Three for a dollar sounds fine, unless they are rather small. In that case, make it four for a dollar. :) I gladly pay a buck for three cookies, when I stop at rest stops on my bike rides, or at bake sales I happen upon at other times. Moni

I like to freeze each portion individually. In this manner if I want something and Jan or a guest wants something else, we can each get what we want without having any leftover waste. When I first began this process I did not have a Seal-a-Meal so I used Saran Wrap and forsome items like the twice baked potatoes I still use Saran Wrap because my Seal-a-Mael has a small vacuum pump that pulls the air out of the package. The problem here is that it also sucks the packaging down and flattens the appearance to much. Just make sure you cut the Saran Wrap large enough that you can wrap two layers. Rice & Pasta is simple. Just measure out a portion, drop it in a freezer bag, let it cool to room temp and pop in the freezer. You can then heat it in the microwave in seconds, open the pack and dump it on the plate. When making spaghetti you can put a portion of pasta in one bag and a portion of sauce in another. Heat them both in the microwave, dump the pasta on a plate, open the sauce pack, dump that on top and serve. Make a little side salad with a vinegarette, put a container of breadsticks on the table and perhaps a glass of wine, and dinner is served. Meatloaf is super easy. First make the meatloaf, then let it rest & cool. Even overnite in the fridge is fine. Once its cool and firm you can cut 1/2" thick slices, then put one or two slices in a bag & freeze. Later reheat in the bag to retain moisture, then dump it on a plate. Careful here. At my house the meatloaf seems to dissapear. I think its the midnight fairies robbing the freezer to make sandwiches.....LOL. Now before I give you my recipee for stuffed/baked chicken breast I have one small bone to pick with most ladies. Over the years I have had opportunity to cook in many ladies kitchens and invariably I find three essential items missing; a good meat tenderizing hammer, Commercial Salt Free Soup Base and corn starch. Notice, I said a "good" meat tenderizing hammer. A good meat tenderizing hammer has two pointed waffle faces. A course face on one end and a finer face on the opposite end, but what is even more important, it should have a smooth surface on the sides. The weights vary from about 2oz to nearly 10oz, but I find that a 3 to 4oz head works best. STUFFED BAKED CHICKEN BREAST- I buy my chicken breasts in bulk packs when they are on sale, and when I cook them I usually make about 12 to 18 portions at the same time. (I usually buy skinless & boneless, but if I find a good deal on breasts with bone & skin I can easily remove the skin and debone them). Lay a skinless/ boneless chicken breast on your cutting board with the skin side down, cover with a layer of Saran Wrap, then beginning in the middle of the breast and working outward around the breast, pound lightly with the smooth side of your meat tenderizing hammer. The idea is to pound it down to about 1/4" thick and spread out to about an 8" diameter. Make up a small pot of Stove Top stuffing and put a scoop of the stuffing in the center of the flattened chicken breast. Now fold all the sides up and place in a shallow 10x18 baking dish with the open sides down, and continue making the breasts until you have the dish full. Fill the dish about 1/2 full of chicken broth then sprinkle the smooth round tops of the breasts with a bit of Paparika & parsley flakes to add color, cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake in a moderate oven (350degF) for about 30min then remove the foil and back a bit more until you get a light browning on the top of the breasts. Allow the breasts to cool to room temp then lift out and individually wrap for the freezer. And now a word about "Soup Base". Soup base is a product that appears like boulian but I find boulian way too salty for my taste. Soup base is made in Chicken, Beef, Pork & Ham flavoring and is primarily used as the base to make cooking stock or gravy. To make the chicken broth make a small pan of boiling water and add the soup base until you get the desired strenght of broth. (I just do it by eye, but I would guess its about 3tablespoons per pint of water.) To make a quick gravy, begin by making the soup base, then mix a couple tablespoons of cornstarch in 4 to 5oz of cold water (NOTE-cornstarch does not blend well in hot water, it will instantly form nasty lumps) With the broth still at a low simmer slowly add some of the corn starch water and wish briskly. The broth will begin to thichen into a gravy. Continue adding the cornstarch and wisking until you get the desired thickness in your gravy. When I serve the chicken breasts I serve with a baked potatoe and drizzle a bit of the chicken gravy over both the breast and the potatoe. I will tell you ahead of time, it is becoming very difficult to find the soup base. You may find it in some of the high end grocery stores, and on rare occassions they may have it at a walmart super store, but don't count on that. One good place to look for it is in a meat market that has retail sales and also supplies meats to local restaruants. The last time I bought it I had the chef at a local motel/conention center get it for me from his commercial purveyor. The soup base comes in a small glass or plastic jar about 3" in diameter and about 3-4" high.

You may have under charged this year but over charging would be worse. You should not be using bakeries as guidelines for pricing. All your goods are donated so it is pure profit already. Packaging is important. You cannot sell a standard nothing really special whole cake for 12 dollars but you could cut a 10" round into twelve nice slices and get a dollar per slice. Cookies sell well as one large(6") cookie for a dollar to 1.25 or three smaller ones for the same price. Packaging is important. Stack cookies in stacks of 3 and wrap tightly in saran wrap and tie with a bit of ribbon. Cupcakes could be sold individually or by fours. Remember people are more like to purchase more items if the items are not huge. If I buy a whole cake I am not likely to buy a pie. But I might buy a mini pie or a half pie and a half dozen cookies. I might even add a few cupcakes to my order. If you know someone who does something special, like cake decorating. and they would donate a cake to your group then don't try to sell it. Auction it off. Sell tickets for a dollar each to win the cake. You could make a lot on a single cake doing that. We did that in scouts.

My biggest sellers at Farmers Market are (in order): Lemon Bars, Fudgey Brownies with and without walnuts, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Peanut Butter Cookies, slice of Marble Pound Cake with chocolate drizzle, Carrot Coconut Pineapple Pecan Muffins, slice of Frosted Cinnamon Raisin Bread, Toasted Coconut Macaroon with centered whole almond, baby Banana Bread loaves, White Chocolate Macadamia (or Cashew) Cookies. All of them are gluten free, some are also dairy free, and some are also egg free. It took a long time determining what people wanted - - what they don't want are cupcakes, candy by the piece (they want 4-6) for really cheap, hard biscotti, snickerdoodles, and slices of any flavor of regular cake. But, they also love the unusual offerings that are sugar free - - hummus with little pita chips, spinach quiche squares, dried apples, and cold gazpacho in a cup. Everything has to be easy to eat while walking around. Rarely do people take stuff home for later, unless, in my niche, they are celiac than they buy a whole plate of assorted for the week. The average buyer just wants something for now to eat out of hand. Nancy