Food is a love language. It says “I love you” and “I see you” and “I am there if you need it” and also sometimes just, “Hi. Here. Tacos.” And that is enough. Food has the words when sometimes we don’t. Maybe you want to drop something off for a friend juggling the world with a new baby or just moved into a new house and who knows where all the kitchen boxes wound up?! Maybe someone is sick or grieving (see our recipes in our Feeding a Broken Heart series for more ideas) or just completely overwhelmed by the managing-life of it all. There are a lot of reasons why a meal or two or five is the best way to show up for someone, whatever the need may be. We have a collection full of meals (and extras! hello, snacks and treats!) that travel well, keep or freeze well, and require very minimal effort on the part of the recipient. Vegetarian options, baked goods, freezer stocks for the gift that keeps on giving…it’s all here. Just a little way to offer a little comfort and care, and feed the people you love.
In This Post: Everything You Need To Make a Cozy Comfort Meal
Comfort Meals Vegetarian Meals Baked Goods Special Treats Freezer-Friendly Items to Help Deliver Comfort Meals
Comfort Meals
Easy Crockpot Carnitas
A super simple take on a staple of Mexican cooking. Tender shreds of juicy pork slow-cooked in heavy spices, citrus, beer and salsa. Your friend can just pop all that beautifully cooked meat under the broiler so each bite is complete with perfectly browned, crispy edges and then pile on all their favorite taco bits! How to package it:
Thai Yellow Chicken Curry with Potatoes
Super creamy and lush, totally flexible spice level, and impeccably savory with a teensy bit of sweet. This Thai-inspired curry is just what the doctor ordered. Plus, the homemade yellow curry paste makes enough for several batches of this dish so you can send that along too! How to package it:
Crockpot Chicken Wild Rice Soup
Basically a hug in a bowl. Super creamy, savory goodness with tender shreds of chicken and perfectly cooked veg. Wholesome piles of deliciously satisfying wild rice throughout. Send along some warm crusty bread because who needs spoons. How to package it:
The Best Swedish Meatballs
The texture of the meatballs is lush and delicious, the gravy is creamy, silky, slightly tangy perfection. And if you really want to say “I love you,” maybe tuck in some buttery mashed potatoes and a little sweet pickled cucumber in the bag too? How to package it:
Sunday Chili
Chili is a love language. Especially when it is mega-thick, chunky but nothing too giant, smoky, warm, just a little bit spicy with deep rich flavor, and not just all beansbeansbeans. Cozy, easy, super delicious, and extremely scoopable so don’t forget those tortilla chips. How to package it:
Country Chicken Stew
This one tastes like care and patience and love. Rich, slow country stew with juicy shreds of chicken, tender bits of carrot and cabbage, smoky bacon, and almost creamy beans. The whole chicken is cooked in the stew so the broth is superb, the texture is everything, and it is all just begging for bread dips and swoops. How to package it:
Chicken Enchilada Casserole
This one is a super simple 5-ingredient stunner that will heat up beautifully when the time is right. All the warm, cheesy deliciousness of a more-involved enchilada prep but instead a super simple stacking method that will give you a pan of “I am here for you” ready to deliver in no time. How to package it:
Sarah’s White Chicken Chili
Back that chili-as-a-love-language thing but this time, creamy dreamy, and oh so special. This chicken chili is a decidedly not authentic, cheap-thrills, big flavor situation and please trust every step because it starts with bacon and ends with cream cheese and EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN IS PERFECT. How to package it:
Vegetarian Meals
Creamy Tomato Lasagna Florentine
The sauciest of lasagnas, where you kind of scoop it out with a spoon and bask in the glory of all the tomato sauce swirling around the perfectly chewy noodle edges, a creamy garlicky spinach layer peeking out here and there, making its way through all the bubbling cheese. How to prepare:
Red Curry Lentils
Comfort comes in a lot of forms: a big sweater, cozy socks, a weighted blanket or a heaping bowl of these saucy, spicy, creamy red lentils. Made in the instant pot with some warm curry spices, a can of tomatoes, and a bit of coconut milk. Once steamy rice is involved, you have easy delicious comfort food. How to prepare:
Simple Homemade Tomato Soup
So simple, so delicious and it almost always leads to grilled cheese which…well, really is the best gift. You’ll start this from-scratch classic with bacon so they’ll know you mean it! Also, everything gets blended up with a touch of cream, so it’s a real huggable treat. Smoky, rich, creamy, velvety perfection. How to prepare:
Creamy Thai Sweet Potato Curry
On a scale of very to runs out of room screaming, how intimidated are you by the thought of making your own curry from scratch? GOOD. You are a real person with well-adjusted fears! But, seriously, you can totally do this. It’s easier than you think and will be so, so worth it for whoever gets to eat this beauty. How to prepare:
Three Cheese Baked Ziti
We know, sometimes a baked pasta can get dry or (eep!) gritty or dare we say, snoozy – well, NOT. THIS. It is so saucy, so creamy, possibly criminally cheesy and easy easy easy. It is a baked pasta masterpiece that will make anyone smile. How to prepare:
Spicy Peanut Soup with Sweet Potato and Kale
An amazing little soup/stew is a little bit spicy and a lot bit creamy. It’s nutritious and so delicious, warm, and welcoming that one might just want to crawl right in the bowl. (Though we wouldn’t recommend that.) How to prepare:
Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie
Who doesn’t want to nestle beneath the warm cover of some creamy mashed potatoes? Honestly sounds better than a weighted blanket. CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW COZY? Rich, delicious, totally vegetarian and heats up beautifully. How to prepare:
Baked Goods
Miracle No Knead Bread
The easiest of easy with none of the kneads and all of the warm, crusty, carby, rip-apart beauty. Bread can’t fix it, but man, it sure helps. You can whip up the dough for this one and hand it off for your friend to bake up fresh the next day, or deliver fresh and hot out of the oven knowing that warm bread says everything you need to say. How to prepare:
Pistachio Loaf
Super tender and densely textured, almost blondie-like, and a very pleasing diversion from a more typical sweet bread. Hints of coconut from the flour, the nuttiness of the pistachios, the sweetness that is not overly sweet…wowowow, it’s all just so good. Whoever gets it will thank you forever. How to prepare:
House Favorite Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Glaze
Exquisitely gooey, soft, pull-apart, cinnamon-slathered, perfectly glazed little pillows of sheer joy and wonder. They take a little time, a little patience, a little love and a lot of butter to bring together but every single second is worth it. Plus this recipe makes enough dough for three batches so send that along as well for the gift keeps on giving. How to prepare:
Lemon Poppyseed Zucchini Bread
Zested lemon for fresh, bold, citrusy flavor and a full gorgeous cup of olive oil in the batter to make a deliciously dense, luscious and soul-warming zucchini cake? Bread? Doesn’t matter. Yum. Such a treat for everyone. How to prepare:
Triple Berry Cheesecake Muffins
There are three types of juicy berries speckling this masterpiece which is not a muffin, not a cheesecake and not an exorbitant pile of streusel. IT IS ALL THREEEEE! A fluffy, dense, crumbly, juicy, sweet, super snackable way to say you care. How to prepare:
Special Treats
Strawberry White Chocolate Cookies
For when you want to give them something they’ve probably never had before. A perfectly soft, intensely buttery cookie speckled with chewy bright little bits of strawberry and silky-sweet white chocolate chips. Just, so good. How to prepare:
Favorite Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Thin, crispy golden edges with a chewy gooey centers and a deep rich almost caramelly flavor thanks to a hefty amount of beautiful, patiently browned butter. How to prepare:
Cinnamon Sugar Apple Cake
Sure apples can go in many things but pretty sure they were made for apple cake. Warm, so light and fluffy, and so very perfect for your care package. The magic cinnamon-sugar crisp layer up top will be calling their name for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and everything in between. How to prepare:
Cold Brew
Do not underestimate the importance of coffee in someone’s time of need. And this homemade cold brew is such a nice way to stock their fridge with a smooth, mellow little caffeine boost at the ready. Maybe throw in some oat milk and homemade vanilla mint syrup, too? How to prepare:
Carrot Cake Coffee Cake
A little breakfast cake that really means it. An exquisite little carrot cake topped with a thick crumbly cinnamony streusel layer that sits just perfectly under the swath of honey butter that melts over the top for serving. How to prepare:
The Ultimate Chocolate Granola
A nice healthy base of oats, almonds, and unsweetened coconut flakes, with a desserty twist thanks to the cocoa powder, maple syrup, coconut oil and chocolate chips melted all up into the clusters. Why not sprinkle with crunchy turbinado sugar and flakes of sea salt to finish? How to prepare:
Freezer-Friendly
Best Anytime Baked Chicken Meatballs
These are perfect because they are put-in-literally-anything meatballs. Could be served with spaghetti, popped into a Swedish meatball prep, thrown on a sandwich or just snacked on right off the baking sheet. Such a win. How to prepare:
Cauliflower Walnut Vegetarian Taco Meat
Legit better-than-meat taco meat. In some sort of vegetarian magic spell, it manages to be crisp, spicy and so smoky, roasty delicious. Good old fashioned plant-eating at its finest. How to prepare:
Meal Prep Breakfast Sandwiches
The perfect little freezer send-along. Fluffy baked eggs with bacon and spinach, topped with cheese and tucked into toasty english muffins. Get these little sammies all baked, stacked, wrapped and ready for your friend to grab-and-heat a quick, wholesome little breakfast any day they need it. How to prepare:
Spicy Chipotle Turkey Burritos
As long as you’re making some meal-prepped breakfasts, why not toss in some spicy little grab-and-go burrito lunches? Chipotle-spiked ground turkey, black beans, any veggies you got (sweet potato is a real gem here), and cheese all wrapped in big flour tortillas and stocked in their freezer. How to prepare:
Everything You Need For Delivering Yummy Food
16-ounce Mason Jars* 2.25-quart Plastic Container* 32-ounce Deli Soup Containers* 4-ounce Plastic Container* Aluminum 9-inch Cake Pan* Aluminum 9×13 Pan* Aluminum Bread Pan* Aluminum Foil* Gallon-Size Plastic Bags* Quart-Size Mason Jars*
We see you working hard to bring that special person a meal to boost their spirits and make them feel loved and cared for. The gift of a homecooked meal (or treat!) is a special one, friend!
