Our winner
this month is DeDe. DeDe talks about how she found her cooking partner
through the
Cooking Partner page on the 30 Day Gourmet web site and what a
difference this and freezer cooking has made in her life.
I LOVE freezer cooking!!!
I am now 35 years old & have ADHD. I was blessed to have
3 wonderful children in 18 months who are each just over one year
apart. Let me explain: We adopted our son at 10 1/2
months from Cambodia. Three months later our first daughter
was born (making them 13 1/2 months apart) and 14 1/2 months later
our surprise-but-much-needed daughter was born.
I've never been good at planning meals before
5 pm (even before kids). But in comes 30 Day Gourmet. I'm not
sure how I discovered your book, but it was the first one on freezer
cooking that I came across. I liked your concept of
teaming up with someone. I tried it with a couple of friends
to no avail - too different in taste. I tried a couple
of times on my own to no avail, however I did freeze meals that
I would purposely make too much of.
November of 2004, I received an email from
someone stating that they found my name and email on your website
list. WOW! Are we a match ever?! She has 2 kids
(one adopted, also) who are close in age to mine. She
home-schools and I do, too. We have similar enough tastes, and
we work together great in the kitchen.
Anyway, we've been cooking together and being
friends now for over 2 years thanks to you guys. It has saved my
sanity and the health of my family (we don't eat so much
processed/packaged stuff). I also want to put in that I own
and use regularly the Advantage software. We have a planning day at
my house in front of my computer then I print out all the reports.
We cook so well together now that we pretty much know who's buying
what and who's prepping what.
Now, on to my current situation. My
husband's been unemployed for a while and we tried to move into my
in-laws garage. That didn't work. We are now back in our
house but only until we sell it - meaning, we've not moved
everything in. My deep freezer is 45 minutes away.
However, I still cook with my friend, and each week, I go down to my
in-law's house and go "shopping" in my freezer. If my husband
goes instead of me, I just tell him to "pick up" a few meals for us.
It still works for me. In a time of my life that has been
extremely stressful, at least I can still have good, healthy
meals for my family.
I just want to thank all of you over there at
30 Day Gourmet. You really have changed my life.
So, how do you make 30 Day Gourmet
work for you? How do you use it to help you deal with a challenge
in your life? How do you use it to help others? Do you have
a funny cooking story to share? Email me at
carol@30daygourmet.com or
post your story on the
Cook's Corner message board to be entered in our contest.
