Freezer Meal Exchange Group

Remember when I made all my own freezer meals?

If you didn't read my blog post about it, you can read about it here.

Well, I think it was way fun and very well worth it. 

But... It took for EVER. And it was a LOT of preparation. 

When I was doing it, Trent was like "wouldn't this be a lot easier if you did it with friends?" Haha. So I got thinking about it, and I started looking into freezer meal exchange groups. 

I loved the idea and decided to do it! 

So I got a group of 10 of us, we set a date, then we all prepared ten of the same meal, met that day, and traded with everyone! So we went with ten of the same meal and left with ten different meals. 

It turned out really great! 

I would definitely recommend it - so this is what I did in case any of you decide to do the same thing (which you should!) 

First I had to put the group together. I just asked my friends & posted on facebook to see who wanted to join me. Then I made sure everyone could do it on that certain day and time. I made a facebook group with just us 10 and posted instructions and "rules" for everyone. 

If you are thinking about putting a group together, you can use the ones I made up. They are at the bottom of this post! I think they are good so everyone is on the same page, makes the same amount of servings, etc.

As far as my meal preparation goes...

I decided to do my aunt Tami's recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup in her cookbook.

Here is everything I got for the recipe.

I went to Winco and Walmart to get everything. I needed a lot of cans in my recipe (as you can see) and they are always really cheap at Winco. But you also know I love price-matching at Walmart, so I went there for the rest. 

If you don't know how to price-match, you can read my post about it here :) 

Awesome story about price-matching while we're at it: I obviously needed a lot of chicken, so I saw it on another store's ad for $1.99/lb. When I got there, it was already priced at that, so I didn't even need to price match it. When I was checking out I had a few other price matches, and the cashier asked if I wanted to price match the chicken. I said, "No I don't have one for it. Unless you know of one you want to put in for me!" (half kidding, half serious). But to my surprise he was like "Yeah I actually do know one I can put in for you." Trying to act normal I just said okay!! Then after he put it in I asked what price he knew, and he said he put it in for $0.99/lb!!! I was shocked!! So instead of the chicken being $50, it was only $25!! I was so happy! I have never seen chicken at that price... Trent says he probably just put it in cause he was flirting with me, but Trent was actually with me and had been talking to him and being nice to him, so I think it was because Trent was being nice. And most people that go through his line probably don't take the time to ask him questions and be nice. Trent is so great that way, I love it :) Anyways, that's my price matching story of the week! Moral of the story: Always be nice to the cashier and price match! (And look cute when you go grocery shopping... you never know... haha kidding)

 Total I spent $68.29. That ends up being only $6.83 per meal, which is a lot of servings of soup, so I don't think that's too bad!

When I was ready to prepare it all, I first labeled all the ziploc bags with the name of the recipe and cooking instructions. 

 Then I just started opening up cans and distributing them to each bag. 

These are all the petite diced tomatoes I used!

 And all the cans I went through... I was a good recycler that day!

 The recipe called for one 4-oz can of diced green chiles, but Trent said I should just cut up fresh ones instead! They ended up being way cheaper, and fresh is always better right?

 So I cut, diced, and measured out 4oz for each bag.

After the exchange I realized my hand was burning!! It felt like it was on fire!! It burned for a good FIVE hours and i could NOT figure out what the heck was wrong with it. It didn't occur to me until later that night when Trent was like maybe it was all those chiles you were cutting up! Totally it. So there's your warning if you're gonna cut up a million green chiles. They're not even that hot are they?? Apparently they are. 

That took a while, but the part that took the longest was cutting up the chicken. I was running close on time (I decided to do it the morning we were meeting - so that was probably a bad idea.) It ended up working out though. I recruited Trent's friend that was over to help me cut chicken and that saved me! 

 The first time I did this when I made all my own different meals, it took about 8 hours!!! This only took me 2 1/2! So it was SO much easier, faster, price efficient, and convenient!

The exchanged worked great. We all just met in a church parking lot and did our own version of Trunk or Treat! :) It was really fast and fun. I wish I took a picture but I was too busy taking meals around to the other people that I didn't even think of it!

Surprisingly, all the meals fit on one shelf of my freezer!! 

Here are the meals that everyone did: chicken tortilla soup (me), taco soup, chicken enchiladas, chicken pot pie, sweet n tangy meatballs, Hawaiian chicken & vegetables, cranberry chicken, dinner in one pot (beef, potatoes, carrots, etc), and chicken artichoke alfredo!

Some people typed up their recipe and handed it out with their meal, others just put it on the facebook group wall. 

 This was my brother Riley's meal. I was so impressed and so proud of him! He made up the recipe from a meal he loves at this restaurant by us, and it turned out SO good! It was the chicken artichoke alfredo one with peppers. So dang good. 

 My favorite thing about the crockpot freezer meals is that you peel off the ziploc bag, put it in the crockpot, turn it on, and walk away. 6-8 hours later, your meal looks like this and is ready to eat! 

 Seriously the best meal i've had in a while. My own brother (single by the way!) won my favorite meal award! (Although I haven't gotten through them all yet!)

If you have any questions let me know! Also, let me know if you would like to be in a freezer meal exchange group in the future! Good luck!

Here are the instructions and "rules" I put on our facebook group for everyone. Feel free to use them for your group. Sorry I can't get the white highlight to go away.

Hi Everyone!! If you were added to this group, then I am planning on you!! We are doing the exchange next Saturday, February 2 at 12:00 noon. I am so excited about this! I hope it all works out great! Here are some things that I need all of you to read to make sure we are all on the same page! 

-You need to put what you will be going to make on our Facebook group wall by this TUESDAY the 29th.
-You need to prepare each meal to be FOUR SERVINGS (for leftovers or big eaters! Most recipes are 4 servings anyways)
-CROCKPOT recipes are totally a YES!-Make sure you have enough freezer space (but in winter we have unlimited amount of freezer space right?! Just go bury them in the snow! Haha)
-You need to prepare meals that are "freezable," obviously! (look on Pinterest for ideas- there's tons!) some things don't freeze very well- like spaghetti I'm guessing would be gross haha
-You need to make something that makes a pretty complete meal alone so we don't have to add a bunch of things to make it!
-You need to make a meal you think we would all like! Don't go making anything too crazy on us! On the other hand, it will be nice to try new things! I get sick of my same 5 dinners I make all the time haha.
-If you have any allergies, let me know asap and we'll see if it will still work for you to do this! :)
-You need to include any directions on how to prepare your meal! (Obvious!)
-Since you're making ten of the same meal, keep your eyes on sales and buy in bulk to your advantage!
-Be sure to schedule in enough time to prepare your ten meals- it might take longer than you might think! Especially the first time.
-We have TEN people in our group, so make TEN meals. Be ready to exchange your meals, and you can take home your meals with whatever you bring yours in. You can bring a cooler, or whatever works.
-If you could, attach the recipe to your meal so if we love it we have the recipe to make it again!
-Don't forget to put on this wall what you are planning on bringing by tomorrow (Tuesday!)