Invite your local missionaries to dinner NOW to PREPARE for your Latter-day Saint mission LATER - a guide for future LDS missionaries and their parents

Our daughter Kendall attends a local YSA branch and last Sunday she noticed that the missionary
dinner calendar was looking a little sparse, so she signed up to feed the missionaries in our home.
Since this was her idea, she insisted that she wanted to do the chores and plan, purchase, and prepare (and clean up after) the whole meal (which was fine with me!)

She found out the day before that she would have to work (unexpectedly) the day of the dinner appointment, so she went shopping for everything she needed the night before. The day of the dinner, I made sure that the house was presentable while she was at work (because I know the missionaries probably wouldn't be offended by Spider-Man toddler underwear hanging from the ceiling fan, but I would be mortified!). When she got home, she prepared the meal.

All day, I kept thinking about all the little things that needed to be done and issues that needed to be addressed (just the usual things when you have dinner guests, like making sure that there are clean towels in the guest bathroom and making sure that we have enough chairs for everyone). We've had the missionaries over for dinner many times, so it's not a big deal to me and I could have taken care of all of these details myself, but then I thought to myself - Self, if you let Kendall take care of these details herself, she will gain a better appreciation for what is involved in providing a meal for the missionaries...

So instead of doing everything for her, I pointed out some issues that she might want to address. Such as, we had loaned a chair to the Relief Society for an activity and our folding chairs were still at Grandma's house from Christmas, so we were already short on chairs (plus Kendall had invited a friend to dinner as well, so I knew we were now 3 chairs short), so she should think about if we have enough chairs and what she could do if there weren't enough. Kendall arranged to pick up the extra chairs from a nearby relative and it was no problem, but she likely wouldn't have thought of it ahead of time if I hadn't mentioned it).

When she went to set the table, she had to decide between our regular dishes and paper plates. She decided that paper wasn't "nice" enough (which made me laugh, because I often use paper plates when we have the missionaries over). She decided to go with a third option - a fancy set of dishes that had recently been passed down to me. I pointed out that she would probably need to wipe them down and wash them because they might be dusty.

There were a lot of other little things that came up (like who to seat next to who, whether to use napkins or paper towels, whether to pour the water or have it in a pitcher - or both, what kind of utensils to use to serve, how small to cut the tomatoes, whether to use separate dishes for dessert (yes), etc. Nothing major, just the kind of things you think about when you're having dinner guests in a little bit more than casual setting.

I think that this experience has given Kendall a better understanding of what is involved in providing a meal for the full-time missionaries. In our family, we put a lot more effort into dinner when the missionaries are coming (because we are otherwise VERY casual), so it does take some time and thought, as well as effort.

Kendall with the salads she made 

I think this is valuable information for a future missionary to understand. As a full-time LDS missionary, you will probably (hopefully!) go to the homes of church members for dinner many times. While polite manners are always appropriate, having an appreciation for the work and care that goes into providing a meal to the missionaries can help you have a better attitude of gratitude. Most people that I know try very hard to serve something nice or special, and it is given with love. For some people, they will scrimp and save to provide a nicer meal for the missionaries than they would normally serve their own family. With that in mind, you can gain a better appreciation of the sacrifice and effort of the families who are serving you dinner - whether poor or wealthy. No matter what the financial situation of the family, they are making an effort to help and serve you.

So if you are a future missionary or you are a parent of a future missionary, consider inviting your local full-time missionaries over for dinner as part of your missionary preparations. Of course it will be great just to be around the missionaries, but if you are a future missionary who can do so, consider planning, purchasing, prepping, preparing, and cleaning up after a dinner appointment yourself so that you get a better appreciate of the time and effort involved. Even if a future missionary isn't comfortable with being responsible for the whole thing, they can be involved in some aspect of planning and meal preparation to help them get a better appreciation for what is involved in serving guests.

Missionaries have some rules about who they can appropriately visit a home with (even for a dinner appointment). This is for their safety and also so that there is no misunderstanding with the neighbors or the people they are visiting (who might misconstrue 2 Elders visiting 2 single women as a double date, for example). Check with your ward mission leader or the full-time missionaries to find out what is appropriate. They can often suggest ways to make the group dynamic appropriate for their standards (such as if you are a single woman, you could invite some friends from your singles branch over for dinner so that the number of non-missionaries outnumbers the missionaries)

Kendall and some of her siblings, a friend, and the full-time missionaries (not pictured:
John & I, and other siblings)

Best of luck to you!

Food & Dinner Appointments - A Guide for Future Missionaries

THAT TIME I PANICKED WHEN I HAD TO BUY GROCERIES-

When I arrived in my mission (Minnesota) straight out of the MTC, all of the new missionaries went to the mission home in Bloomington and stayed our first night in the field there. The next morning we were given our area assignments and traveled to our new areas in various places around the state. After traveling for several hours, I was picked up at the meeting place by my new companion/trainer and a member of the branch where I would be serving (who was driving us). We still had another hour to drive to get back to our area. Since we were in a larger city and there was no regular grocery store in the small town where our apartment was located, they took me straight to a large grocery store. I was instructed to purchase my groceries for the week.

I remember this part very clearly. Groceries? Nobody said anything about buying groceries. I mean, of course I knew that I would need to buy my own food (and I mean really buy my own food, because although each missionary in the mission at that time had their own ATM card to access their funds, new missionaries didn't get their cards for 2 weeks). I don't believe that I was ever told to bring cash for initial expenses (they do tell you that now), but luckily I did happen to have personal cash with me.

I looked up and down the grocery store aisle like some sort of alien with amnesia...as if I'd never purchased (or seen) food before. I had no idea what to buy. I had no plan at all. I couldn't believe how much I was failing at something so simple!

Wait a minute - I had gone to college! I had successfully lived on my own for several years. I had shopped for my own groceries before, many times. AND, I wasn't even serving in foreign mission- this was the type of grocery store and the kinds of food that I was very familiar with. Still, I wandered around like a crazy person, not having any idea what to buy. My companion and the ward member were looking at me strangely. "Oh no," I thought, "I wanted to make a good impression, but they don't think I'm even capable of picking out my own food!"

I didn't realize it at the time, but I'm pretty sure that I was having a panic attack. Everything was spinning. The more I told myself to get it together, the less I succeeded in getting it together. My companion tried to help suggest things for me, but it didn't help because I couldn't seem to think straight! I finally managed to get a few groceries in my cart (I believe I bought a box of cereal, a jug of milk, a can of refried beans, and a package of tortillas) and then cringed during the whole (long) drive to our apartment. This was not the impression I had wanted to make. 

Depending on which mission you go to, you could have a different food buying experience. In some missions, all meals are included as part of the deal with your apartment. Or you may live in an apartment that is part of a family home and you may eat certain meals with them on a daily basis. In many missions, you prepare your own breakfast and lunch, and then dinners may be provided by ward members or others who volunteer to feed the missionaries in their homes. Some countries have lunch as their main meal, so you could have your meals with members at that time instead. 

Church members are asked to help feed the missionaries because it keeps the missionary's  costs down, but it also helps the members become more familiar with the missionaries (and helps missionaries to get referrals). Depending on your area, you may have dinner appointments as often as every day OR almost never. This affects you as a missionary, because the less you are being fed, the more you will have to cook/buy food for yourself. We were very excited to have a dinner appointment when we had one. It was always nice to have a meal made for us (that we didn't have to buy). Things sometimes got pretty ugly when we had to make all of our own meals every day. We'd often be running out of food or be really sick of eating the same thing 3x a day when that's all we could afford.

Missionaries get a certain amount of money for food (AND other expenses like shampoo and toilet paper) per month, and you don't get more money when you don't have many dinner appointments. So the same amount of money you would normally use to buy breakfast and lunches for the week/month in an area where you have dinner appointments every night will be the same amount of money that you will have when you transfer to a new area where they only have dinner appointments once a week. PS- Feed the missionaries in your ward at home, if you can! When you've been a missionary, you will appreciate it. Returned missionaries (RMs) are great a feeding the missionaries because we remember what it is like not to have them! :) 

The struggle is real! Here I am, posing with our kitchen cabinets (I think the only things edible in the photo are pasta noodles and peanut butter. There might be a small can of canned ham or something there, too. Most of the stuff in this cabinet are vitamins, cupcake liners, etc). This was in an area where we only had dinner appointments once a month or so, and it was getting close to our next MSF deposit (i.e., we were waiting to be able to be more groceries).

In this photo, one of my companions is posing with our before and after meals. We were running low on food and money (and dinner appointments). Someone (bless their heart) had given us a package of noodle-roni mix. We didn't have any ground beef or butter, so I couldn't really follow the directions. I made some sort of concoction with whatever I could find (including some ancient canned green beans that we found in the cabinet). It was so depressing and unappetizing, we couldn't even eat it. I think we just put it in the fridge and went to sleep without eating. The next day was our MSF day (the day we got our money to buy food, etc). It had been so long since we'd eaten anything fresh, we bought oranges and strawberries. When we came home with our groceries, we laughed about the concoction I'd made the night before and took this photo.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO PREPARE FOR EATING AS A MISSIONARY? HERE ARE MY 3 TIPS: 

PREVENTING FIRST-AREA GROCERY STORE PANIC-
To prevent a panic (like I had!) when you first arrive in your first area, have a general plan of what you will buy if you are taken to a grocery store on your first day. This situation might not come up for you - depending on the situation, time of day, and day of the week, you might not be able to go to purchase food for several days. There may be food in the apartment for you to eat already, meals may be provided, or your companion may share with you. But just in case, have a general plan. Even if its just eating peanut butter & jelly sandwiches for the first week, at least you will have a plan for something to eat and you will have bought yourself time to come up with a better shopping list for the next week :) 

EATING THINGS YOU DON'T LIKE-
No matter where you serve a full-time mission, you are going to encounter situations where there are foods that you don't like or would prefer not to eat for other reasons (sketchy preparation, etc)....yes, even in the United States! You are probably going to have dinner appointments where you will be expected to be polite and eat whatever is offered. There are things that you can do to prepare for this situation without being rude. I have written an entire blog post on this topic - See my post "2 REALLY Important Things to START DOING right NOW if you want to SURVIVE EATING when you're an LDS MISSIONARY" by clicking here.

COOKING AS A MISSIONARY-
You probably won't be served every meal that you eat, so you will need to know how to cook a few things, at least. If you're used to convinence foods or are used to preparing a few dishes that rely heavily on ingredients that are available in your hometown (but are not available in China or Russia, or wherever you serve!), that is going to be a problem. The blog post I mentioned in the previous paragraph also has information about how to learn to cook some basics that will work for your specific mission...here is the link again to that post. 

We also have a section on this blog of missionary tested recipes (all tested and rated for difficulty and deliciousness by my future missionary daughter), including:

twice-baked potatoes (click here) 

and creamy pesto-pasta (click here) 

There is no way to know what types of foods and cooking methods will be available/reasonable for your mission until you get your mission call, but having some basic cooking skills will help you feel more confident, no matter where you serve.

Best of luck to you in your future missionary food endeavors! Crazy food stories make some of the best mission stories!

MISSIONARY RECIPE - CREAMY PESTO PASTA (EASY)

Food is a big deal for most missionaries! My future missionary daughter is practicing some recipes that she hopes to use on her own mission (she can submit her mission papers this year), and we're passing what she learns along to you!


If you haven't seen them yet, here are some of our other posts about missionary cooking and dinner appointments - check them out here:  "Missionary Recipe - Twice-Baked Potatoes (enough to last 1-2 weeks!)" and  "2 REALLY Important Things to START DOING right NOW if you want to SURVIVE EATING when you're an LDS MISSIONARY"

Today we have another recipe that would be great for a missionary to have in their cooking repertoire: CREAMY PESTO PASTA

This recipe is easy enough for any person who can boil water. The sauce is made from a jar of alfredo sauce and pre-made pesto sauce, so the most difficult part is cooking the pasta (which is just boiling dry pasta), BUT it tastes fantastic! I'm not a huge pesto fan, but I have to admit that combining with the alfredo is really tasty.

My daughter Kendall (a soon to be missionary) has tested this recipe for us and rated it based on taste
and difficulty:

DIFFICULTY: 2/10
DELICIOUSNESS: 8/10

Here are the brands Kendall used, but you can use any brand

Kendall's version (shown here) included

chicken and spinach, plus a squeeze of fresh lemon juice 

(she highly recommends the lemon juice)

Kendall says, "If I have access to these ingredients where I serve my mission, I can see myself making this all the time. I could eat this pasta for several days in a row and not be tired of it"

Here is the recipe (basically just the instructions!) which is printable (either on your home printer or you can print it as a 4x6 photo, which makes a convenient size for putting in a small photo album for recipes). You could also save the photo and email it if you have a missionary in the field! 

MISSIONARY RECIPE - TWICE BAKED POTATOES (ENOUGH TO LAST 1-2 WEEKS!)

Whether you are a future missionary, a college student, or just an adult, it is a good idea to know how to cook some basic things for yourself. Today my daughter Kendall (who will be submitting her mission papers this year) is trying out a recipe that won't necessarily be appropriate for every mission/missionary, but it will work for a lot of missionaries!

I've asked her to give it a try and rate the recipe based on difficulty and deliciousness.

This recipe is for twice-baked potatoes. This sort of thing might not be what you think of when you think "missionary cooking"... It is a bit work to make them - nothing too difficult, but multiple steps and will take several hours to complete (mostly cooking and freezing time). This recipe wouldn't be great for a missionary who doesn't have any spare time on p-day or who is in area where it is too hot to turn on the oven (or doesn't have an oven). This recipe would be great for a missionary who has some time to spare on a p-day (maybe on a rainy day when there isn't nothing planned with the other nearby missionaries, or if there are no other nearby missionaries). It might seem like a bit of a hassle to go to all of this trouble for one recipe, BUT, the beauty of this recipe (especially for a missionary) is that you prepare it once and you have pre-made food ready to heat up for the rest of the week (or even 2 weeks, depending on how many you eat at once).

Often during my mission I would prepare a meal (like spaghetti) and I would put it in the fridge and eat that same spaghetti for every meal for the next few days. That got old. But it was still much easier than needing to keep cooking new things every meal.

These twice-baked potatoes are freezable, so you make a big batch at once and pull as many as you want out of the freezer when you want them (reheat in the oven or microwave). So, yes, you will need a couple of free hours to get these made, but not all of that is hands-on time (some of it is waiting for the potatoes to bake, waiting for them to cool, etc). So you could make these while you are writing letters or cleaning the apartment.

This recipe will make about 30 half-potatoes (varies depending on the size of potatoes you get in your 5-lb bag). A meal-sized serving is probably 2-3 potatoes (again, depends on the size - and how hungry you are! I know some Elders who could eat 6 or 7 of these without batting an eye). So if you eat these for lunch every day, these could last you a week or two. If you and your companion both eat these every day, or if you eat them for multiple meals per day, they won't last as long of course. But still, that will cover a lot of meals.

Kendall made these potatoes for the first time today, using only the recipe (no help from mom). Here are some photos I took during the process:

And here is the finished product! We had some of these potatoes for dinner and everyone loved them, even picky little sisters.

Kendall rates this recipe a 5 for difficulty (1 being the easiest, 10 being the hardest). She rates this recipe an 8 for "deliciousness" (10 being the most delicious thing she's ever eaten). 

Here is what Kendall (a college student and soon-to-be-missionary) has to say about this recipe: 

"There wasn't any part of the recipe that was hard to do, but there were a lot of steps. While I was making this recipe, I kept thinking 'I will never make this again, it's too much of a hassle'...but when they were done they were delicious and I realized how many meals worth of food I had made at one time. It would have taken just as long to make 1 twice-baked potato as it took to make 30 of them. A missionary could eat for a long time if they made this recipe once"

Here is the recipe, which is printable (either on your home printer or you can print it as a 4x6 photo, which makes a convenient size for putting in a small photo album for recipes). You could also save the photo and email it if you have a missionary in the field! 

Thanks for joining us today, we will be reviewing more recipes soon. In the meantime, please see my other missionary prep blog posts, including tips for purchasing mission clothes and other items, getting your passport, and more information on eating as a missionary!