Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Another Cooking Post

Ahhhh. For as much as I detest cooking, it certainly is the topic of a lot of posts. Really, for me anything that is REQUIRED of me is something I don't want to do, well except for eating. But even then, I hate stopping what I'm doing for a meal. I'd rather snack when I want to. It's all about me me me.

We have these franchises in Utah called My Girlfriend's Kitchen (not an advertisement). I'm sure that there are similar places elsewhere. They are essentially assembly-line meal prep places where you go make a whole bunch of meals then take them home and freeze them for later. They're a little pricey for me but I went with a friend once and it was sort of fun to help her put those meals together. Things are always more fun with a friend.

I just got invited to participate in a "Mix 'n Fix" group. The leader of the group said that it's really similar to My Girlfriend's Kitchen but it's not for profit. We all will meet up and bring enough food to make one meal, enough for 10 families (6 servings each). We have to have everything all prepped and ready to assemble. Then, we all put together these 10 different meals and go home and freeze them. No one in my family is a big eater. 6 servings will easily be two separate meals for us so I will end up with double the meals - so awesome! If it sounds expensive, it probably will cost a bit. But I have to think that 20 meals will feed my family for every weekday for a month. We eat nearly every Saturday night and Sunday I like to cook. So basically, it's my whole food budget for a month! I can handle that!

We're meeting this Saturday morning and I'm going to just try it out to see if I like it, and my family is alright with the food. Sometimes frozen dinners get tiresome. But the best thing about having frozen dinners available is that if I actually do get in the mood to cook, I can try something new and great, put forth a little more effort and not hate the fact that within 24 hours, I'll be on the spot again. Even Natalie joining in. Yesterday morning at 9 am, she said, "Mom, what's for dinner tonight?" Inward groan!

6 backward glances:

Steve said...

We have places like that around here. I think they're called Dinner's Ready or something like that. I've always been curious about the food.

Frozen dinners are great, though. When my wife is out of town for work, which is often, and I've got class, I can throw something in the oven before we leave, set the oven to time the baking so that it's ready when we get home. Works awesome and we don't have to eat out. Crock pots are another way to go, but I'm just not a big fan of that, and I always worry that my dogs will be too tempted to countersurf with food out like that.

I'm always looking for good recipes... so if you happen to pick any up that you'd be willing to share, please do!

Anonymous said...

This sounds like a great idea.

I quite enjoy cooking but I really do get sick of trying to think of different things to have.

So what are you going to make that is enough to feed a family of 10?

Amy said...

I'm going to make chicken cacciatore. i have no idea if it's a good recipe; we'll have to see. if i get some other good ones, i'll post them!

Rachel said...

ohhh, I can't even imagine making that much food in one day!

I went to a gathering on Tuesday where they were all talking about "Meat-less Meals" I thought about Kelly D and smiled at all the times Kelly Anne indulges on those nights when she doesn't have to include meat in the meal.
I'm still taking one day at a time. A whole month of food seems overwhelming :)

Andy Potter said...
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Anonymous said...

Mmmmmm....that sounds like such a good idea! I want to get together with some of my friends and try that. I agree with you; I hate stopping in the middle of doing something to prepare food, especially if it takes a long time! That's why I like Bertolli's Mediterranean Style Frozen Dinners; they're delicious and easy to prepare, and don't taste like the typical frozen meals. You should check out http://www.whatsyourmedstyle.com/medstyle/demo.aspx?cat=b and you can even see Rocco DiSpirito preparing some amazing dishes! I work with Bertolli, so I can vouch for 'em ;)