Preschool Meal Exchange

I had already been booked to do a Simply Supper Meal Preparation when I was asked to do this Preschool Meal Exchange.  I am always open to learning and gaining knowledge so I said yes and joined this meal exchange too. 

A group of 5 moms from my second son’s preschool decided to make 10 different meals.  Each mom made 2 different meals 5 times.    One mom was the organizer who decided the 10 meals, made copies of the recipes to distribute, and figure out a delivery schedule.  Once the email with all the choices came out we signed up for which we wanted to make.  I chose two pork meals.  There were also chicken and beef based meals.  

We were given a month’s notice and did the actual exchange in the cold (but really it wasn’t a cold day) at the preschool parking lot.  This worked well as we could pull the prepared frozen meals out of our freezer, run them to school with our kids, and then return home with the new meals for the freezer again.  

I did my meals up the day before.  I shopped in the morning with my regular weekly trip on monday mornings and then spent 2 hours in the afternoon preparing.  2 hours is all that it took to put 13 meals in the freezer and number 14 was what we ate for supper.  We were only required to prepare 10 meals but the portions I purchased allowed for a few extras to go into my freezer. 

In the end the 2 meals ( 5 of each recipe) that I had contributed to the exchange worked out to be $12.00 each.  All the ingredients as well as the ziploc baggies are included in that price.  I should also note that the $12.00 was based on the 10 meals and I did not include the other 4 meals that I got out of the portions I purchased.  With those included the price was even lower at $8.47 each.  That “meal” will feed 3 adults and 4 children with leftovers for the Daddy’s midnight snack.  For a smaller family the recipe would easily last for 2 suppers.

 Others in the exchange had expressed that their meals were more expensive to create.  It was agreed and expressed before doing the exchange that you were in full control of your meals.  It was your choice to shop were you preferred.  

My meats came from Costco and the balance of ingredients were from the Superstore. The meats were the same price from Superstore or Costco however the quality was higher from Costco.  

All of the meals were good.  There were a few that were exceptional!  We loved the sweet and sour meatballs so much that it is the first recipe added to the exchange I am preparing right now.  There is only 1 meal that I would not ever make again.  And that truly isn’t fair to say without adding that it was just the recipe that needs to be tweaked for my family.  We would use much less red wine vinegar.  It had much too much tart for our house.  

If you are hesitant to try a specific retail location for supper preparation but think the idea of it is cool start this way.  It does have more labour involved but the price is much cheaper.  

That’s my 2 cents for the day, 

Danine