I didn't post a Weekly Menu for the last couple of weeks. Life got swamped and it got away from me. As a result we have been eating a lot of carryout, fast food and sometimes even a bowl of cereal for dinner. Life is starting to calm down a bit now but will remain pretty busy throughout the Lenten Season.
This means it is even more important to plan my meals or I just find myself resorting to the above measures. I found this photo in Google images and it just cracked me up......
During Lent I run the Lenten Fish Fries with my friend MaryAgnes and a lot of volunteers. It is pretty time consuming and I come home exhausted but it is also very rewarding and I do it as a part of my Lenten journey in appreciation of all the blessing my Lord has bestowed upon me.
This year, I'm feeling especially blessed, as my husband is doing so extremely well after the health scare with which we started the year.
So I am working on my Weekly Menu while there is a lull in the action. Tonight is our second Fish Fry. I will be working there all day long and we will have dinner there as well. Tomorrow morning is kitchen clean up but then I am free for the weekend as well as Monday and Tuesday.
Food for the Fish Fry is delivered at Noon on Wednesday. The fish all needs to be separated and placed onto trays to thaw in the cooler. All the groceries need to be put away and the kitchen prepped for the next two days work. Wednesday is also the day I make the slaw dressing, rice krispie treats, pies and corn bread. I am going to put dinner into a slow cooker before I leave the house.
Thursday I will be back to the hall at 9 am. I have volunteers who cut up the fish. 24 large sheet trays of fillets to be baked and 6 heaping chafing pans of fillets to be breaded and fried. I will be making up 3 electric roasters of Mac and Cheese and 2 roasters of seafood chowder while other volunteers cut up lemons, mix the coleslaw and place into individual serving cups, wash and wrap 150 potatoes for baking, fill individual containers of tartar sauce and ketchup, set up the buffet line, cut and wrap the corn bread, pies and rice krispie treats and wrap up any donated cookies into individual servings.
Friday starts at Noon for me, however Mary Agnes is there earlier. When I arrive, I am in charge of getting the roasters on so that the mac and cheese and chowder will be ready to serve at 4 pm when the doors open. I will also get the potatoes into the oven, prep the fish that is to be baked and start heating the fryers for fish and french fries. Service is from 4-7 and is limited to only 25% capacity right now so most of our meals will be curbside pick up. We average about 300-400 meals in that 3 hrs. It is very busy and I fill in wherever I am needed. We will have dinner when service is over and before clean up begins.
Saturday morning I meet Mary Agnes and any other volunteers to do kitchen clean up. This usually takes about 2-3 hrs, depending on how many of us show up.
I used to dream of owning a restaurant until I started doing these fish fries.....It is hard enough to do this 3 days a week for 6 weeks......there is no way I could sustain this pace for any length of time.
So here is my Weekly Menu going into March. What's on your menu this week?
Your cooking as a religious act is very dedicated. I learned a lot about what's involved in mass cooking from your description.
ReplyDeletebe safe... mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Thanks Mae...I do this each year as my Lenten observance.
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