Reflections of a Mom's Life

Friday, January 23, 2009

Meal Swap at Chili's


My 10 Bags of Tamale Pie - I set them on the counter and dumped all the ingredients in the bags. Pretty easy! The "hardest" part was browning the 10 pounds of beef! AHHHH! That's a lot of beef! :)

I bagged the pie mixture and then bagged the cheese in a snack baggie. I put the pie and cheese into another bag with the recipe facing up so they could see what meal it was.

Here is my cooler, ready to go. They each needed to grab one bag from the cooler and one box of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix.

So I've been doing this kind of cooking for a few years now, batch cooking and then freezing it. We've tried to cook as a ladies event with our small group from church every so often and it's been fun but this time we decided we would make 10 meals of the same recipe and then we would meet at Chili's for dinner and swap meals before we left. It was GREAT and so fun! We must have looked a sight laying out our meals on the curb at Chili's! ha ha!!! I can't believe that NO ONE in our group had their camera! The picture would have been priceless! I loved assembling the meals at home, I loved getting to go out to eat with some great friends, and most of all...I LOVED coming home with 9 different meals that we will be able to enjoy this month (left my meal I made for our family at home in my freezer).

If you haven't tried cooking ahead like this you really must try it...just once!!! It is a life saver as a mom. That 4-6pm time frame for most families with kids can be a little scary and if you haven't thought about dinner until then you are probably going to end up ordering pizza or eating something not so homemade or delicious! You've been there, I know! :) Try it, you'll be hooked and you won't want to go back to the old way! :)
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11 comments:

Everything Homemade said...

i actually do this as a business, you can check out the link from my username. but i also agree that it is a life save for a mom. what is it about the 4oclock hour that brings on the craziness? i have tried it with friends and even thought about doing it the way you guys did, but didnt know how it would work out. i will have to get some friends in on it and try it out. thanks

Katy said...

I wonder what WISE friend turned you on to this? I LOVE the idea of swapping and eating out to celebrate. Can't wait to hear all about the yummy new recipes!

The Hilemans said...

was so fun! Can't wait to start eating! We're doing your slow cooker BBQ today and the house smells wonderful!

Jen said...

This is a great idea! I just don't know what Joe would say since he's soooo picky! I would totally go for it though!

Bridgette said...

I am always so interested in this type of cooking/swapping! I would LOVE to find friends to do this with! What a timesaver! Do you all have the same size families?

Its So Very Cheri said...

What a great idea

Sherri said...

I'm so glad you got some pics to post on this. I'll definitely bring my camera next time! Can't wait to try your Tamale Pie. You are obviously a pro at making these meals...seeing as how my meals ruined the rack in my freezer! So glad to learn from the pro!

Sheila said...

I could tell Katie was quite pleased in her comment that she turned you on to this type of cooking. I bet she would have enjoyed going with you!!!!! It sounds like such a cool idea to eat out with friends and swap meals. Take your camera next time so the rest of us can enjoy the experienc with you....
Love, Mom

dandsratz said...

Beth!! I LOVE this idea!!! I bet that many of us here would do it like that!! Could you get a list of ideas that we could all cook to swap!?! I think this is SOO fun!!

Vonda said...

This is so awesome, Beth! Wow I wish I would have known about this before leaving Germany. I know other women esp. in the military who would have LOVED this. How clever! And just think...we have a Chili's over here on base. Hey maybe when we arrive at our new base in MS, I could get this going...how awesome!

Linda Williams said...

Well, I don't know what you did but the food looked great!

Love,
Mom W