Meals To The Fields

A person cannot work around the clock without proper nutrition.  That’s where I come in! “Meals to the fields” is what I like to call it.  I joked with Brad that I was going to start a small business catering to farmers in the area, ha-ha!  I’ve mentioned before how much I enjoy baking and cooking, and having a bunch of hungry, hardworking farmers gives me a great opportunity to share my love of food!

Between my mother in- law and me, our guys get pretty nice meals out in the fields.  Not just sandwiches, we have full course, meat and potato style meals out of the back of our cars.  A home cooked meal is a small comfort of home that they can enjoy while sitting for what sometimes seems like endless hours in a tractor or combine.

The first year I tried to do this for everyone it didn’t go so hot.  I have come a long way in both my cooking ability and my organization since then!  My debut year of “meals to the fields” I tried to make healthy meals.  That was my first mistake.  I realized you cannot feed a spinach salad topped with chicken to guys working around the clock.  It isn’t something they really enjoy anyway and sticks with them for about 30 minutes.  They need hearty, rib sticking meals! 

The next mistake I made that first year was sending food out in containers with utensils that I wanted back.  I am positive that after that first harvest I had only 2-3 spoons left in my drawer.  Stuff just gets lost, and their priority isn’t getting things like that back home.  The first priority is getting the job in the field done safely and efficiently!

And the last mistake I made was packaging food in inadequate containers.  Food presentation isn’t my strong suit anyway, but by the time the food bounced around in my car for 15 minutes getting to the field I was surprised they would even eat it!  I mean, the applesauce was always running into the other components of the dish, and the main course had slid off the plastic wrap covered plate onto my car seat.  It was bad!

It is an understatement to say there was a serious learning curve that year!  But now, I have it down! It isn’t that hard for me now, and I encourage other farm wives to give it a try if you haven’t already.  Your farmers will really appreciate it J

This is how I do it: 



My car organized with dinners, water, and utensils.

·         Plan the menu a week in advance; including side dishes and desserts.  Make a grocery list simultaneously while making the menu.

·         Stay a step ahead if possible.  If I can brown burger for a casserole, throw things in the crockpot, assemble the lasagna etc. the night before, I do!  Then I only have the baking step the next day.  It makes life a lot smoother!

·         Make the side dishes or desserts the night before if possible.  Cookies, cakes, dessert bars…almost any dessert I take to the field tastes just as good if baked the night before as it does baked same day.

·         Lay out all ingredients (that don’t need the freezer or refrigerator) out next to my stove the night before, along with the recipe.  Then I know what I am doing the next day.

·         Keep a picnic basket stocked with plastic utensils, napkins, and bottled water in the back of my car at all times.  One less thing I need to pack each evening!

·         Take advantage of the local food surplus store to purchase Styrofoam divided “to- go” containers, small plastic containers, and Styrofoam soup bowls with lids.  These disposable containers are very inexpensive and are extremely handy to serve and transport meals.  And the Styrofoam keeps the warm food at an appropriate temperature.  But, the best part about these containers is….I don’t need them back!  I am not missing ½ of my kitchen when field time is finished, ha-ha!

·         Make an assembly line.  While finishing up cooking for the evening, I lay out the quantity of Styrofoam containers I need that evening across my counter.  As soon as the food is ready it is easily loaded in containers.



Claire patiently waiting for Brad to come to the front of the field
....and eating some of his dinner while waiting, ha-ha!

·         Finally, I plan out my stops.  Many times we have equipment running in a few different fields in one evening.  I make sure my last stop is at the field that Brad is working in so Claire and I can do what we do best; ride and talk with Daddy in the tractor or combine J

Yes, it is a lot of work!  But, I feel like it is my contribution to helping everyone in the fields.  And, I always feel better during busy field time if I am very busy at home.  If I sit around trying to relax, the season drags on for me.

For any farm ladies wanting to give this process a whirl, I have several recipes that travel really well to the fields!  Really anyone could try this; it would work great for camping, game days, picnics, etc.  It’s quite a trial and error process to find what dishes travel well and which ones don’t.   Just send me a message of what sort of food you are looking for and I will gladly share any recipe I have that worked well and tasted great J