Making field meals is easy is possible.

It only took seven years as a farmer’s wife, but I have finally mastered the art of preparing and delivering field meals. I have discovered so many little hacks that make field meals easier, and I hope they will for you, also! I’d also love to know of any tricks you have up your sleeve as well.

I know all operations are different when it comes to field meals. Some families stop and eat in the field, some throw the food in the equipment and keep on harvestin’, some people do a large lunch and light supper, some do a sack lunch and big supper, some make it a fellowship hour, and some just eat as fast as they can and get back to work.

When we are custom harvesting away from home, I throw the to-go container in each piece of equipment, and off they go. When we are at home and cutting our own crops, I can normally talk the guys into stopping for few minutes to enjoy some fellowship and make a picnic of it. Whatever your operation does, I hope that these things can make your job a little easier.

1) Insulated picnic totes

I have four insulated totes of different sizes, that all get used every day of harvest. When we are at home and I am taking out pans of food, dishes, silverware, napkins, drinks, and anything else we need, I shove everything into these totes. They do a great job at keeping hot food hot, and cold food cold. When we’re done eating it’s also so nice to be able to throw all of the dirty dishes into a tote to keep from getting food in the back of my suburban, and it makes it much easier to carry everything.

When we are on the road harvesting, I put each person’s meal in a to-go container that I buy in bulk at Sam’s Club. I tape their plastic fork to the inside of the top of the container, and I stack the containers in the totes. It’s hard to keep food hot when they’re in the styrofoam containers versus the pans, so putting them in the totes help keep them nice and hot, especially when the field could be quite a ways away.

2) Preparation

I have learned that preparation is THE biggest factor on how efficient I am in getting my meal made, loaded, and delivered. I always know the head count of how many people I am feeding that day, so that I know how much food to prepare, but also to know how many plates, cups, silverware I will need. Before I even start cooking, I open up all of my totes and line them up, and set out how many dishes I will need and put them in a reusable cloth tote. Most of the time I will even load the bag with dishes, utensils, napkins, ect., into the car.

As I’m cooking supper, I load things as I can. If my desert is finished first, I’ll put it in it’s tote and load it into the car.

I also use a lunchbox to haul condiments in, which is always so handy!

3) Meal Prep

By the time it rolls around to needing to start supper, usually the kids are being insane. It never fails that someone will need something, causing me to get off track. If there is anything that I can do earlier in the day to save a few minutes, I always try to.

Normally that is cutting up peppers or onions, baking cookies, boiling eggs, browning hamburger, or anything else that I can think of. Plus it’s such a good feeling when you go to cook supper and already have the onion cut up! That is always a win in my book!

4) Organization

I might get a little excited when it comes to this one. Being a type A personality, organization is my love language. I always clean my car and get it organized whenever harvest is about to start. This might look a little different for you if you don’t drive a suburban like I do, but the concepts are the same.

When I know that we are only a couple days out from harvest, I always clean out my car, vacuum it out, and take everything out of the back end. Then I load it with an old comforter for the kids to sit on, a couple of lawn chairs, a full roll of paper towels, trash bags, a container of Clorox wipes, and a couple of old towels. These things stay in the car all through harvest. I also try to keep a cooler filled with water bottles and Gatorade, and just change out the ice every couple of days.

When I am loading the things that I have to haul back and forth for each meal, I try to make sure that make as few of trips as possible. Since I put almost everything in a tote, that normally means a trip for each tote. This is so much easier than carrying each pan, side dish, stack of plates, ect., out and back. I stack everything neatly in the back of the car, and away we go!

5) Cleanup

I don’t know about you, but we normally get home pretty late after delivering field meals. Normally the kids and I will ride in the combine with Jake, or I will run it awhile to give him a break. I HATE (I know. It’s a strong word) walking into the house and seeing a giant pile of dirty dishes staring at me.

Depending on what I am cooking, some days this tip is easier than others. But I always try to wash dishes as I go. It isn’t always the most convenient, but it sure is worth it to be able to come home to a clean(ish) kitchen. I always still have my pans and the dishes that I took to the field, but it’s normally nothing compared to what it would be if I saved all the dishes until the end.

Hopefully some of these tricks will make your life a bit easier this harvest, and if there is one that I missed I would love for you to leave it in the comments! I can’t wait to hear from you!

This year to make my life a little more organized, and a little less chaotic, I created some printable checklists and sheets. So I figured if these would make my life a little easier, maybe they would your life too.

If you’re looking for my best tips and tricks on mastering field meals, head on over to this post.

To get these beautiful and functional printables, just head to the link below, and enjoy! I hope they’ll help make your busy seasons a little less crazy.

CLICK HERE