Gourmet Takes a Snow Day - Frozen Food Potluck

Somewhere, a Michelin-starred chef is weeping and doesn’t know why.

That’s because the International Cooking & Dining Club - yes, us, the people who once spent 45 minutes arguing about the proper thickness of a béchamel - is going full freezer burn this month. No shame. No apologies. Only frozen entrées and zero regrets.

Here’s the deal: descend into the fluorescent purgatory of your local grocery freezer aisle and return with something that is, against all odds, genuinely edible. Arrive ready to defend your selection with the same passion you’d bring to a hand-crafted bouillabaisse.

The Rules of Downscale Dining:

RSVP & Commit
This event is for the dedicated and the genuinely hungry. If you’re a “maybe,” we say this with love: the freezer aisle will be there another day. RSVP only when you’re ready to show up and show out.

Cook Up Your Frozen Wonder
Buy a frozen entrée, spend 25 minutes second-guessing yourself in front of a preheated oven, and cook it completely before you arrive. Get it into a serving bowl, portion it for six, and carry it here with the quiet confidence. You did this. Own it.

Bring Your Own Beverage & Serving Utensils
Tuck a serving utensil into your bag alongside your personal beverage, because the only thing sadder than a forgotten spoon is a beautiful frozen entrée that no one can reach. We’ve come too far and preheated too many ovens to let it end like this.

Post Your Dish in the Comments Section
Let us know what you’re bringing in the comments so we can maintain variety across the freezer aisle spectrum. If we end up with five boxes of Amy’s Mac & Cheese, we will absolutely eat them all, but someone is getting a very pointed look.

Need to cancel? Tell us three days ahead of time
Three days notice keeps the headcount clean and the host calm. Ghost us and we’ll be forced to search every frozen foods section in the city, certain we’ll find your lifeless body, perfectly preserved at negative ten degrees, still holding a box of Stouffer’s lasagna.

Click yes now and go begin the noble, gloriously downscale quest you were always meant to take.