Does anyone have ideas how to get started on hosting a party where friends bring all the ingredients for a meal and then share with others. Just like a cookie exchange or one of those commercial businesses where you go to prepare meals and then take them home and freeze them. Are there any books out there or helpful web sites? Thanks!!

I have no idea but it sounds like fun! I'd love to be invited to something like that
I would google oamc (once a month cooking) for recipes, pick simple recipes that share a couple ingredients. I would assign the attendees an ingredient such as their own meat (already cooked, cut, cubed however it needs prepared), a group ingredient (the pasta, the carrots, also cooked, cut, etc) and their dishes/containers. The only problem I see is if Sue is a no show and she was supposed to bring everyone's pasta. Have fun!

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Amanda
Mommy to Zack & Emily

I was just thinking that I'd like to do something like this soon so we can make some meals in time to have on hand for the busy holidays!! I'm going to try and do some research this evening after the kids get to bed and see what I can find that might be fun.

One of my friend's homeschooling groups just did this so everyone would have lots of meals in the freezer since the holidays were coming up. The way she said they did it was, one person bought all the fixings, and everyone just split the cost, then they got together at a church with a big industrial type kitchen, and they divided up people into groups of 2 and each group made X number of their assigned entree. So everyone didn't make everything, but everyone got some of everything. She made a white bean and ground beef "stew" that she said was almost more like a soup. Didn't sound that good to me, but she was RAVING about how good it was, and there was enough left over after they ate it to freeze and have again. I know they also did some sort of enchiladas....hmmmm....can't remember what else. But I think she had fun doing it. HTH

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lasagna, meatballs, soups-non cream based, casseroles, enchiladas, baked potatoes, pancakes, waffles, muffins, we have breakfast for dinner nights.

allgirls

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allgirls, mom to 3 girls

It's Girl Scout Cookie Time

I have a friend who shares cooking with (I think) nine other people. They all make 10 of whatever meal, then exchange. They all end up with ten frozen meals. You could do it with fewer people and each make two meals.

I had one of friendc come over and have a cooking day with me. We shared the responsibilty of shopping and kept all reciepts. We made sure that the recipes were appropriate for both families. It worked well and we will do it again. So if you are going to do a day of cooking with someone you need to make sure you are on the same page menu wise, price wise and time committment. Winter was a great time when we had the outdoors below freezing and we could put our meals out there. I am not sure how it would wook with many different people but you could try. I liked the fact there was only 2 of us. We had enough room in the kitchen to work and did not get in each others way.

However, she was in a meal exchange and the families tastes were not all the same. Some people made vegetarian while others made meat dishes. What one family considers will feed 6 another family may consider feeding 4. There were six ladies and food preferences were all different. So you need to set up some guidelines and find families that have similar food preferences.

Best of luck to whatever you decide to do

Here's a good one that freezes well and is easy to make bigger or smaller according to family size.

Sausage Lasagna Wraps
1# kielbasa sausage, cut into about 2" pieces (no need to cook - use straight out of pkg)
6-8 ox mozz cheese block, cut into log pieces (same amount as sausage pieces)
lasagna noodles, cooked, drained and slightly cooled
spaghetti sauce
shredded mozz to top it off

Put a little sauce on bottom of pan. slice each piece of sausage lengthwise about 3/4 of the way through, leaving bottom intact (do not cut all the way through). place a log of cheese inside the slit. wrap each piece of sausage inside a lasagna noodle. place seam side down in pan. cover with spaghetti sauce and shredded mozz cheese. bake at 350/375 until bubbly.

You can use the prelinked polish sausages if you don't want the skin of the normal kielbasa. Cut in half and continue with recipe.

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~~Amanda~~ Mommy to one Little Man (3 1/2 yrs old), TTC #2

I belong to a group that makes 8 meals each month- each person makes all the same and trade. We meet one evening and switch around and go home with 7 new meals for our families. One we love is below. I make it by dividing the loaves in 1/2 and making 2 rolls instead of one. Then the user can decide if they want to bake it all for a large family or have it 2 nights for a smaller family. Very good and has gotten good reviews. I just multiply the ingredients by 8 so we have one to keep at home and 7 to swap. It bakes for 1 hr at 350 straight out of the freezer!

Sausage Bread
1 loaf frozen bread dough

Filling
1 lb Jimmy Dean Sausage
5 TBS shredded parmesan cheese
2 C shredded mozzarella cheese
2 eggs
1 tsp onion powder
1 ½ tsp parsley
1 ½ tsp oregano
2 tsp garlic salt*

Let bread dough rise 5-6 hours, then roll out flat. Brown sausage, drain, and mix with remaining filling ingredients. Spread evenly over bread dough, then roll up. Bake at 350 for 30 min. Or freeze before baking and bake frozen at 350 for 1 hour. Can be served with pizza sauce.
*can be omitted and 1 tsp garlic used in place to keep sodium down

This is the first time I've heard of something like this. I would love to do this, the only thing is that I'm the only married person out of my group of friends. Some of them are in college and the others still live with their parents; therefore, it's tough to get them to cook. They're usually at my house eating my food. lol Maybe me and my co-workers could do something like this. It sounds like a lot of fun.