Mac & Cheese and Chicken Nugget Meal Kit

This Sunday, the Wood Street Meal Project had its third meal distribution event. This week, I prepared mac and cheese as well as chicken nuggets for twenty five people.

The Day of the Distribution

This week's meal kit required a longer time to make compared to last week's hotdogs. Thus, I began cooking at 8 AM in order to get to downtown at 11:30 AM. To begin, I hand shredded cheddar and gouda cheese. Then I started making a roux in order to serve as a base for my cheese sauce. When the roux was ready, I added a milk and heavy cream blend as well as spices to the roux. When this mixture thickened up, I then began adding in my cheese, before finally adding in the pasta. With the mac and cheese done, I moved on to the chicken nuggets. Since frying is a messy and long process, I decided to coat chicken tenderloins in a flour mixture, then used a convection oven in order to get them crispy. Finally, I chopped each tenderloin into small nuggets in order to make it easier to eat. Then, I placed the components into the takeout containers, while also packing water and chip bags for drinks and sides.

When I arrived in downtown at 11:30 AM, I set up on Wood Street and began handing out meals. Following the same procedure, I approached people and asked if they needed something to eat. Just like the previous two events, all of the meals were gone within 30 minutes. Afterwards, I spent another 15 minutes just talking to the people around me. Every person I talked with were very nice and pleasant, and I had a great time learning more about them and sharing aspects of my own life with them.

What I Learned

• Although meals may seem simple and boring to you, any meal is greatly appreciated by others. A meal doesn't need to be fancy or expensive, it just needs to taste good and be filling.