{food for thought} meal swap: september edition

hey nashville peeps! it's that time again - time to round up meal swappers for september. we've had a bit of a slow summer w/ lots of people traveling - so we're hoping to get our meal swap to 8 swappers.

a few details about our group:

* our portions are perfect for a family of 2 (or 2 roommates).
* we live in the nashville area. pretty important!

not sure what i'm talking about? see here.

we'll most likely swap the weekend of september 3rd-4th - so i'll need to know who's interested by this friday (8/26) at the latest. that should give swappers plenty of time to prep! interested? email me ASAP here!

le menu:

1 // spanish eggplant
2 // buttermilk herb chix
3 // chix cacciatore
4 // chili con carne
5 // chix tortilla soup
6 // turkish pork chops
7 // apple cranberry pork loin
8 // moroccan hamburgers

how's that for variety!?! sounds yummy, eh!

{food for thought} meal swap: august edition

hey peeps! it's that time again - time to round up meal swappers for august. we're going to swap this time the weekend of the 13th ... so a bit of a mid-month swap. let me know if you're interested in joining! :)

not sure what i'm talking about? see here.
interested? email me here!

{food for though} meal swap: june edition

hi folks! we're rounding up meal swappers for june. and it looks like we're going to have quite a few openings because our regular swappers are traveling throughout the summer. you can read all about our meal swap here - and let me know if you're interested. (first come, first serve!)

a few details about our group:

* we pull recipes from the book "fix, freeze, feast".
* we do 1/2 portions - perfect for a family of 2 (or 2 roommates).
* we aren't a specialty group - that means we eat meat + grains. while we strive to be healthy, we aren't strictly organic either.
* we live in the nashville area. pretty important unless you're willing to commute! ha.

our past menus have included:

april
mango + cranberry stuffed chix
tequilla lime chix
chix curry
pork loin w/ apricot + apple sausage stuffing
chix brocoli bake
black bean + veggie chili
vegetable lasagna
mexi stuffed peppers

may
cashew chix stir-fry
dave's swap blues bbq chix
sweet asian chix
caribbean port tenderloin
feta/spinach lasagna rolls
basil-balsalmic pork chops
black bean vegetable chili

yum! interested now!?!

we'll most likely swap next weekend (the 4th or 5th) - so i'll need to know who's interested early next week! email me ASAP here!

{food for thought} meal swap: may edition

hey peeps! it's that time again - time to round up meal swappers for may. we're keeping our meal swap at 8 swappers. we have 6 carry-overs from last month ... so that means we have 2 open spots. (first come, first serve!)

a few details about our group:

* we pull recipes from the book "fix, freeze, feast".
* we do 1/2 portions - perfect for a family of 2 (or 2 roommates).
* we live in the nashville area. pretty important!

not sure what i'm talking about? see here.

we'll most likely swap this sunday evening - so i'll need to know who's interested by friday at the latest so that you have time to prep! interested? email me ASAP here!

~*~*~*~*~* UPDATE *~*~*~*~*~

this month's menu:

cashew chix stir-fry
dave's swap blues bbq chix
sweet asian chix
caribbean port tenderloin
feta/spinach lasagna rolls
basil-balsalmic pork chops
black bean vegetable chili
beef fajitas

yum! (still looking for 2 additional swappers!)

weekend update: monterey, tn

it's amazing how much a quick weekend away can do for the soul! :)

wade's friend bob owns 800 acres of beautiful forest in monterey, tn. over time he has created trails and campsites throughout. we spent the weekend w/ friends camping in the "hemlock haven" next to "uncle tom's cabin".

we hiked // we saw the BIGGEST cat prints (yikes) // we sunbathed // we s'mored // we attempted to swing the highest // we hoola-hooped // we trampolined // we "back alley bridged" // we ate like kings and queens // we horse-shoed // we napped under the hemlocks // we s'mored s'more ... most of all - we LOVED the beautiful spring weather.

pretty excited for our next camping trip already!

the rest of the weekend was a whirlwind. we made it back just in time to unpack and straighten. then i had bible study w/ my high school girls at the park. and when i returned, we had our first meal swap! i'll let you know as soon as we start feasting on the swapped goods if the whole ordeal was a success.

how was your weekend?

{food for thought} meal swap: april edition

guess what people? april is TWO days away!

yikes. i'm a little late - but we've had a lot of interest in a freezer swap. so we're gonna kick this bad boy off this month. the book is in the mail - so we'll prob be ready to prep/swap next week. that means you have until friday to get in on april's swap.

not sure what i'm talking about? see here.
interested? email me here!

{food for thought} meal swaps

{source: hip2save}

a while ago one of my blog favorites wrote a post w/ pictures of her family prepping for a monthly meal swap. i of course can't figure out WHO i was reading at the time ... but i thought it to be pure genius. "freezer meal swap" once a month = great time saver and money saver!

angela from the coupon project guest posted on hip2save and shared a sample swap:

8 participants
1 recipe each x 8 batches

each participant chooses a recipe from the book fix, freeze, feast (there are lots of other freezer focused recipe books out there - this was the one they chose to focus on). hip2save's recipe for the week was mango-cranberry chicken. (yum!)

she prepped 8 batches of the recipe then put them in labeled freezer bags. and then the night of their swap, she went home w/ honey glazed chicken, chicken fajitas, ginger beef, molasses rum chicken, basil balsamic chops, chicken parmesan, and sweet asian chicken in addition to her meal.

she bought:
$40 worth of chicken breast
$10 worth of mango ginger chutney
$3 worth of dried fruit

that's right, only $53 dollars on her meal! break it down and that's approx $6.50 a meal!! woah nelly.

wade and i spent $41.92 on groceries this week. it's been an easy week to stay w/in our $40 food budget bc we've been so dang busy and haven't really had time at home this week. that said ... i'm def interested in starting a swap of my own! i figure 8 freezer meals is more like 16 meals for wade and i when you consider leftovers ... and this dramatically cuts down on kitchen time.

any interest, nashville girls? {click here}