Bringing a meal to family or friends is a great way to show you care whether you are welcoming a new family to the neighborhood, comforting someone who has experienced a loss, celebrating with a new mom and dad, or just giving the lucky recipient a night off of cooking!  I recently took some dinner to one of my friends who had a baby girl and I thought it would be fun to create some labels to go with the dishes.  With these labels I can write down any cooking or storing instructions or write a personalized note.

I have been on the receiving end of a warm meal from a friend when we were going through a hard time and it is amazing how something so small offers so much healing.  It didn’t matter if the food was fancy or something simple.  It was just the act that mattered.  Another thing that was pretty great?  When someone included some disposable dinnerware so that there was no clean up at all.  I really appreciated that so I made sure to include it when I took a meal to my friend.

Mother’s Day is coming up!  What mom wouldn’t love a night with no dirty dishes?!  This would be an easy and cute gift to give all on its own.

I made two different sets one with a little more blue and one with a little more pink.  But neither one is “baby-ish” so you can certainly use them for any occasion.

Download the PDF- Blue or Download the PDF- Pink

.

Here are a few other tips for taking meals:

- Always double check with the family to see if there are any allergies or foods that they don’t enjoy.  It isn’t much help if the family has five frozen lasagnas in their freezer for a year that nobody wants to eat.  Also call ahead to let them know you will be coming by.  It can be stressful to have visitors dropping in without any notice.

- Don’t worry if it isn’t fancy or even homemade.  A deli platter and some hearty bread can make sandwiches for days.  Pizza and breadsticks are usually a hit with kids.  Sometimes simple really is the best.

- Take meals that can easily be stored and reheated.  Nothing that will become mushy if it sits in the fridge for a few days.  Soups, pastas, and casseroles are great standards.

- Make sure you take it in a dish that you don’t expect to be returned, and let the family know that you don’t need it back.

- If you don’t feel comfortable cooking a full meal then think about taking quick grab-n-go, healthy snacks.  Sometimes people can be inundated with heavy meals but they might not be stocked up on items to snack on throughout the day.  Muffins, cut up fresh fruit and veggies, string cheese, granola bars, etc. are all great items.

- If you have the means think about including a few extras like a gallon of milk, jar of apple sauce, or boxes of pasta to help stock the pantry.

As one who has given, and received, the gift of a meal I think the main thing is to just let them know you care!

…