immanuelbrookfield.org

Plan several simple, freezable suppers, and then invite several neighbors to join you in preparing enough meals for everyone’s families to eat during the week. Choose meals appropriate for you and your neighbors. You could plan home-style casseroles like spaghetti pie, vegetable sides like orange-glazed carrots, or gourmet dishes like veal cutlets cordon bleu.

Helpful hint: Be prepared to have an abundance of cooks in your kitchen. Have plenty of mixing bowls, hot pads, and utensils on hand. Try to allow each cook a section of counter or table for preparation purposes. A little crowding is fun, but terribly crowded conditions can be unsafe. Allow plenty of room around the stove and oven.

There are many options for covering the cost. As William Penn once wrote, “As many hands make light work, so many purses make cheap experiments.” Create the grocery list with amounts needed for each item. Don’t forget the pans for everyone to use to take their meals home – unless you’ve asked them to bring certain ones. Choose what’s best for you and your neighbors.

Other ideas:

• Do the shopping and save the receipt for dividing later.
• Ask each guest to bring certain ingredients.
• Ask each guest to bring their own favorite recipe and the ingredients for everyone.
• Provide the ingredients as a gift.

When everyone arrives, spend two hours cooking and getting to know each other. Discuss recipes, seasonings, and families.

Instant Intentions

Have some fun recipe books and snacks at a table away from the food prep area. Sit down together for 15 minutes. Snack and plan your next super supper get-together.