Are u buying cooking cleaning differently with new pricing?

lavender_dew

Mon, Mar 28 2022, 5:56 am

Yes. I have carefully planned pre-Pesach meals with the random foods I have left in my fridge/freezers (Bh I do have a lot of stuff in my freezers, it’s just organizing it and making sure it’s used efficiently and not being wasted the next couple weeks).

I ordered cheap melamine dishes on Amazon that are actually pretty cute - they came with dinner plates, salad plates, bowls, and even matching cups. I did this so I don’t spend exorbitant amounts on paper goods.

Cleaning and detailing my own car instead of hiring someone to do it for $70-80. I already told my kids they’ll be helping and they think it’s fun. I have plenty of cleaning supplies, rags, etc and the gas station vacuum costs something like $4 and my kids think it’s a blast to use.

For the actual chag I’m planning on serving lots of fresh, simple foods. Very basic but all stuff my family loves (roasted veggies as sides, fresh fruit for dessert, etc). One year I accidentally spent almost $200 on CAKES because I didn’t see prices listed, so that was the end of that.

DVOM

Mon, Mar 28 2022, 7:00 am

You bet I am!

I just did my first Pesach grocery shopping yesterday. I actually had a moment of slightly hysterical laughter in the Pesach isle. The prices are insane.

We're going to be eating a lot of soup, eggs, and pasta from now until Pesach. 3 weeks of very frugal eating won't hurt anyone.

We're going to use lots of fresh fruits and veggies that can be bought cheaply at Aldi's. Nosh will be limited; I don't want to buy none, but the prices are literally insane. We're going to stick to chocolate and chips. We'll make our own cakes, caramel candies, matza brittle. I will probably get a bag or 2 of lollies.

What I'm really struggling with is the concept that money for food for shabbos and yom tov is God given and outside of your regular budget. I can't not budget. I also don't really think that today's elaborate foodie culture is what our sages had in mind when they wrote this. Still, I feel guilty thinking about how to balance the Pesach budget.

PinkFridge

Mon, Mar 28 2022, 8:39 am

DVOM wrote:

What I'm really struggling with is the concept that money for food for shabbos and yom tov is God given and outside of your regular budget. I can't not budget. I also don't really think that today's elaborate foodie culture is what our sages had in mind when they wrote this. Still, I feel guilty thinking about how to balance the Pesach budget.

I figure it this way: What I make will be yom tovdik even if simpler compared to other people.
The barometer ideally is, is it nicer? Are there food preparations you make only on Shabbos? E.g. you might have sliced tomatoes, cukes, and pepper for supper, but an Israeli salad with the addition of pickles just for Shabbos. For yom tov I might splurge on some nice greens for a meal or two- though for Pesach there's usually excess Romaine). You're not comparing your table to the magazines, you're comparing - in my case - your dining room table to your Shabbos table. And you're also basing this on what your family enjoys.

Rubber Ducky

Mon, Mar 28 2022, 9:29 am

I bought meat and chicken last week — there were some sales and the meat manager at the market advised that prices would only go higher from this week on. London broil was actually cheaper than chicken cutlets so I bought more beef and less chicken than usual.

I haven't bought most Pesach staples yet, but see that matzo and oil are both much higher than a year ago. Most years I buy too much matzo, will try to calculate it a little better this year.

Amarante

Mon, Mar 28 2022, 12:49 pm

zaq wrote:

CLEANING differently? Scratching Head

Maybe in terms of not wasting money on disposables and just cleaning ones to use again.

I don't understand how people waste money on disposable stuff. You can buy beautiful inexpensive dishes and then have them for years. There are gorgeous melamine plates that are light and not breakable.

Disposable cookware - why? Most stuff can be cleaned relatively easily if you soak it right away and for truly messy stuff you can use a sheet of tin foil and it is still less money than a disposable pan. If you bake use parchment paper which is cheap or silicone which is reusable.

STovah

Mon, Mar 28 2022, 1:10 pm

Amarante wrote:

Some of us have small kitchens and limited storage space. I don’t have a place to store my chometz dishes outside of the kitchen to make room for Pesach dishes. Year round we use dishes for almost every meal, Pesach is all disposables with real cutlery.

Bnei Berak 10

Mon, Mar 28 2022, 1:14 pm

Amarante wrote:

Agree with every word.
Professional kitchens and restaurants don't use disposable (not talking about packing materials)
Real dishes always give better results when baking.
Disposables, as "fancy" as they can get, will never match up to the level of even a simple real plate.

Elfrida

Mon, Mar 28 2022, 1:18 pm

STovah wrote:

Some of us have small kitchens and limited storage space. I don’t have a place to store my chometz dishes outside of the kitchen to make room for Pesach dishes.

We packed the chametz dishes away onto boxes and put them in the loft before lining the drawers and getting out the Pesach ones. When my father built a cupboard under the stairs for them it made turning over easier but less exciting. We never used disposable. I hardly use them now.

Amarante

Mon, Mar 28 2022, 1:25 pm

STovah wrote:

Not to belabor but how much space do you think it actually takes to store dishes and some cookware?

You don't have to pack it exceptionally well with lots of bulky paper like you would if you were moving it because you don't have to worry so much about it breaking and certainly the cookware isn't breakable.

What kind of disposable cookware are you actually getting? Sheet pans (real) take up almost no space? How many roasting pans do you need for one meal? You can't use disposable pots for the stove and I am not sure how you would use disposable bowls if you are baking or prepping foods since they are flimsy.

How many plates do you need to feed people for a meal?

I think one can sit down and figure out what is a critical need and what is just habit.

Bnei Berak 10

Mon, Mar 28 2022, 1:28 pm

STovah wrote:

My kitchen is very small and I have no storage space. My pesach oven is on top of my closet in my bedroom. My pesach dishes are stashed away in boxes in my bedroom too. The kitchen cupboards that will be emptied for pesach will have to go in boxes and on top of my bedroom closet.
Israel apartments are very small so we learn to think out of the box and find creative solutions.
No way I'm using disposables for any shabbos and definitely not for pesach. But each to their own.

STovah

Mon, Mar 28 2022, 2:14 pm

Amarante wrote:

I use real pots and sheet pans. Only disposable items are paper goods for meals and some aluminum tins. I prefer to leave my (good) chometz china where it is on the shelves and use disposables to eat on. That’s my preference, and I understand why others would have the same preference. It’s enough work clearing out space for pots, cutlery, and other paraphernalia without having to pack up china. Yes, prices are up dramatically, but for me and I’m sure others, disposables for Pesach are not going away so quickly.

observer

Mon, Mar 28 2022, 2:43 pm

Amarante wrote:

Some people are just that strapped for time that even dishes that "clean easily" take up more time than they have. Think lots of guests, or lots of young kids, colicky baby, etc. Washing dishes takes time and could be the one extra thing that makes the difference between spending time with your family or not.

Sometimes you have to prioritize.