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Alabama Babies
Soon2BMrsWiley
member
Freezer party ladies (Sarah, Monica and Fran...and Lindsay :p)
Soon2BMrsWiley
member
So the AU girls are thinking about doing this. Does the person hosting need to have a large kitchen or just a large workspace? I have a large dining room and great room, but not a LOT of counter space in my kitchen. Just wondering!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Freezer party ladies (Sarah, Monica and Fran...and Lindsay :p)
TTC #2 since 4/09
Unexplained Secondary IF
*****************************
4 failed rounds of clomid ~ 4 failed IUIs ~ 1 m/c
2/3/11: IUI #5 - Femara/Follistim/Ovidrel/Crinone = BFP (2/14)!!!
Beta #1 (12dpiui): 53 Beta #2 (14dpiui): 203 Beta #3 (20dpiui): 3932 Beta #4 (28dpiui): 60,775
1st U/S (3/3): 2 sacs & yolks 2nd U/S (3/8) 2 heartbeats-TWINS!
Baby A:6w6d HR 131 Baby B:6w4d HR 124
TWINS!! EDD 10/25/2011
Thanks. Both the dining room and great room open into the kitchen so there is very easy access to the sink. How many people did you have the other night, Sarah?
Lindsay! I just realized this was you. I forgot to ask you what your sn was. Duh.
Where did your sn come from?
TTC #2 since 4/09
Unexplained Secondary IF
*****************************
4 failed rounds of clomid ~ 4 failed IUIs ~ 1 m/c
2/3/11: IUI #5 - Femara/Follistim/Ovidrel/Crinone = BFP (2/14)!!!
Beta #1 (12dpiui): 53 Beta #2 (14dpiui): 203 Beta #3 (20dpiui): 3932 Beta #4 (28dpiui): 60,775
1st U/S (3/3): 2 sacs & yolks 2nd U/S (3/8) 2 heartbeats-TWINS!
Baby A:6w6d HR 131 Baby B:6w4d HR 124
TWINS!! EDD 10/25/2011
I was just thinking the same thing! LOL!
There are usually 10 of us at the parties I've gone to/hosted, although last night, there were only 5 of us. It actually still worked out really well though b/c we made 2 recipes each so that we all still left with 10 dinners. That is also a good option if you are concerned about space. The less people you have, the less space you will need. But, you want to end up with enough meals to make it worthwhile, so I would double up if you do that.
Ok, so what kind of meals did you make? Did you do soup already done, main entrees, what?
LOVE this idea. Would make work on one Sun easy for a lot of meals to share!!!!
At Sarah's party, we all came home with:
Chili Bean Soup
Chicken Spaghetti (2 of them b/c it made a ton so we split it up)
Chicken Divan
BBQ Meatloaf
Crockpot Beef Stroganoff
Mediterranean Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Cheesy Ham & Potatoes
Jambalaya
Green Chili Enchiladas
and one more that I can't remember. Lindsey...what was your other one?
I just had to type the whole thing out for my mom, and this is what I sent:
Each person chooses a Freezer Friendly recipe to share and all the ingredients to make that recipe times the number of guests attending.....so 10 people = 10 meals. Or if it's smaller group, like we had last night, then we each prepared 2 different meals...enough for 5 people, therefore we all still got 10 meals (and actually the one I made was enough for 2 meals), so we came home with 11 total. A majority of the prep work should be done before hand (meat browned, vegetables diced, etc). Bring disposable/take home containers for your recipe. Casseroles can use aluminum tins with tin foil and soups, meat loafs, etc work great using 1 gallon freezer bags.
Prior to the party, everyone needs to email their recipes and cooking instructions to the host so that they can prepare labels for each dish and print out copies of the recipe for each participant.
Other things you need to bring are: a large mixing bowl, can opener, spoon, spatula and measuring spoons, to help prepare each of the dishes and a large cooler to take your meals home in. For funsies, we wear our favorite aprons! This is a lot of fun! The host provides some light refreshments/finger foods.
We always send out Evites, so when you RSVP, you'll need indicate your recipe/dish you're bringing so that you don't duplicate dishes - Chicken Casserole is great, but I don't need a freezer full of it
Other tips:
--If you're making a soup in a freezer bag, open and prop the bag up inside your mixing bowl to reduce the chances of it spilling while you're adding the ingredients.
--Dishes with cracker crumb/bread toppings don't hold really well and end up tasting really stale. So if your recipe calls for that, leave it off and make sure to note it in your recipe.
--Make sure you've prepared the dish before so that you know how it tastes.
--Be careful of what dish you choose. Lasagna freezes really well, but its pretty labor intensive when you?re making 10 full recipes of it.
--If you're doing a large recipe that doesn't necessarily need to be in a large container, break it down in to 2 8X8 containers so that everyone gets an extra meal to take home!
--When you're ready to assemble the meals, it's best if everyone does the same dish at the same time. It's easier to concentrate on what you?re doing if you're all doing the thing. Plus it keeps everyone at the same pace.
--Plan on it taking at least 3 hours to assemble the meals and clean up.
Any other questions, let me know!
I just had to type the whole thing out for my mom, and this is what I sent:
Each person chooses a Freezer Friendly recipe to share and all the ingredients to make that recipe times the number of guests attending.....so 10 people = 10 meals. Or if it's smaller group, like we had last night, then we each prepared 2 different meals...enough for 5 people, therefore we all still got 10 meals (and actually the one I made was enough for 2 meals), so we came home with 11 total. A majority of the prep work should be done before hand (meat browned, vegetables diced, etc). Bring disposable/take home containers for your recipe. Casseroles can use aluminum tins with tin foil and soups, meat loafs, etc work great using 1 gallon freezer bags.
Prior to the party, everyone needs to email their recipes and cooking instructions to the host so that they can prepare labels for each dish and print out copies of the recipe for each participant.
Other things you need to bring are: a large mixing bowl, can opener, spoon, spatula and measuring spoons, to help prepare each of the dishes and a large cooler to take your meals home in. For funsies, we wear our favorite aprons! This is a lot of fun! The host provides some light refreshments/finger foods.
We always send out Evites, so when you RSVP, you'll need indicate your recipe/dish you're bringing so that you don't duplicate dishes - Chicken Casserole is great, but I don't need a freezer full of it
Other tips:
--If you're making a soup in a freezer bag, open and prop the bag up inside your mixing bowl to reduce the chances of it spilling while you're adding the ingredients.
--Dishes with cracker crumb/bread toppings don't hold really well and end up tasting really stale. So if your recipe calls for that, leave it off and make sure to note it in your recipe.
--Make sure you've prepared the dish before so that you know how it tastes.
--Be careful of what dish you choose. Lasagna freezes really well, but its pretty labor intensive when you?re making 10 full recipes of it.
--If you're doing a large recipe that doesn't necessarily need to be in a large container, break it down in to 2 8X8 containers so that everyone gets an extra meal to take home!
--When you're ready to assemble the meals, it's best if everyone does the same dish at the same time. It's easier to concentrate on what you?re doing if you're all doing the thing. Plus it keeps everyone at the same pace.
--Plan on it taking at least 3 hours to assemble the meals and clean up.
Any other questions, let me know!
It depends on the soup, I guess. I made one and it called for ground beef to be cooked, so I did that at home and portioned it in to gallon freezer bags. The rest of it was in cans, so everyone just added their cans to the bags of meat. When they thaw it, they'll need to add 2 3/4 cups of water and follow the rest of the cooking instructions.
This is pretty redundant to what Fran just posted, but I also had to explain it someone else so I thought I'd post it here for you too just in case I mentioned anything that Fran didn't...
1. For the disposable containers, everyone should bring whatever fits their OWN recipe the best...and bring enough of that size for everyone at the party. Anything that can go in a gallon size freezer bag should because they take less space up in the freezer. Some things just don't work in bags though, so an 8 in square works well, or a small casserole size like a cake pan size...if it is a big casserole, then you can use the 9 x 11...or split into 2 smaller ones. The tops that come w/the containers are no good. Just use heavy duty foil to cover them instead.
2. You can assemble either way. We always had everyone work on one recipe and whoever's recipe it was would guide them through it. Last night, though, we did stations. I'm not sure which I like better honestly. For the first way, everyone just needs to have their own spot in your kitchen. If you have a small kitchen, then stations would probably be best b/c you can set up as few or as many as you have room for. Stations probably requires less washing of stuff too because you only wash between changing the stations rather than each person washing their stuff between each recipe change. Did that make sense?
Another thing that is helpful is to have each person bring with them:
Large Mixing Bowl, Mixing Spoon, Measuring Spoons, Cup Measures, Can Opener and , of course, a cute apron to wear!
We always do this on Evite and ask each person to tell what they are going to make so that you don't end up with duplicates. And, make sure they know to make something that freezes well because alot of dishes do not. There are some great websites out there that give freezer meal ideas.
The host of the party also makes print-outs of all the recipes and makes labels for everyone to stick on the meals telling how to cook them...temp & time, etc.
It's good if everyone can bring a cooler to put their food in as they make it. These parties can last anywhere from 2 - 4 hours, so it's nice to be able to keep the food cool and also have something to transport it home in.