Ideas please

celiacmaine-iac · Joined: 19 Dec 2007 Posts: 668 Location: Maine

My best friend and her husband lost their middle son quite unexpectedly. They were informed of his death last night. My friend has asked me to cook some things to help feed the people who will be coming into their home in the days ahead. I need help figuring out what to make. GF cooking can be so different in terms of what stays edible for an extended period of time, and also what reheats well. I'm thinking a cake, and maybe a potato salad would work well, but I'm not sure about what may work for a casserole. Any ideas?
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Steph

cruelshoes · Joined: 23 Sep 2005 Posts: 2501 Location: Washington State

Chicken and rice casseroles are great. You could to a mexican type with tomatoes/salsa and cheese, or a creamy one with chopped chicken, vegetables and cheese/breadcrumbs on the top.

Enchiladas would work too. It's easy to make a ton, and they reheat well.

Sorry for the unexpected loss.
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-Colleen
Dx 8/05 via bloodwork/biopsy
9-YO son Dx 11/05 via bloodwork/biopsy
Daughters have negative bloodwork - so far!

A woman is like a tea bag-you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water. - Eleanor Roosevelt

ostrich · Joined: 30 Mar 2006 Posts: 4137 Location: Nebraska

Since comforting is what the family needs right now, I'd stick with comfort food. What about something like lasagna? Or meatloaf and mashed potatoes?

I'm very sorry for their loss.
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Ostrich :>--O==={

I lie below, you float above
In the pretty white ships that I am dreaming of

celiacmaine-iac · Joined: 19 Dec 2007 Posts: 668 Location: Maine

Thanks for the ideas Colleen and Os. Also for the kind thoughts. I'm thinking something in the crock pot might work, so maybe a shepherd's pie (kind of like meatloaf and mashed potatoes.) A rice casserole would be nice too. I think I have a cheese and broccoli rice casserole recipe somewhere... off to start hunting through about 300 cookbooks (literally). Ali suggested muffins too. It's a good idea since I was stumped on breads. My friends aren't GF, but I won't cook anything NGF because I don't want to contaminate my kitchen or cookware, and they like everything I make GF anyway.
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Steph

mrsppmrxky · Joined: 09 Oct 2004 Posts: 1469 Location: GF Kitchen

I am so sorry for the loss! I can not imagine the grief of losing a child.

For the family, simple foods will do nicely since being upset might make it difficult to handle rich foods or super spicey.

Bake a ham and slice it up for sandwiches. (pick up some regular gluten buns on the way to the house.)

Twice bake potatoes are good and reheat nicely.

Oven friend chicken is easy on the stomach.

Beef roast in the crock pot with potatoes and carrots is a true comfort food.

Even plain rice is good and you might could make gravy for either chicken or beef depending on which meat you go with.

Sweet potato casserole is a comfort food and can be either a side dish or a dessert.

When my dad died, cookies were great for me. I was so stressed and found most foods too overwhelming and difficult to swallow if I was upset. Cookies were small and easy to handle even if up walking around the house or the yard.

One other thing that our former pastor's DD did for us is that she went and brought in plastic ware, plates, cups, napkins and ziplock bags and extra grabage can bags. It was so nice of her!!! It made putting away the extra food easier, no dishes to wash except the baking ware for our friends.

If you are going to provide drinks such as tea, you might want to consider taking 1 or 2 gallons a day so that none goes to waste. With the heat being what it is this time of year, the fridge will be full and the drinks will get moldy quickly.

Muffins might be best to take over at about breakfast time........that way the GF muffins do not go stale. (If you have a bake shop, you might just pick up some already baked gluten items cheaper than it might be to bake GF for a large group of people)

Even just making sausage biscuits for the immediate family to have esp on the day of the funeral might be a true blessing for the family. This way they do not have to worry about anything. (If she is your good friend, she might even give you a key to the door to let yourself in so if someone is sleeping, you can have it on the counter ready when they are.......also make a pot of brewed coffee so it is already made that day of the funeral.)

Those were some of the special things that our friends did for us when we were too tired and distraught to do simple chores with the family. (I was sick when my dad died and since I am the only child from our of that town, I was staying with my mother and was up all night with her. I had no energy to get the mornings going. Her best friend came over and kept our household up and running, even down to vaccuming the floors when she saw they had been tracked up.)

I pray that your friends and your family find the comfort that you all need at this sad time in all of your lives.
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kb9oyo · Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 4:18 pm Post subject: Ideas Please

I am so sorry for their loss! One of the ideas that ladies of our church have when bringing over food for families in need is to have a supply of inexpensive dishes from the Thrift Shop etc. and just tell the families to keep the dishes or pass them on to others. The local Thrift Shop sells them for pennies, so it isn't a big investment and the families don't have to try to keep track of which dish belongs to whom. It really helped when I broke my ankle.

Sue B.
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Sue Beyer

celiacmaine-iac · Joined: 19 Dec 2007 Posts: 668 Location: Maine

Thank you all. You folks are just the best! A lot of good ideas. Thanks especially for the ideas about disposable/non-returnable dishes and dinnerware. I'll go stock up on paper plates, etc. before I go again. I did go buy them a bunch of grocery items that they could eat without much preparation, and got a cake at the store for drop-in company until I could get some stuff made. Good idea about the ham Mrs. P. I have one in the freezer.

I went to see them today, and as expected they are still in a state of shock, but their strong faith in God is sustaining them.
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Steph

Mom2BoyzOnly · Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 49 Location: Indiana

My heart goes out to your friends. A friend and co-worker of mine lost her daughter a couple of weeks ago to leukemia. She had been battling it for 18 months. She was 19. Another friend and co-worker lost her brother unexpectedly the exact same time. He was a twin to a brother she lost a year ago.
Cheese and crackers might be something people could snack on if they didn't want a meal. And maybe bottled water? Just a thought. Take care.
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Robin
Diagnosed approx 13 yrs ago
Seriously GF past 4 yrs

aklap · Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 8501 Location: WI, USA

Oh gosh, how terrible. Sorry to hear that. I'll offer up a few prayers.
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Al

“We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa

The Edifying Conscience · Joined: 29 Aug 2005 Posts: 2424

I might make a couple suggestions. First, I wouldn't send lasagna. Seems like everytime there is a need for food lasagna is the go to item. How many lasagnas can one family eat? I would however send food that can be frozen. So often there's so much food sent that it goes to waste. When my granddad died, my mom got to the point where she just started throwing stuff into the trash can. There just wasn't anymore room to store stuff and wasn't sure when the stuff had arrived.

I think if I was you I would make a pulled pork from a pork shoulder and send that with all of the fixings...cole slaw, rolls, potato salad (if that appeals to you), pickles, chips, etc. Pulled pork freezes beautifully, reheats easily and quickly and it's likely that no one else would send it.

A breakfast casserole and fruit, cinnamon rolls or bread, etc. might be good too especially if they have out of town guests staying with them.

One of my mom's friends brought over several cases of pop, beer, juice boxes for the visiting kids, h2o and snack stuff. It certainly came in handy as my parents house was where all of the out-of-town family convened for 4-5 days.

jeant · Joined: 06 Apr 2008 Posts: 60

I like the idea of sending over things that can be used in sandwiches -- ham, roast beef, and pulled pork are all terrific suggestions. Sandwich materials are good when someone doesn't feel like a big meal or when company drops by.

Beverages are a good suggestion as well. When my FIL died, a friend brought over three or four 12-packs of soda and it came in very handy when friends and relatives dropped by. They also brought us a bag or two of ice which we used when serving soda and water to people.

I'm so sorry for this loss. Having a friend like you to look after them will at least ease their burdens a little.

celiacmaine-iac · Joined: 19 Dec 2007 Posts: 668 Location: Maine

I'm liking the sandwich idea a lot. Easy for everyone to manage, no reheating, etc. I think that's what I'll do for after the memorial service if they need it. It may be that their church will take care of that.

For now I have a good crock-pot chicken recipe cooking to get them through today, and am going to make a chocolate cake, and probably a salad to complete the meal. As I make things, I'm going to set aside individual servings of each thing in separate containers because my friend has another friend with CD. I want to be sure she has something safe to eat if she's there, without worrying about CC.

Thanks for the prayers Al. Again, thank you everyone.
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Steph

cruelshoes · Joined: 23 Sep 2005 Posts: 2501 Location: Washington State

I know when I had cancer as a teenager, the most helpful thing someone did for my parents was to offer to be the information person. My parents would call this one person, and tell her the details on how I was doing. Then everyone wlse who wanted to know would call that person, and not my parents. When there is something like a serious illness or death, everyone wants to know what is going on, but for the family, explaining it over and over is really exhausting. I know it's not what you originally asked for, but I thought I would throw it out there.
_________________
-Colleen
Dx 8/05 via bloodwork/biopsy
9-YO son Dx 11/05 via bloodwork/biopsy
Daughters have negative bloodwork - so far!

A woman is like a tea bag-you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water. - Eleanor Roosevelt

ostrich · Joined: 30 Mar 2006 Posts: 4137 Location: Nebraska

Good idea, though instead of using a person I would use a email list, or even a basic website.
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Ostrich :>--O==={

I lie below, you float above
In the pretty white ships that I am dreaming of