Our August “Do a Good Cooking Deed” winner is Carol from Pennsylvania.

Hi!

I wanted to share with you how 30 Day Gourmet helped us to raise money at our church's flea market. I had been doing bulk cooking for several years now, so when one of the ladies in our Ladies Fellowship group suggested that we make pies to sell, I shared with her how we could make the crusts and fillings up ahead of time and freeze them. Then we could come together the day before the flea market and assemble and bake the pies so they would be fresh. Since I had the most experience, I got to plan the type of pies and the cost (I used the Holiday Freezer Manual for this).

Now for an interesting twist: There were 3 of us that were in charge. I was 8 months pregnant with our 4th child, Wanda had 6-month old twin baby girls and her 3 boys, and Melissa (our pastor's wife) had her 2-year old son and she was 6 months pregnant with twins!! We only had 3 weeks to put all of this (including the flea market) together!

I started by making the crusts, placing wax paper between each crust and freezing them flat inside a round Tupperware pie container. Then, a few days later, I made the apple pie filling according to the Holiday freezer manual. We also did blueberry, cherry, pumpkin, and cranberry nut fillings, and placed them in freezer bags and stored them in the freezer until assembly day. I also made a large batch of crumb topping. Being able to do this in our spare time over 3 weeks made it a breeze.

When assembly day finally arrived, we got all of our kids and pie ingredients together and met at the church. The kids played while we assembled the pies. Wanda and Melissa lined the pie tins with crusts. It was so nice to be able to just dump those fillings into the crusts and bake them! (I did learn that I should have taken the crusts out of the freezer the night before - we did have to wait for them to come to room temperature before we could use them or they would crack.) In spite of swollen feet and bellies, and constant interruptions from babies and kids, we got the pies done! We were able to purchase the clear plastic pie containers from our local grocery store's bakery for a great price (only 10 cents each). The pies nestled securely into the bottom of the containers and the lids flipped over the pies and snapped shut. The pies turned out beautifully and we sold every one of them! We charged $7 per pie and we sold 22 pies! We made over $750 during the flea market, and $154 came from the pies.

The week after the flea market, Melissa gave birth to identical preemie twin girls, and ten days later, I gave birth to our son. Since Wanda had twin baby girls, and we had two more pregnant women in our church, (we have a small church), we decided to use the money we earned for...a nursery, of course! :o)

Thanks to 30 Day Gourmet, we were able to have a great time because we were so organized. We are planning on getting together for a bulk cooking session for ourselves, and have been discussing having one solely for the church's freezer so we can have meals ready for new moms and shut-ins. Thanks Nanci and Tara, for helping us to make all of this possible!

Sincerely,
Carol in PA

p.s. My long term goal is, of course, to get you two to come out to the Poconos and do a seminar. There's a large group of homeschoolers in this area and I think they should have access to your system!

Hey – I’m all for that! Nanci