Meal Guidelines
Thank you for volunteering to provide a meal for our Circles meeting! Providing a free meal and free childcare each week greatly reduces barriers for single mothers to attend our meetings. It’s a critical part of what we do and we couldn’t do it without volunteers like you.
Our goal at Circles of Troup County is to help our participants set goals to improve their lives and move out of poverty. Often, getting control of their health is one of those goals. We want every meal to support that decision – we never want to be a hindrance to anyone trying to make positive changes. Therefore, we have adopted a profile for our meals according to the American Heart Association guidelines. Please support and respect our participants’ choices to make their lives healthy in every aspect!
General guidelines
• Each meal should include a protein (meat or other protein, such as beans) and at least three vegetables or fruits. A serving of meat is 3 ounces. A serving of vegetables is ½ cup.
• Fresh fruit is a huge favorite of both adults and children. Sliced oranges, apples, bananas, strawberries, watermelon, etc. Please include one fresh (not canned) fruit each week.
• If grains are offered, we prefer whole grain – whole wheat bread, brown rice, barley, etc. Regular pasta is fine. We usually don’t serve bread and that is fine.
• No fried foods, please. Also, because many of our participants have dealt in the past with addiction issues, please do not season or cook with any alcoholic beverages.
• Simple is best. For example, baked sweet potatoes are preferred over sweet potato casserole; or fresh green beans are better than green bean casserole.
• We serve water at each meal, so no soft drinks or tea are needed. Starbucks provides free coffee every week.
• No dessert or sweets, please.
You may prepare the food at the church or elsewhere and bring it to Troup Baptist Association, 1301 Washington St. (where we have our meetings). The church has two ovens, one works well, one not so well. The meal should be ready to eat by 5:30 p.m. You will need to provide a few volunteers to serve the meal and clean up afterwards.
We use plates and silverware that must be washed and put away each week. We use disposable napkins and cups and bowls, which we have. We have to-go plates that are used to send the leftovers home with our Circle Leaders. This is a great benefit for them.
We have a grant from Georgia Baptist Convention to help with the cost of our food. If you would like to be reimbursed, bring receipts to Sherri Brown. You will receive one check to reimburse the food costs. The maximum reimbursement per week is $100.
Sample Menus
Baked chicken, green beans, baked sweet potatoes, salad, bananas.
Spaghetti with meat sauce, green salad, green peas, fresh fruit salad
Chili or soup, grilled cheese on whole wheat bread, green salad, orange wedges
Make your own taco salad – chips, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, onions, cheese, salsa and fresh fruit
Red beans and rice, cornbread, green salad, sliced watermelon
Pork roast, baked potatoes, green salad, lima beans, fresh strawberries and blackberries