How do u plan a menu? (for example Shevuos..)

Coffee3

Wed, Apr 28 2010, 12:08 pm

My question is:
Do you think of how many sides, and salads and main dishes?
do you look up recipies or use your standard recipes?
Do you have a formula for example, 2 mains, 2 sides, 2 salads?
Do you double the amounts when you have guests?

I'm a little overwhelmed with some of the huge menus that some people have. I would like to make something nice for YT and dont know where to start...
Usually for milchig meals we have lasagna or blintzes, fish, and salad. I would like to make something different..

thank you for your help.

ra_mom

Wed, Apr 28 2010, 12:25 pm

When I decide upon a menu, I take into consideration which of my dishes can be made in advance, what can be frozen, what reheats well, what can be used for more than one meal, what should only be served at one meal, and what is easiest to make.

Tamiri

Wed, Apr 28 2010, 1:02 pm

What I do is go over my recipe cards, printed pages, favorite books etc. and mark what I'd like to make. Then I put together a menu from things I feel like preparing.

Mrs Bissli

Wed, Apr 28 2010, 1:17 pm

I usually decide on the main dishes first, bearing in mind # of guests and how much time I would have for preparation. I usually do two kinds, esp if meaty, as some people may not like red meat while some people think chicken is too weekday-like.

Then I add side dishes--something with veggies, and something starchy. Starter depends on again guests and season (soup for winter, no sense doing fish AND soup in summer when you sit down to eat at 9pm). I try to serve salads/dips that can be prepared in advance for both dinner and lunch. It's also good as "filler upper" if you aren't sure how many people are coming so you may want to stretch the main course a bit.

For actual dishes, I have a kind of fixed "formula" or "signature dishes" that work well, know exactly what goes in, popular with guests. Though I do like experimenting things a bit sometime. Also sides really depend on what's available and cheap in the market that week.

yo'ma

Wed, Apr 28 2010, 1:19 pm

Tamiri wrote:

What I do is go over my recipe cards, printed pages, favorite books etc. and mark what I'd like to make. Then I put together a menu from things I feel like preparing.

I do the same. I don't always make everything I marked, but it gives a guideline.

louche

Wed, Apr 28 2010, 1:32 pm

I go in chronological order of the meal, and decide based on many factors, among them: what's in my freezer? what's in the fridge? what's in season? what's on special in Shop&Save? Are we having guests? How many? Are any of them pregnant/diabetic/vegan/vege-phobic/hypertensive/allergic? Am I dieting? How much time do I have and how much patchkerei am I willing to do? Do I want to eat and get it over with, or will we take our time and stretch the meal out as long as possible?

Kiddush: wine? or grape juice? Seder-ade or the good stuff?

Motzi: Do I need to bake challa? Do I need matza or pita for our vegan friends? Do I need to get challah without sesame for our allergic friends?

First course: Fruit salad? Gefilte fish? Chopped liver? bourekas? Hot or cold? Do we have to be somewhere afterwards and should we skip this course?

Soup: yes? no? Hot? Cold? with inclusions or without?

Main protein: Chicken? Beef? Fish? Vegetarian? Vegan? One? Two? an assortment?

Vegetables: Determined at the time I'm cooking, based upon what's in the fridge, based upon what was in the market and looked decent. I find that if I plan veggies ahead of time, I may not find the necessary veggies in the store at all, or they may be so expensive I don't want to buy them. Flexibility is crucial for me. otoh, a friend of mine plans a menu and sticks to it come what may. If she makes artichokes with asparagus puree for Shavuot and thanks to the frost-disaster artichokes are $1 each, she'll go ahead and make them anyway. To each her own.

Starchy sides: Kugel? Pasta? Cholent? Potato? Grain?

Dessert: Healthy? Not so healthy? Just one, or several? Will a guest be bringing?

After a number of years you acquire a basic tried-and-true menu with a few options and then you don't have to think so hard. I know I'm going to serve lox and cheeses, because that's what I've been doing for years. However, I'm not married to lox and cheeses. Lox used to go on special around this time, but at $8.99 for 4.5 ounces, they can keep their lox and I'll find something else. I know I'm going to make cheesecake, I bought the cream cheese on sale a few weeks ago. But if we're having our vegan friend, I'll skip the cheesecake and serve something else. Maybe strawberry sorbet if berries are a good price. Or maybe cheesecake topped with strawberry sorbet and whole berries topped with sorbet for the vegan. Or maybe I'll see a recipe for something else entirely that calls for ingredients I happen to have and never use, and I'll grab the oppty to use up what I have.

Coffee3

Wed, Apr 28 2010, 2:04 pm

thank you!!!! I was hoping you guys would understand what I meant.

I dont cook, usually its DH who cooks but I am slowly trying to cook and/or bake more.
I am only thinking of baking this week because we have a party on Sunday, but its already Wednesday and I forgot to check if I have all the ingredients..
the more planned ahead, the easier because the last minute, I'm always missing an ingredient or something happens and I dont have time.

skcomputer

Wed, Apr 28 2010, 2:04 pm

I start by writing out a grid with the meals and how many people will be at each meal and what special dietary problems each one has (we've got the full gamut of special diets in the family). Then I write down the main dish for each, while considering when it will be prepared and how it will be reheated. For example for a second night of Yom Tov, I don't want something that's going to take a long time to heat because I can't start heating it until after candlelighting. Then for sides, I think about vegetables and starches. I have to have 2 vegetable sides because one DD can't eat starches. If I have guests, I'll also plan 2 starches. The final step is considering overall color and texture. For color, I don't like to serve all beige - I'm looking for greens, oranges, etc. For texture, I wouldn't serve 4 kugels - so for example, maybe loose green beans and a broccoli kugel go next to each other well. Appetizer, soup, and dessert come last. If there will be a kiddush in shul, I don't usually serve an appetizer. We always have hot soup in the winter, but summer soups depend on my level of patience (my MIL always makes cold fruit soup in the summer, so that side of the family is used to always starting a Shabbat or Yom Tov meal with soup). By the time I'm done with this process, I'm so wiped out that I usually look at buying dessert from a bakery or having a guest bring it. I also like to offer some type of fruit for dessert. If it is just us and the kids, we don't have dessert. I've been doing this for over 20 years, so it comes pretty naturally until a new niece or nephew comes along with a new food allergy or a parent starts a new medication that interacts weirdly with some foods.

yo'ma

Wed, Apr 28 2010, 2:13 pm

mytwo22 wrote:

the more planned ahead, the easier because the last minute, I'm always missing an ingredient or something happens and I dont have time.

After I have my menu, I look at each dish and write down exactly what I need.

Aribenj

Wed, Apr 28 2010, 10:35 pm

I usually plan my menu on Monday, shop on Tuesday, make challah and freezable meals on Wednesday and the rest on Thursday and Friday.

It depends who's coming, (dh's family eats a LOT, my family only like healthy granola food and eat very little) depends how many people, kids or just adults (if kids are coming then I make a kid friendly food like dogs in a blanket or shnitzel and cookies or something like that for desert)

So usually I make
challah
appetizer
1-2 sweet salads/dip
1-2 salty salads/dip
fish
Main course/cholent
veggie side
carby side
(maybe one more side if I have lots of ppl)
Chocolaty/cake desert
fruity/cookies desert
fruit

More or less, depending on how many people are coming. But on average we have about 12-15 people.

chocolate moose

Thu, Apr 29 2010, 10:25 am

I go over the recipes of the things we really liked or make things that are really special. I invite guests according to our schedule and budget. Then I make a menu plan, accrding to the day and the courses, and then write a game plan as to when I’m going to cook.

Save your lists from year to year !

louche

Thu, Apr 29 2010, 10:27 am

chocolate moose wrote:

Save your lists from year to year !

Yep, yep! Why reinvent the wheel every year?

Coffee3

Thu, Apr 29 2010, 1:41 pm

Or keep them on Imamother!

Isramom8

Thu, Apr 29 2010, 3:34 pm

an appetizer
a salad, or several
a soup
a fleishig main dish
a starch side dish, or two
a vegetacble side dish
a dessert, or several

Keep in mind wine, grape juice, challah, beverages and any plasticware you'll need.

Read the recipes. Make a list of everything you have to buy.

Shop.

Cook.

yo'ma

Thu, Apr 29 2010, 3:49 pm

Isramom8 wrote:

Eat.

Isramom8

Thu, Apr 29 2010, 3:51 pm

yo'ma wrote:

Isramom8 wrote:

Eat.

Yeah, that.
Enjoy.
Bentch.