Every second Thursday, at 10:30am, like clockwork, I can hear that familiar rumble of the Golden Freezer Truck with the big swan painted on it, and my mouth starts to water.

I plan my every second Thursday the previous Monday - getting out my Schwans catalog of frozen goodies and make my list.

Ice creams and specialty ice creams are their trademark, and we never seem to get enough. The kids alternate between push-ups and chocolate sundae bars in the summer and Dinosaur Cups or Confetti Cups in the winter.

My DH loves the Mountain Berry Smoothies, and we both enjoy the Lemon and Cherry Freezes, but my all-time favorite is the Root Beer Cup.

We try to avoid the extremely fattening, MOST delicious premium Schwans ice creams, as we would weigh in close to a ton if we all ate them all the time!

Other favorites from Jim the Schwans Man are Corn Dogs, L'il Pups (mini corn dogs), fish sticks and the awesomely tasty CHICKEN BITES!

The chicken bites come in a 2.5 pound package, and they are so very good by themselves, but we all have our favorite "dips". My DH and I love Cajun Hot Sauce, the Pook loves Buttermilk Ranch. Osh and Nickaroni prefer ketchup, although they have tried PURPLE ketchup, and it works, too. Oh, and a light sprinkling of seasoned salt just before putting them in the oven is also something different.

The chicken bites are probably the most expensive item that we purchase - $12 for the bag, but when you divide it by 5, well, heck, it makes it pretty reasonable, really.

Serve it with Zatarains Black Beans and Rice, and a salad, and you got yourself a gourmet meal!

When I've had to kid-sit and had as many as 7 kids (including 3 of my own) for lunch, I always make these. What kid can refuse chicken bites? Especially with Mac & Cheese.

I also get the cheese & herb biscuits. These are just like the ones they serve at Red Lobster, but you don't have to wait for your server to bring you more when you gobble up the one on your plate. I cook a whole bag (about 20) at one sitting and we never have leftovers of these. An alternative to garlic bread when you make Italian dishes, these are fluffy, quick to cook, and I've never had a bad batch.

Some other items we get on occasion are the breaded fish sticks, 5-cheese garlic bread, beef log, and frozen vegetables. The vegetables, like the ice creams, have a quantity discount, which is always nice.

Some things that we've tried in the past that we didn't like were the frozen dinners, frozen stuffed chicken (cordon bleu, etc), and pizza. They were either bland, didn't present well, or just tasted "yucky" (quoting my spoiled-on-Imo's-Pizza children).

A recent change for Schwans has come with the Online Pre-Ordering. I took advantage of this when they first rolled out the program in my area, and got a 10% discount off my whole order that first month. Everything I wanted was available on those Thursdays in June, and I also got further discounts due to summer specials.

We first discovered Schwans at the Ice Cream Festival at the St. Louis Union Station in 1992, when I was pregnant with Osh. I was on a Ben & Jerry's kick until I sampled Schwans and became a passionate consumer.

And such a committed fan of Schwans I am! When we received our settlement funds from the salmonella scare back in 1993, I turned around and used that money to buy ungodly amounts of stuff for my freezer. Jim the Schwans Man asked me "Did you win the lottery or something this week!?" He laughed when I told him where the money came from.

As an advocate of not shopping for groceries when you have children with you, I truly recommend the Schwans Home Delivery as a way to supplement your trip out to the grocery store.

Start slowly, say, with the ice cream, then branch out and sample some of the other items in their catalog.

And remember who recommended them to you!

Recommended: Yes