Cooking For The Homeless



Because of preparing for my daughter's event, I skipped cooking for the shelter for a whole week.  I knew the guys missed my food so I wanted to make them their favorite dinner upon my return.  They wanted meatloaf, mashed potatoes, gravy and bread.
The Blog Tech and I cooked all day.  We made 8 quarts of gravy.
And 20 + pounds of mashed potatoes
 Since they serve their main meal at lunch, it gets tricky to have everything ready that early in the day.  I decided to make the meatloaves ahead of time and send them to the mission with The Blog Tech and he could cook them there while I made the bread.

 He took them down early the next morning and got them started.  The cook said he would take care of them and sent The Blog Tech home.

These meatloaves weighed almost 25 pounds each.  When I arrived at the shelter, I asked the cook how the meatloaves were coming along.  He said, they don't look as good as they do when you cook them.  OMG...I looked at them and they looked like one of those scenes from a movie when the meal was burned to a crisp with smoke coming out.  I don't know how they managed but the meatloaves looked burned on the outside and were still raw in the middle.  Somehow they managed to finally get them cooked because when The Blog Tech went back to serve the meal, all of it was devoured.
Lesson learned....if you want something done right, do it yourself!

Comments

Anonymous said…
oh my gosh, my heart sunk when you said that they were burned, all I could think of was all that work you went through, their oven must be not right.
I agree , best do it your self, what a wonderful meal though, glad you have your snow but quite honestly we will be so glad to see bare ground again!
Debbie said…
Wow! Just cooking something that weighs 25 lbs. would throw me off! I wouldn't know how to regulate the temperature and time but I am sure you have this down pat by now. How wonderful is it that the blog tech and your husband are part of all this! And the guys favorite meal was meatloaf, mashed potatoes, gravy and bread! Looking at the pictures of your food, I thought that might just be my favorite right now too! I love what you are doing. All that cooking for "everyone" Joyce...do you ever get any carpel tunnel from all the chopping and mixing and so on? You are a real jewel of a person. I am always amazed by your energy.:)
Sunnybrook Farm said…
That looks better than I could buy at a restaurant, you will make their day cooking like that!
brokenteepee said…
Maybe they didn't cover them? I'm sure they were still enjoyed - smoked meatloaf. That's what it was....
Clearly their ovens are not as good as yours. But I'm glad the meal ultimately turned out okay and the guys enjoyed it!
Anonymous said…
That easily happens when using a fire heated oven the first times :-) Too much heat and the surface gets very " crisp" :-) and inside the meat is totally raw. They must have sliced those meatloaves to get it somewhat right I guess.

Have a great day!
Christer.
Its universal, Meat loaf, gravy and bread and the men are in hog heaven. Especially when there is bacon involved!
xx
julie
TARYTERRE said…
At least it all turned out in the end.
Nellie said…
Yes! You have that right! I know when I take food along that needs to be cooked at the site, it never does seem to have the appearance it would have were I able to cook it here before transporting. I don't know how you would have managed to do all that to have it ready by mid-day unless you had done some of it ahead of time. I know it was delicious anyway!
Barb said…
Wow! It must have really been a disappointment. Thank goodness they were able to finally get them to a point where they could eat.
Thank goodness they were salvageable . That is a lot of ground beef that would have been wasted.
Guillaume said…
All this looks so delicious.
Dog Trot Farm said…
I'm happy to read it all worked out in the end Joyce. My father always said "if you want something done right, do it yourself." What's on the menu for tomorrow? Greetings, Julie.
Yikes, that must have been scary!
Kelly said…
There have been meals here that looked kind of sketchy but tasted really good. Maybe that was one of them. I know they were very much appreciated. Much Love to ya'll
luckybunny said…
That's so adorable that that is their favorite meal! :) Such comfort food :) How special and kind of you to do this, I know how many people this must touch (and feed) and also what an impact it has on their lives and not just the physical part either, it's very emotional and motivational. Big hugs to you for everything you do! :)
Oh my, one can only imagine the food the cook usually cooks for the homeless... Hope it was a one off incident.
Love Leanne
Doing it right. Much respect.