Meal Exchange

I struggle with dinner. Half of the time Steve is not home for dinner and making a real meal that my kids will most likely not eat is a huge waste of time (and food) at this point in our lives. I am only slightly ashamed to say I eat cereal and serve PBJ or grilled cheese to the kids at least twice a week. I really enjoy cooking, but I probably only have the opportunity to cook something fun for dinner once a week. Please read "opportunity" as: my husband is home and can entertain the kids while I work in the kitchen. And read "fun" as: a new recipe or a loved recipe that has more than 4 ingredients and 3 steps.

About a year ago, my friend Erin recommended that we start a meal exchange. Once a month I make enough of one recipe to feed 5 families (including my own), package the recipe for each family, include heating instructions and freeze it. A few days later, us girls get together, eat snacks, play cards, and exchange our meals. We each go home with 4 frozen meals that we didn't have to lift a finger to prepare. These are the meals I rely on for nights like tonight. Steve is home but hanging drywall in our bathroom so I am juggling kids and dinner prep. Adriane's Sweet N' Sour Chicken is in the oven, rice is in the rice cooker and I am blogging and helping Daniel with handwriting homework. Lovely. And since each meal serves 4, and my kids will eat all of 2 bites, there will be leftovers for tomorrow night as well. Even better.