Start a Recipe Group
Are you excited to try a new recipe from a magazine but don’t have an occasion to make it? Joining or starting a recipe group is a fabulous way to get new recipes for you and your family. Come together with your friends and neighbors for a potluck. Eat, talk and then walk away with a handful of new recipes that you’ve tested and you know you’re family will love.
Choose the group: Six to 10 people is ideal because it’s a group size that’s lively but easy to coordinate. Ideally your number will be small enough to fit around your dinner table, but large enough that, if one person or couple can’t come, it doesn’t ruin the whole plan. What makes supper clubs most enjoyable is how supportive the members are of one another’s cooking.
Meeting Schedule: Typically recipe groups meet once a month. Send an email that lays out what a Recipe Club is and how it works. Decide how often to meet as a group, like the second Tuesday of the month is meeting day, and as it approaches, people can start considering what dish to make. Create a calendar and lay it out for the rest of the year.
Meeting Location: If you have someone to watch your kids, you could rotate having the recipe group at each other’s homes. This provides a great comfortable atmosphere.
Divide the Duties: The host is usually in charge of getting their house ready and table set for the night. Divide the duties among the other members, rotating month to month who will bring the appetizer, side starch, side vegetable, entree, wine and dessert. Some groups pick a theme, such as seasonal foods, a particular holiday, or a type of cuisine. There are many theme options to choose from (like low calorie, quick and easy meals) to provide you with a variety of recipes to share.
Discussion: Recipe group can be for eating and recipe sharing, but also a place to learn from each other and share tips and personal experiences that we’ve had. Sometimes the discussion would coincide with our recipe theme, but most of the time it does not.
Distributing the Recipes: The whole purpose of a recipe group is to share recipes so you can have new meals to try. Making sure that everyone gets a copy of the recipes they want is important. It is easiest to share recipes through email. This way each person could store the recipes how they like, digitally or printing them. Within 24 hrs of our group meeting, send out an email to everyone with a recipe and ask that they in return ‘reply to all’ and send an email to everyone with their own recipe.
Take a group photo once a year. Create a memory book with copies of everyone’s favorite recipes.
