Help me with my new voluteer job

[saraha]

So I have a fun new volunteer job creating recipe booklets for the food boxes our community is handing out! The director said the boxes have been pretty consistent in their contents. This weeks included;

 apples, potatoes, cabbage, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, ricotta, block cheese, sour cream, 2% milk, liquid eggs.

She said next weeks will be pretty much the same. I already have quite a few ideas, but if the boxes stay pretty much the same I want to have tons of ideas so people don't get bored.

So, what do you think?

Thanks!

[itsheresomewhere]

Keep it simple as most don’t always have the time to really cook or in some cases, just a hot plate.  
 

With that box, I might include several breakfast type recipes.  Omelettes and fried potatoes. 

[Ali in OR]

We do an apple salad that even our picky eater likes. We do plain yogurt with a little cinnamon, then add diced apples. I'm wondering if you could do something similar with apples and sour cream? Maybe add a little brown sugar? For the 5 of us I usually dice 3 apples, anywhere from 3-6 oz yogurt, a few shakes of cinnamon. I mix the cinnamon and yogurt first and then add the apples. Leftovers are still good the next day--the yogurt must keep the apples from browning.

[Ottakee]

That is great to include recipes.  I agree with keeping them simple and easy.

[Bambam]

I'd be tempted to try to do several frittata and quiche recipes. 
Various ways to prepare the potatoes (fried, baked, roasted, mashed, au gratin, hashbrowns) and various way to use the leftover cooked potatoes (twice-baked, potato soup, potato pancakes, potato salad)
Maybe hotdog casserole recipes (? if such a thing exists, I'm not sure I've ever purchased hot dogs before)
 

[Innisfree]

Do the recipes need to assume people have no other ingredients on hand? Or can you assume some basics like salt, pepper, flour, sugar, maybe onions?

Edited October 9, 2020 by Innisfree

[saraha]

These boxes are from that program to help out farmers, so a box of fresh, refrigerated ingredients. People who collect these boxes are also eligible to collect shelf stable foods from any of the church food banks, so theoretically, they are receiving this box of fresh food and a box of canned items some where else. There is no income requirements etc, just a first come first served policy. This is a very rural area with a couple of small towns. I would say a lot of the people do have basic things like salt and pepper, given the dynamic that I have seen. It has been a mix of people that the director knows for sure are on SNAP or WIC and a people who are the ones on the edge, not interested in applying for benefits, but can benefit from the box since they are giving it out no strings attached. Does that make sense?

[Sherry in OH]

I would assume a few basic ingredients - flour, salt, pepper, oil or butter/margarine, and sugar.  Many food pantries give small amounts of these items.  They are also easily obtained for little cost at grocery and dollar stores.   

I would provide suggested menus for reasonably balanced meals that could be made primarily from the box ingredients. For example, 

• Dinner 1
  • Hot dog casserole
  • Steamed cabbage
• Dinner 2
  • Chicken nuggets
  • Oven fried potatoes
  • Cabbage and apple slaw
• Dinner 3
  • Potato Frittata with ricotta
  • Sliced apples

etc.

Then provide the recipe for each menu item.  Append basic recipes with variations, for example, a basic frittata can be jazzed up with onions, spinach, or other vegetables when available.

 

ETA: Have you seen the Cookbook feature on WIC's website.  You might find some inspiration there.

Edited October 9, 2020 by Sherry in OH
addition

[saraha]

So far I have come up with:

Cabbage- fried cabbage (with or w/o the hot dogs or potatoes), cheesy cabbage casserole (like mac and cheese), roasted cabbage slices, chopping and adding to vegetable soup

Potatoes- soup, baked potatoes, potato skins (saving the insides for mashed potatoes with or without adding the ricotta), etc there are a million ways to use potatoes

hot dogs- with fried cabbage or potatoes, used to substitute for sausage in a pantry jambalaya, sliced and fried served with the liquid eggs

Chicken nuggets- served with spaghetti and ricotta like a chicken parmesean, cut up and used to make chicken tacos,

Ricotta- stirred into spaghetti sauce, stirred into scrambled eggs, a casserole using canned vegetables soup and pasta, a cannoli type dip

block cheese- added to anything!

sour cream- the chicken nugget tacos, the potato skins or baked potatoes, stirred into potato soup, top a frittata

liquid eggs- frittata using any of the box ingredients, scrambled eggs, fried rice with the hot dogs, breakfast bake

apples- baked or microwaved, apple salad from above, roasted with cabbage

[prairiewindmomma]

I’d look to provide variety if the food is the same:

latkes

frittata

hashbrowns

 

[saraha]

On 10/8/2020 at 6:41 PM, Ali in OR said:

We do an apple salad that even our picky eater likes. We do plain yogurt with a little cinnamon, then add diced apples. I'm wondering if you could do something similar with apples and sour cream? Maybe add a little brown sugar? For the 5 of us I usually dice 3 apples, anywhere from 3-6 oz yogurt, a few shakes of cinnamon. I mix the cinnamon and yogurt first and then add the apples. Leftovers are still good the next day--the yogurt must keep the apples from browning.

We made this today to try it out with sour cream and it got a big thumb's up!

 

[kbutton]

 

On 10/9/2020 at 10:14 AM, saraha said:

These boxes are from that program to help out farmers, so a box of fresh, refrigerated ingredients. People who collect these boxes are also eligible to collect shelf stable foods from any of the church food banks, so theoretically, they are receiving this box of fresh food and a box of canned items some where else. There is no income requirements etc, just a first come first served policy. This is a very rural area with a couple of small towns. I would say a lot of the people do have basic things like salt and pepper, given the dynamic that I have seen. It has been a mix of people that the director knows for sure are on SNAP or WIC and a people who are the ones on the edge, not interested in applying for benefits, but can benefit from the box since they are giving it out no strings attached. Does that make sense?

Our church is doing this too, and we're benefitting. My husband's income is fine, but it's been cut a million times in the last couple of years, and he's losing his job in December. So far, the church has a lot of boxes and is even driving to neighborhoods and giving them away that way after the main distribution, so we don't feel like we're taking food from someone else.

Anyway, I think it's awesome you're including recipes because the boxes are a bit repetitive!

Ours includes both sour cream and cottage cheese, and I wanted to offer a recipe for those items in case someone else getting boxes is getting that combo.

Cottage cheese and sour cream chip dip: 2 parts cottage cheese to 1 part sour cream; onion powder/salt, garlic powder/salt, and pepper to taste. I think it's vile, but my family loves it, and it's one of those things that my parents are often asked to bring to a party or picnic because it's so popular.

Also, pierogies for the cottage cheese or potatoes or both--additional ingredients are pretty inexpensive. 

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/72791/cottage-cheese-perogies/  We like chives in our cottage cheese pierogies. To get dry curd cottage cheese, you can put it in a mesh colander to drain it. 

https://thesuburbansoapbox.com/best-potato-pierogi-recipe/

Our boxes have onions, and lots of people like onions fried with their pierogies.