even swap?
ReplyDeleteIf someone brought meatloaf, would they also bring a side? I am trying my first swap and am unclear about side dishes. Or, if someone brought chicken cordon bleu, should they add a bag of veggies or just the meat?
ReplyDeleteSherri - We don't worry about everything coming out even as far as cost. Some months members spend more, some months they spend less. It really varies with the category and recipe chosen. We figure it all evens out in the end. It works well for us not to make cost a part of our setup. Some groups do consider cost, but we feel like that is just one thing too much for us to be concerned about.
ReplyDeleteSimple Obedience - We do not do sides. If someone brings a main course that requires buns,rice or pasta,they are expected to provide those items because they are a necessary part of the main course. When I say rice or pasta, that would be if the main course is supposed to be served over rice or pasta. I hope that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteWe have 2 groups through our church. My group is most similar to this group although we rotate whose house we meet at 1 time per month on a Sunday evening and we socialize! The other group meets every other month at the church and they all cook together. Both groups have been going strong for over a year and we try to share recipe ideas with each other. We use a lot go freezer friendz recipes so THANKS!
ReplyDeleteDo you have a minimum per serving for each freezer meal? I'm trying to get a group together and our family sizes differ.
ReplyDeleteOur freezer swap group tries to have our meals (and packaging) equal about $10 per meal per family and make enough for for 4-6 individuals per family. We don't watch the price exactly because we figure over the course of a year it equals out with some meals being more expensive and some meals being less expensive. Our group sometimes provides a side or dessert if it's a simple main dish but it's definitely not required!
ReplyDeleteSheri B: The meals are made to serve at least 6 adults. We have varying family sizes within our group as well. If someone has a smaller family, they can usually get several meals out of it. I try to package food for the smaller families into two half portions so they can choose to thaw half at a different time if they want.
ReplyDeleteJennifer: I'm glad you are able to find recipes you enjoy on our blog. Thanks for sharing your ideas!
ReplyDeleteWe simply meet in a parking lot. Everyone opens their trunk and everyone passes out one of their meals into each person's trunk. :)
ReplyDeleteso, I just want to clarify...if it's only 5 ladies cooking 5 recipes, after you swap you only have 5 meals covered? Like barely a week's worth of dinners? It seems really fun and like something I'd love to set up with some of my friends.
ReplyDeleteLeslie: We used to meet in the parking lot of our church. We just decided it worked better for us to do it at a house. Glad you found a way that works great for your group!
ReplyDeleteTanuvasa Casa: Yes, since we currently have 5 members, we each receive 5 meals. Each person is required to make a meal to feed 6 adults. Since none of us have 6 adults, each meal typically provides meals for 2 nights. We are not interested in cooking for every night of the month. We find that cooking the same meal 6 times is very doable. We've tried doing a bigger group and it seemed overwhelming to some members.
ReplyDeleteThanks for clearing that up! It's got to feel great to know there's dinner waiting in the freezer. I found this site right in time. A dear friend of mine just had surgery and I'm going to make several meals to stock her freezer with since she lives too far for me to bring dinner daily.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy your site. I have been part of an exchange group for nearly three years. We generally have had 7-10 members, and we exchange every other month, but we make two meals for each family. We do equalize our costs. Each member turns in the cost for their meal, and it is distributed evenly. We also decided not to include the rice and pasta with the meal since we all generally have those on hand, and we each have our specific brands that we prefer. It has worked well for our family. Just enough meals to help out when I just don't have time to start from scratch. Again, thanks for sharing your recipes.
ReplyDelete