I was looking for some inspired funeral food the other day to take to a grieving family, and was struck by the lack of local information on the subject.  I realized that churches could provide a great service for their congregations and the community if they could include a section in their church fundraising cookbook that explains the local traditions of funeral food and funeral etiquette.

Of course, you’re thinking I’m thinking the church would use my Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software to create such a cookbook with a funeral food chapter. Yes. However, my reasons are much more personal. At a time of loss, many people don’t know what funeral food to cook, when to cook it, and where to deliver whatever they’ve cooked. 

In a small community, everyone seems to pitch in and provide meals for the mourning family and the gathering after a funeral or memorial service. In an urban environment, where often the neighbors may be unknown, it is usually the close family and friends that provide the funeral food.

In general, local traditions rule. Funeral food should be easy to heat and eat, be somewhat portable, freezable, and disposable, and above all, provide comfort.  Following are some suggestions for funeral food that may be helpful the next time you need a funeral food idea:

COMFORT FUNERAL FOOD IDEAS

Mains – Baked ziti, barbecued meats in sauce, cheeses, chicken & rice, chicken pot pies, chicken skewers, chili, chowder, deli platter, finger sandwiches, lasagna, macaroni & cheese, meatballs and gravy, pot roast, quiche, roast chicken, sandwiches of tuna salad, ham salad & salmon salad, sliced meats (brisket, corned beef, ham, lamb, pastrami, roast beef, turkey), soups & stews, spaghetti, pizza, stuffed peppers, tuna casserole, tubs of KFC.

Snacks – Crackers, cheese & olives, granola bars, mixed nuts (shelled pecans, almonds, cashews), pickles, potato chips.

Sides – Bagged green salad with bottled dressings, cold salads (with 3 or more ingredients), cole slaw, cut-up fresh fruit (such as pineapple, melons) or whole fruit baskets (apples, oranges, bananas, grapes, nuts), funeral potatoes (hash browns, cheese, mushroom soup), green bean casserole, pasta salad, potato salad, raw veggie tray of red pepper strips, broccoli spears & carrots, steamed broccoli, stuffed mushrooms.

Breads – Baguette, brioche, cinnamon rolls, croissants, homemade bread with flavored butter, muffins, sandwich bread, rolls.

Desserts – Apple crisp, brownies, cakes & pies (already cut), cookies, chocolate candies, cupcakes, Jell-O, lemon squares, ice cream sandwiches, rice pudding, tarts, tubs of ice cream.

Beverages – Beer, bottled water, freshly ground coffee, Irish whiskey, juices, sparkling non-alcoholic drinks such as apple cider or Italian orange water, seltzers, soft drinks or 2-liter sodas, wine.

Some people prefer to not cook funeral food but want to help. Here are some ideas that can help a mourning family when given immediately:

PRACTICAL NON-FUNERAL FOOD IDEAS
- Bring disposable plates, napkins, forks, glasses and cups
- Clean the kitchen
- Buy groceries to restock the fridge and laundry room
- Bring freezer bags, plastic wrap, or single serving freezer containers for leftovers
- Hire a cleaning service for the family
- Bring paper towels, Kleenex, toilet paper
- Buy jars of mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard and hot sauce
- Bring plastic garbage bags and trash bags
- Run errands, make calls, answer the phone
- Buy a gift certificate to a local restaurant and a delivery menu

For most people, the tradition of funeral food is mostly about spending time with family and friends in a family reunion time of sadness. The making, giving, and eating of funeral food seems to be common in most cultures, although differences do exist. That is why a local cookbook explaining local funeral food traditions would be helpful, especially to newcomers in an area.  

Happy Cookbooking,

Matilda

With schools and churches having bake sales for fundraising, now is also a good time to review what makes a successful bake sale. Following are my 5 tips for bake sale success:

TIP 1. LOCATION & SET UP
Just as in the real estate world, bake sale success is all about location, location, location. There is no substitute for a highly visible location for your bake sale table. Being seen is the one major secret to bake sale success.  A busy pharmacy next to a supermarket may be a great place because you won’t compete with the store’s bakery.  Use tables to display the baked goods attractively (with a festive tablecover), and have chairs for helpers to sit down. Be sure to arrive early on the day of your bake sale to set up and get organized.

TIP 2. SIGNAGE & PROMOTION
Promote your bake sale in advance by putting up flyers around your community and in local businesses that agree to help your promotion. Make signs of yellow or white poster board. Print large letters on your computer or use a fat black marker to write BAKE SALE in big capital letters. Hang signs on three sides of the table. If allowed, attach some balloons. Also make your sales sail by using festive paper, ribbons, or stickers to add some creative packaging and pizzazz. Bake sale success is as much about marketing as great baked goods!

TIP 3. PRODUCT VARIETY
Ensure bake sale success by asking friends, family, and neighbors to contribute freshly baked items. Also ask for donations of bakery goods from the local supermarket to fill in the gaps not covered by the homemade goodies. A good product mix is to have brownies, small cakes, cupcakes, cookies, sweet and savory bread loaves, and whole cakes. You can sell some easy-to-eat individual items at premium prices, or pre-package baked items into an economical dozen assortment. Be careful about selling baked goods that will run up expenses. For example, a slice of pie requires a plate, napkin and fork. A whole pie requires nothing more than the plastic wrap over the top. Another good product option is to have sugarless, low-fat, or organic baked items for the more health conscious.

TIP 4. PRICING
Pricing items effectively is the other major secret to bake sale success.  Some people like to make price tags for each item.  Personally, it is much less work to group baked items for sale on the table according to a set price, and tape just one small sign on the tablecover, such as “Whole Cakes $4.95.”  (Smart bake sale sellers won’t have that nickel change available to encourage folks to donate the extra nickel. This technique works great at yard sales, too.)

TIP 5. TIME MANAGEMENT
Ask members of your group to sign up for 2 hour shifts. Most everyone can spare 2 hours, even during a busy weekend. I’ve found that those who do come have such a good time chatting with customers that they often stay longer.  Make sure volunteers have water to drink, paper towels, and moist wipes or hand sanitizer.  Also be sure to have such supplies as Saran Wrap, plastic bags, and paper bags. And, always after the limelight of your bake sale success, be sure to send thank you letters to everyone who helped, from store manager right on down to the kid in the stroller who bobbed the balloon to get attention!

We’ve had many bake sale fundraising triumphs in our town using these 5 tips for bake sale success.  Feel free adapt them to your next bake sale.

Good cookbooking,

Matilda

One thing I’ve learned over the years about fundraising is that people will donate generously if they perceive “value.” That concept can be further summed up as “getting something in return for my donation.” 

Gone are the days when people donated just to donate. They now want some form of tangible return.  What better form of return to offer than creating a fundraising cookbook to sell. With a fundraising cookbook, the buyers’ notion of “getting something in return” is fully realized. 

Not only does a fundraising cookbook help the cause, it may provide an allowable tax deduction for the buyer if the organization is a 501(c)(3) non-profit group (see your tax consultant for details).

One way to add value to a fundraising cookbook (and thereby create a solid sales strategy) is to have members of your group contribute to the finished product. Their family recipe contributions will go a long way to having copies of the cookbook snatched up by proud contributors for their own kitchen bookshelf and the kitchen bookshelves of family members and friends.

Granted it may be easier to coordinate pulling teeth than getting recipes submitted in sufficient time to finish by the deadline you’ve set. So to help that along a bit, we’ve developed a simple form that can be sent home with a letter of explanation that will encourage parents to participate and submit their recipes. It is a Microsoft Word document, so changing the wording to your specific needs is easily done. Enjoy!

Fundraising Cookbook Submission Form (Free)

Happy fundraising cookbook making!

Matilda

Do you belong to a church or other organization that can benefit from fundraising activities?  If so, you might want to consider creating a cookbook to sell to members of your local community.

With a powerful cookbook software, you can create a cookbook easily and quickly. Here are a few steps to get you started:

1. Ask via email or in a meeting who would like to contribute recipes and/or help with the cookbook production.  We recommend Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software as the key cookbook software for this purpose.

2. From your group of volunteers, nominate a core set of three people to collect and input the recipes and photos for the cookbook. Depending upon the complexity of the recipe, typing recipes into the software should take only 5-10 minutes per recipe to complete. You can also cut and paste into the recipe template for even faster results. 

3. Ask another group of volunteers to write up any bios for recipe contributors (if you want them included) and provide the files to your cookbook production group.

4. Have the cookbook production group make up a sample cookbook.

5. Recruit another group to do the final cookbook proofreading.

6. Calculate your printing and production costs for one complete cookbook.  Set your selling price for the cookbook at a suggested twice to four times the cost of printing one copy.  (You have to be the judge as to what price will sell in your area.)

7. Take orders for the cookbooks and print single copies to order (you can always set a specific day each month to produce the cookbook orders, and then deliver them the next day).  The beauty is that you can take orders and print up just the number of cookbooks you need to fulfill the cookbook orders. No storage space or money will be tied up in printed cookbooks you may never sell.

8. Get ready for a steady stream of cookbook income for the church or other organization.  When everyone in the church or organization tires of the cookbook, you can discontinue publishing it at any time without any losses or further investment. You can also update it easily and sell it again as version 2.0.

So, do consider creating a cookbook if you belong to a church or organization that needs ways to raise funds for beneficial projects. It can be a fun and rewarding experience, too.

Happy cookbooking,

Matilda

Traditionally, we select the same day and time each week beginning November 1 until the week before December 25 as our “shopping” day.  We always try to visit a different store, mall, or shopping center for variety and to keep our gift spending under control. We like to see the holiday decorations, have lunch, and get in the holiday mood.

“Yes,” Ruth nodded. “I’m afraid it is all back to basics now with our economy what it is. Your cookbook software not only makes a great gift at a reasonable price, it also builds wonderful cookbook gifts for others, too. It’s a gift that can keep giving!”

I pondered at the wisdom of her comment (sometimes she is so smart). I asked her why she thought homemade family cookbooks created with our cookbook software could be a popular Christmas gift this year. She used all the fingers on her two hands (and then some) to explain it to me, and her reasons had nothing to do with the economy.

Ruth said that a family cookbook made with our cookbook software makes a great Christmas gift because it is a gift that is:

1.   From the Heart
2.   Personal
3.   Informative
4.   Useful
5.   A Lasting Keepsake
6.   Easy to Do
7.   Inexpensive
8.   Under Your Own Control
9.   Unique
10. Fascinating
11. Green (conserves gas and gift shopping time)
12. Printable at the last minute for unexpected guests
13. Creative
14. An Achievement

While I was thinking in terms of dollars and cents as usual, Ruth (always the more sensitive one) hit on the real importance of creating a family cookbook — the love of preserving a family‘s food traditions and history.

Then our thoughts dissolved to the less fortunate, whose families may not be so lucky to have any food to write recipes about, or shelter with kitchens to warm them. We decided to do without our shopping day lunches and donate the amount we would spend on them to the local food bank.  We also resolved to give an extra child’s gift to our local community toy collection drive.

Hmm, I wonder if the local soup kitchen could use a fundraising cookbook …there is still time to make one!

I have at least 45 fundraiser cookbooks from all over the country on my bookshelf. Some of them are my favorites, and I use them constantly for potluck dish ideas and volume cooking. (Yes, eventually I will pick out the recipes I like and add them to my own recipe collection in my own family cookbook. But for now, let’s focus on your fundraising goals.)

In general, the collective effort of producing a fundraiser cookbook is not only rewarding for those involved in creating it, the fundraiser cookbook as an end product is often the most lucrative means for raising money for a specific cause. Until recently, fundraiser cookbooks were typically made using a traditional cookbook publisher, but they can now be made at home using the latest cookbook-making recipe software.

Here are some thoughts your group may want to consider before creating a fundraiser cookbook:

Group Commitment

The group must be committed to completing a fundraiser cookbook that is marketable, so it is vital that only dedicated members be on the cookbook-making team. This is true whether the fundraiser cookbook is for a community organization or a business using the cookbook for promotional purposes. Members of this team must be willing to shoulder the responsibility of collecting, editing, typing and proofreading the fundraiser cookbook. And, they must be willing to meet deadlines!

Financial Goal

The group must determine the financial goal of the fundraiser cookbook, such as how much money it is expected to raise, after expenses. Get a consensus about what price supporters will pay for it in your area, and whether to include advertising to offset the costs. (When creating the fundraiser cookbook at home using cookbook-making recipe software, costs are considerably lower than cookbook publishers charge, and the results are professional quality, too.

Cookbook Software

The group should utilize an easy-to-use cookbook-making recipe software to keep costs low. The beauty of making a fundraiser cookbook with recipe software on your own computer is there is no excess inventory of unsold books collecting dust in boxes in someone’s garage. With cookbook-making recipe software, you don’t have to print a minimum order (like the cookbook publishers require). You can print a few, a dozen, or a hundred at a time, depending upon the group’s fundraising needs.  Some cookbook-making recipe software (like ours) allows you to add stories, photos and anecdotes about the recipes and contributors throughout the fundraiser cookbook.

For more information about our cookbook software products, please see our features page for Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software. For worthy fundraisers, we’ll actually donate a copy of the software to you for free. For more information, email me at info@cookbookpeople.com. Please include some information about your group, your goals, and a link if available to your site.

Happy Fundraiser Cookbooking!

Matilda

Relay for Life is a fundraising event for the American Cancer Society. There are Relay for Life events all over the United States and it is a very worthy cause. Our school participates in our county event and we usually raise approximately $5000 as a school. We are hoping to increase that amount by selling our cookbook this year. Our county generally raises somewhere between $75000 and $100000 for the cause. It is a wonderful event and a worthy cause. I will provide you the link: http://www.relayforlife.org/relay/ to the organization.

Again thank you very much! We are loving your software and the ease with which we are creating a memory for our school.

Thank You,
L. Maria Cox
Assistant Principal
Harrelson School
Puryear, TN

We’re happy to help out, Maria!

If you are planning a Relay For Life cookbook fundraiser, or a cookbook fundraiser for any worthy project, please email us with your plan. Maybe we can help!