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The Team Cooking Event: A Party that is fun and productive.
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The Team Cooking Event: A Party that is fun and productive.
How will the day flow? How many hours will my team be cooking? These questions and others will be addressed as you read through the Team Cooking thought list. 
- The Team Captain decides which person is assembling what meal and sometimes in what order. Team Captain should work with the host to assign each Team Cook the best work station in kitchen for their particular recipe assembly. Beef Stroganoff Cook needs work at the stove but Sesame Chicken Cook only needs a card table or countertop to assemble her meal.
- If your Cooking Team is assembling 7-10 recipes plan for an 8-10 hour day.
- Remember that freezer cooking is a matter of making meals in multiples. One person will make all the lasagnas for the group and another person will make all the soups for the group. There are a few recipes that benefit from two people working on them, but usually just one is needed.
- Each cook brings their own freezer bags.
- Bags should be labeled before meal assembly begins. It is easier to write on the bags when they are empty.
- Double bag your meals. This is particular important on recipes with sauces.
- Some meals required multiple sized bags. Honey Pecan Chicken uses three bags. One quart sized bag for the honey sauce, one snack sized bag for the pecan mixture and one gallon sized bag for the chicken. The two small bags are put inside the large one. Then freeze the meal as one unit.
- This method of using multiple bags is helpful for mom who might have a family member with food allergies. Mom can take out the ingredient the child can not have and store it in a separate bag. When cooking the meal she can warm up a small portion for the child and then add the ingredient to the meal and bake for the rest of the family.
- Once team members arrive at host’s home and all groceries and coolers are unloaded then have a short meeting. Talk about what how the day will go and who is assembling which meal and at which work station.
- Assemble meals until you need a break and then stop to eat lunch.
Tip: Finish a few 1 and 2 point recipes at the start of your day. The accomplishment will keep you motivated. Our last cook day I tried starting with several complicated and time-consuming recipes and we had each only finished one or two recipes by lunch time. I won’t do that again. Usually team members have the most energy the first few hours of the day.
- Do dishes as you go and don’t start a new recipe until you’ve cleared your area.
- Work fast when possible. Upbeat music make the day fun.
- You will feel exhausted at the end of your assembly day. Make sure you don’t have to cook dinner for your family. Try working an exchange with your husband. On meal assembly night he’s responsible to buy take-out or to take you out to a restaurant.
- You will enjoy a great sense of great accomplishment at the end of you team cooking day and will be able to enjoy the convenience of freezer meals for months after your team cooking day.
- Bring something to eat for lunch.
- Usually the finance person tallies the finances and tells each member how much they owe at lunch time.
- Clean-up
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Two garbage areas
- Recycle
- Cooking Team members all help wipe down countertops, mop floors, run dishwasher and wipe down appliances.
- At Home
- Store freezer bags flat. If you have chest freezer alternate bags in a stack so you don’t have to dig to the bottom to get Ranch chicken. If you have space in your freezer spread your meals among different shelves so they can freeze quickly. If all your meals are on one shelf it could take them a couple of days to freeze.
- Make a freezer inventory. You can download ours or make your own.
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