Organizing A Meal Train

What she needed to do: 

• Set up the actual meal train; we used  MealTrain.com (official site) - Organize Meal Support in Minutes  It's free and user friendly.  There is also an option for folks to donate gift cards directly through the platform (DoorDash, specific retailers, etc.).  
• Input all the necessary details - the email addresses that will receive an invitation to participate, recipient's meal and dietary preferences, etc. - see below for more on these!
• Check in on sign-up activity to ensure the desired meals/days are covered or update/run interference if the recipient's needs change

What she needed from me: 

• Email addresses of people I thought might be interested in participating (yes, this feels weird if you're the one on the receiving end and not used to asking for help, but do it anyway)
• Dietary preferences/allergies/aversions (e.g., "allergic to shellfish,"  or "Gluten Free" ,or  "no onions, please!")
• Timing/dates when I thought having meal coverage would be most helpful.   For example, we had some meal coverage for post-surgery recovery and then added additional dates once I knew my radiation schedule based on when during that process I had heard I may be most likely to be experience side effects such as fatigue.  
• Delivery preferences: what time of day should folks drop off their food?   Did I want to meet them in person or have a cooler set out front in which they could deposit their meal at the designated time?

Some thoughts to consider from a Meal Train recipient:

1. I would recommend including requests for lunches/snacks and not just dinners.   Having items readily available to eat "on demand" were so helpful.  Think washed and cut fruit, chicken salad and mini croissants, overnight oats, energy balls, soup (easy to scoop out as needed and heat up quickly; or - better yet - portioned into single serving  glass jars that can be popped right into the microwave).  Consider rotating lunch and dinner dates and leaving space on the calendar for leftovers to be consumed!  I didn't want to be wasteful.  

2.  If someone wants to deliver their meals in dishes or containers that need to be returned, please encourage them to label them (A simple strip of masking tape with their name written on it is fine); this will make it easier for the recipient to make sure the right dishes get back to the right person!  Donors can take it one step further and text the recipient the day after the meal (or ask when they drop it off) to ask for a time convenient for the recipient to swing back by and collect their dishes off the recipient's front stoop.  The point here is to minimize/eliminate any potential stressors for the recipient that may come on the heels of others' generosity, such as figuring out how to get things back to their generous donors.