Jello Pretzel Salad

2 1/4 c. pretzels
4 tbsp. white sugar
1 1/2 sticks melted butter
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
1 c. sugar
1 (8 oz.) Cool Whip
1 (6 oz.) strawberry Jello
2 c. boiling water
2 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen strawberries (or 3 c.)
CRUST:

Combine 2 1/4 c. pretzels, crushed, 4 tbsp. white sugar, and 1 1/2 sticks melted butter. Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Mix cream cheese, sugar, and Cool Whip until creamy. Spread on cooled crust.

Combine strawberry Jello, boiling water, and frozen strawberries. Let congeal slightly, pour on top, refrigerate.

Not recipes but
I often take sandwich fixings, buns, meat and cheese, a box of potato chips and cookies and or a cake. Its an easy put together meal for at first.
If I can't get there right away I have taken:
Scalloped Potatoes and Ham
Fried Chicken that is in a disposable foil roasting pan so it can be popped into the oven and heated. Coleslaw and brownies.
Baked ham and baking potatoes that are washed and wrapped and ready to be put in the oven with a fresh fruit tray.
I really try to avoid hotdishes I have taken them but I know DH hates what he calls "real funeral food". That is just him tho, I don't mind them. He's fussy and said they are hard to choke down. He likes things more everyday food.

I've not needed to do this for a long time, but fruit in jello - simple & easy to eat/digest when dealing with grief. An assortment of canned goods to round out what others may bring in. I'd urge caution re: sandwich stuff. When my dad was sick, and then passed away, we were brought more than we could use (moderately large family) We were not ungrateful; and we froze some of it. But there are a limited number of sandwiches a person can get down before needing something else.

The ham w/potatoes scrubbed is a good idea as is the chicken, etc. Spaghetti, lasagna, vegetable soup, chili. All of this could be frozen if need be.

If you know the family is taken care of food-wise, how about napkins, paper towels, sturdy disposable plates, trash bags, freezer bags, and yes, TP. Believe me, all of this will be used and appreciated, too.

When I was in the hospital (not a funeral, hsappily) my neighbor sent over a roast chicken for my family. People at work took up a collection and sent a gift certificate to a local restaurant. My family really appreciated not having to cook for themselves.

I've also taken a can of coffee and some rolls, cookies, or donuts. The breakfast casserole is a good one too.

Breakfast Casserole

Sauce
*********
6 eggs
2 C. milk
1 t. salt
1 t. pepper
Filling
*********
2 C Shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 lb. bacon, cooked and broken into small pieces
Noodles
***********
6 slices white bread
Prepare sauce. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Whisk until well blended. Set aside.
Spray an 11X7 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Layer three bread slices, slightly overlapping, into bottom of dish.
Sprinkle with 1/2 cheese and all the bacon. Place three remaining bread slices on top. Sprinkle with cheese. Pour sauce over the top of the lasagna. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.
Preheat oven to 375°. Remove plastic wrap, cover with foil and ake 40-45 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven. Let rest 5-10 minutes before serving. Serves 6

I should say the above is to be taken to the home/family.

I took Country Bumpkin a Breakfast Casserole and plate of Monkey Bread

Breakfast Casserole

Spray a casserole dish (I bought a throw away aluminum cakepan) with Pam

Line with bag of shredded hashbrowns (thawed)

Cook up a pound of bacon or sausage, throw in some onions..drain and throw that on top of the Hashbrowns (here lately since my kids love this for Breakfast I've been buying Kroger Brand Bacon pieces and adding two packages of those instead of cooking the bacon or sausage!)

Add one cup shredded cheese (i usually do a little more)

mix 8 eggs and two cups milk...with some salt and pepper)

put that on top of the cheese...put in refrigerator overnight

The next morning bake at 350 for about 40 minutes...

I took this to Bumpkins frozen...she thawed it in the frig later on and it still came out really good!

Monkey Bread

4 cans biscuits
one and one/half sticks butter
one cup sugar
3tbsp cinammon (more or less...just make sure your sugar mixture is well coated with cinammon!)

spray bundt pan or angelfood cake pan with pam

quarter the biscuits...dip in cinammon sugar mixture

after two cans have been put in bundt pan pour melted stick butter over mixture..

put the other two cans quartered into the pan...pour remaining melted butter over biscuits

bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes...

take out of the oven...flip on to plate and voila...MONKEY BREAD!!

Everyone always seems to take other meal types to families...I try to take breakfast foods! All they have to do is warm up the oven and cook it...

I've taken a ham, which comes fully cooked. It can be eaten cold as sandwiches or warmed for a hot meal.

Any kind of meat/pasta dish, similar to spaghetti.

Augraten or scalloped potatoes.
Desserts.
And of course you've gotten great suggestions above!

Oh, and try to take things in disposable dishes. It is so hard to remember who brought what in what, and get it returned to them.

My sympathy to you and whom ever you need to do this for.

Tami

I have taken to the family fried chicken or meatloaf & potato salad. All three keep well & don't even need to be heated up. I always take them in disposable pans.

My one caution, be sure you know the recipient wants it. When my mother died, people brought food. Well, nobody really felt like eating much. With all the rigamarole of messing around with arrangements we would eat out with my dad, or more appropriately I would since there wasn't much help from my siblings. The food they brought needed to be heated up and my dad was pretty helpless at reheating anything. He could fry an egg and some bacon and that's about the extent of his cooking ability. Making coffee was "too much work". And all of us hated to waste food but all we could do was throw it out.

That said, I know other people who lost the cook in the family and had small kids, etc. The simple comfort foods, meatloaf, lasagna, soup, chili, pot roast, etc are great, especially with disposeable pans and heating instructions. A lot of people don't know how long to bake a potato so tape a note on there. Same with reheating a casserole. Sometimes a pizza and a salad can be welcome.

My other suggestion is for with the ham idea, that's great, but it's a good idea to make a note that it can be served warm, cold, in sandwiches, snack by itself. Seems obvious to many, but when you're stressed out, or if you're not used to cooking, you just don't think of these things and I'm sure it would be appreciated.

Another thought is a thermos of coffee might be appreciated too.

My kudos to you also for being so caring.

i always make a pot of soup, deliver it piping hot in the afternoon of the viewing. in all the years that i have been doing this, the family always had the soup for dinner.

sorry for your loss.

maryanne

Besides food, I've taken families paper products; everything from cups, plates, plastic tableware, paper towels, food storage bags, trashbags, tissues, tp -- the kind of stuff that you need for a large crowd or ever changing amount of people passing thru the house..
Fruit trays, veggie trays, soda in cans or smaller sizes than the 2 liter ones, bagged ice in a disposable/cheap cooler

When my dad died a friend of theirs brought a big crock pot of sloppy Joes, buns and chips. We all loved it!

When our church has a dinner after the funeral, they usually ask me to make yeast rolls. These are not a quick fix as the dough is made and refrigerated and made the next day or up to a week later.

Refrigerator Yeast Roll Dough

1 quart of milk
1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
Heat until shortening and sugar are melted and dissolved.
When cooled to lukewarm add, 1 package of yeast that has been dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water.
Mix well and then add 8 cups all purpose flour. Mix well by hand and cover. Let raise in a warm place until double in bulk.
Then mix down add to this 1 tablespoon of salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda and two teaspoons of baking powder. Mix and then add 1/2 cup flour. Mix and store in the refrigerator overnight in a large tightly covered container. When ready to use, divide and roll on floured counter. Roll as for jelly roll and spread with melted butter. Roll up and place cut side down in greased muffin pans. Butter the tops. Let raise until doubled. Bake in a 400 degree oven until done about 12 to 14 minutes.

This recipe will make about 36 rolls. I usually have to make 3 batches of this dough for a church funeral dinner.

Do not knead this dough. It must be very soft to have a soft roll. These can also be made, shaped and put in pans and frozen, then cover with foil and bake up to two weeks later. Of course you must give them time to thaw and raise before baking.

I have a batch in my freezer right now for a noon meal this coming Saturday.

fried chicken

Beer, wine & soft drinks!

Donna (^_^)

Mariyln Sue--That is the very same recipe a high school friend's mom gave me!! It took me years to coax her out of it, but those were the best rolls I've ever tasted!! She had a huge aluminum mixing bowl saved special for them and was in charge of doing the rolls for all her family's reunions.
However, the end of the recipe differs--she didn't roll hers out. Rather, coat the (clean!) hands in soft margarine, then pinch off dough and roll in the palm of your hands, then place side by side in a large cake pan and let do a second rising before baking.
Yum!

These look like wonderful ideas and all things that I can handle! Thanks so much!! I'll print them out and tuck them into my recipe book. Wish I didn't need them, but we have a church family in need---so sad I can't even explain.

Those who suggested paper goods are so right...when my mom died, someone brought us paper plates, paper towels, and TP. And yes...you go through a lot of that with friends and family coming in!!

I thought of cheese and crackers, later this afternoon, after I had posted and logged off.

Tami

Find out what the family likes to eat, is there kids, the ages and cook the meals according to that.

Yes, simple fast easy meals to take out and eat and heat up as grieving, alot don't even want to eat or think about it at all.

Homemade soups would be something good to give them find otu what they like and make a couple of different ones and put into containers to pop into their freezer and pull out.

Sandwiches only last so long so you don't want to overwhelm them.

How about going further, cleaning their house, running errands, maybe even help with the kids if they lost their spouse or parents, someone really, really close to them and they are really grieving. Doing their laundry for them. If they have pets, make sure they are being fed and walked,etc.

People act so different when they are grieving.

Hi Twinklenose
Nice to know someone else has the same recipe. I got this recipe 55 years ago out of my Westinghouse cookbook. I still have it. It was a gift from a furniture store when we bought some furniture just after we were married. Yes, it is a very good recipe.
Sue

When my father passed away we received many different kinds of food. All were greatly appreciated but alas, some of it went to waste. If you suspect that there will be lots of food brought to the family I would take over a frozen lasagna or something like that to be baked later in the week when all the company and the food is gone. Also, something neat was that one of my young daughter's friends sent 4 pizzas for the kids. That really went over big. As a matter of fact the adults liked a slice of pizza too.

I love all of your ideas. It seems like when we are faced with a situation, it is hard to make decisions of food for the family. I always want to try and help out, but not be in the way. In the past I was working with a friend that lost her granddaugter in a tragic accident. Since I lived closest to her, the office collected money and gave it to me. I went to her house on several different days during the week, and brought fresh food from different local food places. It worked out really well, and she still tells me how nice it was not to worry about feeding everybody every night. Olive garden makes a really great lasagna with breadsticks and side foods that is wonderful and affordable. I also took beans and cornbread in a crock pot, and several 12 packs of soda. Chicken one night, and mexical food another. I was honored to be able to visit with them all week and be a part of how their day went.
I didn't know her really well then, but we are best friends ever since.

Trin

We just had a good friend pass away yesterday. I called to see what the family needed...this is important. They said they could use some things to drink. They had food pouring out of the kitchen, but nothing to drink. So, this is an idea. When my mom passed, we too, threw a lot of food away, not that it was not appreciated, but we just could not eat it all. While making all the arrangements, we ate out a lot so the food just sat there. But I can remember having to make runs to the store for soda pop, tea and coffee.