Care Packages

I need to begin this blog post by saying these might be my WORST pictures ever. I had grand visions...and then I hurried through it, and if ever you needed proof that "haste makes waste," as my mother used to say, look at the pictures!!

Occasionally, in years gone by, I've been called upon at church to take a meal to a family who just had a baby...or perhaps someone had surgery. I never knew quite what to take, because sometimes I didn't know them all that well and I wasn't sure about their food preferences. And other times I knew they had lots of food coming in, and I wasn't sure if they had room for more!

So this week I took a little care package over to my friend Ronda, and I wanted to show you what I took in case you want to steal the idea. (Or adapt it to your own needs.)

First things first: balloons. Balloons are just cheery, so I picked up a few of those. (And of course, I picked THE windiest night of the week to make my delivery. Good grief.)
Then...the food!

Remember the chicken tortilla soup recipe I shared yesterday? The VAT of chicken tortilla soup? Once it had simmered and cooled, I dipped some into quart size Ziploc bags. (Before the dipping...I wrote on the bags in permanent marker "chicken tortilla soup.") There is enough soup in each bag for one REALLY GOOD sized serving or two small servings.
I stuck the bags on top of each other just like this and tucked them in the freezer so they froze in a flattened state. Little space saving trick I learned from Lynne.

I wanted to take her some quick bread, so I made snickerdoodle bread. We'll talk more about that another time. I like to take quick bread to people because it can easily be frozen if they don't need it right then, and when it is eaten, it works well as dessert or breakfast food. Versatile!

I also dipped some of the soup into a regular serving container so she could eat some of it right away. I sent some mozzarella cheese with it because, of course, soup tastes better with cheese in it!

And right before I went over, I pulled the soup packets out of the freezer and added little individual cheese bags to that, too. She can freeze them together and after everyone goes home and she gets hungry but doesn't feel like cooking...she can defrost and eat!

I also bought a bag of lime chips to go with it - and would you believe I COMPLETELY forgot those at home?? WOOPS!!

So that's my care package menu: chicken tortilla soup, mozzarella cheese, (the forgotten) lime chips, and quick bread! Easily frozen for later or gobbled up right away!