5 Tips on Giving the Gift of Meals

No matter what someone’s financial status, mealtime challenges are the same across the board. Families are looking for quick and easy recipes so they can focus on what matters most. Unfortunately, this sometimes may be more challenging for families going through a rough patch as both financial and food resources may be more limited.

Donating time and resources to help others is very important to share with my family. As I am teaching my children, I have found ways to incorporate serving others into our annual holiday routine.

In 2017, my husband and I started an annual Holiday Meal Kit Initiative. We have teamed up with our friends, family, and acquaintances to provide Meal Kits to a local food bank or philanthropic organization. Our meal kits provide a solution to the problem that everyone has– “What’s for Dinner?”

I have designed meal kits with recipes that require very few kitchen tools that can be adapted for stovetop, slow cooker and microwave. PLUS… they are easy to make again and combine non perishable food items that are commonly available at food banks.

Identify a local organization who you can team up with. I have found that searching for organizations whose vision and mission is in alignment with my values are the best to team up with.

Contact the organization or coordinator for the organization to see what resources they may need and if they will accept holiday meal kits. If they are accepting meal kit donations, coordinate a drop off date so they can be distributed for the holidays.

I have found that many churches and local outreaches have food pantries associated with them and are willing to work with individuals who want to contribute to a cause.

Identify easy meal recipes that contain mostly nonperishable food items and require very little kitchen tools and prep. Any recipe that can be adapted to microwave, stove-top, or slow cooker has been my go to. I don’t ever know the circumstances or home resources of the people receiving kits, so I try to keep it simple.

Here are two tried and true recipes that I have used for meal kits.

Many families who utilize the food pantry don’t have the resources to purchase and enjoy some specialty spices or flavors. I use specialty spices from Pampered Chef to provide an extra special touch and flavor for the recipes in our meal kits. Just a word of warning: Keep the spices you share in the neutral end of spicey to allow for all taste buds to enjoy.

Once you have decided on the meals, we decide how we want to elicit support from our friends and family. For us it has been easiest to budget the cost of spices and food products in the donation amount and just shop for and assemble the kits ourselves. In this case, we ask family and friends to sign up to sponsor meal kits and they will donate money to us. You may decide to ask people to purchase items for meal kits themselves and drop off at a designated location to assemble.

Once you have decided on sponsorships, sharing is key!  We have shared via email, text, social media and word of mouth.  It also helps to team up with the organization you are supporting. 

Once you get your sponsors and donations, you can shop for the spices and food items needed to create each kit. I have found Aldi, Lidl, and Walmart to be reliable and cost effective stores to purchase groceries. I will pick a day to shop for all the items needed and then spend 1-2 days with my family assembling.

Assembly Day is a GREAT time to talk with my kids about how fortunate we are to have the time and resources to help others. We can include religion and good citizenship themes while spending time together with family.