This is how we swap it

Have you thought about doing a meal swap with friends or neighbors? A reader has started one and wants to share with you how  she organizes and plans for a local meal swap with friends.

About 4 months ago, I came across the idea of a freezer meal swap. Immediately, I knew I had to start one. I talked with a few friends from church and they were ‘in’! I got to work researching exactly what needed to be done to make it run as smoothly as possible. Our first swap happened (I won’t dare say it went off without a hitch!) and we learned a lot about what we needed to change! When it came time for our second swap, things went much better and the process is practically seamless now. Some information about our group – it is constantly changing. We are in a Seminary town and a Seminary church. Life events are always coming up that make it impossible for one person to be a part of every single swap – preaching and teaching opportunities, class work, family events, etc…. Each month, the groups are changed (I’ll explain in more detail below). I pick a date for the swap to happen and email anyone who may be interested. I ask them to email me by a certain date (usually a week later) how many will be eating in their family (our family, for example, has 4 people, but only 3 eat as our 8 month old isn’t ready to chow down on some chili yet!), any allergies or major dislikes (no allergies for us, and we do not like fish or mushrooms) and then three recipes. I also email the time line for the swap (example below):

• Initial contact email sent on April 1.
• Must respond by April 8th to participate.
• I respond following day with meal choices.
• Meal votes take place between April 9th and 16th.
• Swap will take place May 2nd.

Once everyone has emailed me, I divide everyone into groups based on family size. Usually we have 2 groups with 5-6 families in each group – one group has families with 2-3 people eating and the other is 4 or more eaters. I then email out the recipes for everyone to vote on, the most popular recipes from each person is what that person will make (for example, I might submit Chili, French Bread pizzas and Calzones. Calzones gets the most votes, so that is the meal I will make). Everyone usually has about a week to get their votes in. When it comes time for the swap, everyone meets at our house, lays the already cooked meals on the table next to the family names. Once everyone is there, everyone grabs their meals and heads home to enjoy! Terra lives in North Carolina with her husband, Zach, and two boys, Keaton (2) and Benjamin (8 months). She is a SAHM while Zach attends Seminary. She blogs at http://thejonesjourney.blogspot.com/.