Please share best your advice: Due one month before Pesach

amother

Bronze

Thu, Oct 22 2015, 12:02 pm

I'm due G/d willing 1.5 weeks before Pesach. Following with interest. We will also be home but probably no guests. I'm planning on having my freezer totally stocked with the chamatz meals needed before Purim, and cleaning all the bedrooms and non food areas early also.

amother

Navy

Thu, Oct 22 2015, 12:35 pm

I had a baby less than a week before Pesach child #9.

If you don't have freezer space, can you rent a freezer?? I cooked in the basement way in advance, things that aren't hard to get kosher L'pesach - potato kugel (eggs, oil, potatoes, spices - I think olive oil is kosher l'peysach always), soup, squash kugel, apple kugel, potato knishes. I have a slop sink in the basement (not used for food) and bought one electric burner and borrowed an oven - you can buy a small one cheaply too.

I was able to have the whole house Peysachdik before I went to the hospital, turned over maybe 1 1/2 weeks before Peysach. We then ate chometz in the basement, at the end.
Physically managing yom tov, set up and clean up etc was hard, having everyone home not so restful and constant mess - but after Yom Tov I was able to rest.

amother

Blonde

Thu, Oct 22 2015, 1:00 pm

I would do this as soon as meat, chicken, fish is available kosher for Passover
Make a list of all the easiest pesach recipes.
Get a foldable table clean and pesachdik (if you need to kosher and cover) to use as a counter. Get disposable pans, etc. cover the table with a disposable tablecloth.
Try to prepare pre cleaned, pre seasoned, pre sauced, chicken, roast/meat, fish.
Freeze raw ready to stick in the oven. Anyone can stick it in the oven put a timer and take it out.
Your guest will HAVE TO help. There is no doubts about it.
Can kugel be mixed raw and frozen? I don't know, but if yes, fish salad, chicken, kugel, makes a meal. Not gourmet, but under circumstances...
Talk to your guests before hand and make someone in charge of breakfast, making beds, wiping down bathrooms.
Also, you must get cleaning help, TO HELP YOU, not to be at your guests beck and call.

amother

Blonde

Thu, Oct 22 2015, 1:03 pm

amother wrote:

I would make these meals "gluten free", not necessarily pesachdik.

Miri7

Thu, Oct 22 2015, 1:11 pm

I had my last baby during Pesach, and was very concerned DD might come early. I did a lot of things that other people suggested here. I did the house cleaning early and limited eating to our eat-in kitchen (dining table on shabbat).

I also hired help so I had extra hands to help in doing the kitchen. This will make a HUGE difference - people to bend, and move, etc. when you have your hands full. Also, if the baby is small, this person could take the baby for a walk in the stroller while you do some things in the kitchen. You really just need extra hands.

Also, can your guests bring prepared things like desserts? If you don't have to do any dessert prep, then that's a big thing off of your plate.

Menu plan early and keep things simple! Your guests don't need a million fancy dishes and side recipes. People will understand that you've just had a baby and will be much happier if they don't feel like their presence is pushing you beyond your limits. When people offer to wash dishes, cook, or help - LET THEM! This is not a time to demonstrate your amazing endurance. Accept help graciously.

Also, a friend and I will split up some of the prep for seder - I will make charoset and chicken soup, she will make gefilte fish and matza balls or something like that. Then we trade. Or I bake double recipe of pesach cookies, she makes two cakes, and we swap. SO MUCH easier to cook double recipes of what you need than to cook it all yourself. This is only possible if there is someone nearby whose kashrut you trust 100%.

amother

Smokey

Thu, Oct 22 2015, 1:34 pm

My youngest was born 4 days before Pesach
we came home 2 days before Pesach.
we turned over extra early. we don't eat anything from
the store, I froze kugels, cakes, ice cream....
the day I came home from the hospital I went straight
to the grocery store to shop and went home to cook.
We didn't have shalom zochor since it was seder night
and bris was on Chol hamoed.
B"H I managed and was happy not to have spent pesach in the hospital

Liebs

Thu, Oct 22 2015, 2:22 pm

Depends on your family...is this your first?
I imagine it's hard to clean so early if you have little ones.
I suggest to LEARN THE HALACHOS! You really don't have to make yourself crazy. Pesach cleaning is easy. You don't even have to vacum bed frames .You lift mattress and see if you see chametz the size of a cheerio.
Cooking make a lots of the SAME stuff, just double and triple...

amother

Orange

Thu, Oct 22 2015, 3:27 pm

A friend of mine had a baby around Purim time.

In January she kashered her kitchen for two days, cooked and froze her food.
She bought her kids clothes including all accessories and tights/socks.

FYI, in response to the question above, potato kugel can be frozen raw. When needed, put it straight from the freezer into the oven for a few hours.

amother

Blonde

Thu, Oct 22 2015, 4:30 pm

amother wrote:

Can other veggie kugels made raw and frozen too?

UQT

Thu, Oct 22 2015, 7:48 pm

My mother had one my brothers right before Pesach and she cooked in advanced. I just remembered that the ice cream was reduced to half and the cakes got deflated, which was a shame since she worked so hard on it and it tasted pretty awful. Anything with lots of egg whites may not freeze so well for weeks on end.

amother

Plum

Fri, Oct 23 2015, 11:35 am

Following with interest. I am due between Purim and Pesach. But many of these suggestions don't work for me. I don't have a basement or extra room to cook in. One fridge, sink (besides bathroom) etc. We anyways eat at the table but I have a LO who runs around, and crumbs carry all over the tiny apartment. Last year I made Pesach (first with child who can walk) and I shook LO off before leaving table, ate only at table, closed off bedrooms etc AND still found Cheerios under the crib. Besides going away for a week so DH can clean after work what do you suggest? (Or going away to relatives for pesach which DH doesn't enjoy as much)...

amother

Pewter

Fri, Oct 23 2015, 1:36 pm

amother wrote:

Is that what happens, you just don't have a shalom zachor? I'm I"yh due a week before pesach and we could potentially be looking at a a first seder night shalom zachor and I'm trying to figure out how that would work? It would kind of be a relief if we can just skip it Very Happy

amother

Floralwhite

Tue, Nov 03 2015, 10:54 am

amother wrote:

(Apologies for creating a Pesach thread before Hanukkah!)

I am iy"H having a baby one month before Pesach, and because I love a challenge, I am of course iy"H making Pesach at home.

I have made Pesach several times, but never like this! I would appreciate any and all advice!

The following are givens and absolutely non-negotiable:

- there will be sleep-over guests
- there is no option for buying take-out food/catering meals
- I cannot cook in advance, however, I can hopefully clean most of the house in advance

I just realized this...
put things in different perspective....
most of the post are giving coping ideas...
seems like if you want to you can make things easier... so go with your gut feeling... do what you you want to do. what works for you.

turca

Tue, Nov 03 2015, 10:25 pm

I'm in the same situation.
I did cut off my yearly guests. They are not happy about it, but my kids ll still be getting used to the changes with the new baby, me and my husband as well. Not time for guests.
I didn't think about cleaning , cooking, but I do want to check and wash as much rice as I could in january

amother

Lemon

Tue, Nov 03 2015, 10:59 pm

Last year I gave birth a few days before pesach.

I basically prepared for pesach as though it were a week earlier than it was. Ie, cleaning, shopping, cooking--in my mind, everything was done as though pesach were coming a week early. House was pesachdik and I was cooking 2 wks before y"t, and we ate pesach food for an extra week.

Re the cooking: First, I made a tremendous amount of soup, that I froze in containers. My kids can live on chicken soup, so as long as there was enough soup, we were good!

I made a few briskets, which freeze well and are relatively easy to make (I made simple recipes). No kugels. Sides were plain grilled vegetables (chopped by other people!).

I cleaned a few chickens and froze them raw. This way, someone else (like dh) could easily put a simply sauce or spices on top and cook it.

I think I recall making a couple brownie recipes.

B"H', it turned out to be a beautiful y"t.

amother

Khaki

Wed, Nov 04 2015, 1:32 am

I'm the OP.

I saw this thread bumped (beshaah tovah to this year's Pesach kimpeturin balabustas!) and want to share what did/did not work for me:

- I did not leave for the hospital with the entire house cleaned and ready to kasher; b"H everything still worked out, but in retrospect I would have cleaned EVERYTHING in advance

- I made up my menu and shopping list in December, bought all dry goods/disposables in January, and only had to deal with the perishables post-partum (and that was very easy, because I already had a list), I cooked the same foods that I usually do but I always make the same Pesach menu (long story) and can basically cook on autopilot

- I cooked triples wherever possible, to freeze for Chol HaMoed and second days

- I outsourced a /lot/ of my "regular" work around the house, including things that I normally handle while cleaning/kashering for Pesach; I really focused just on the cooking/cleaning because those are the things that only I can do; focus on what needs to be specifically done by /you/ and delegate everything else

- If you can, get help with meals/takeout for Pesach; there is no takeout where I live, and I didn't want to ask for help with meals on Pesach because there is a limited number of people who we would feel comfortable eating from, and I knew that they would be inundated with hachnasas orchim guests (in the end, we were too, b"H); it was the right choice for us, but not an easy one

amother

Khaki

Wed, Nov 04 2015, 1:35 am

amother wrote:

I was being sarcastic... our family is a plane ride away (and usually comes to us, as they are well beyond the years of making Pesach), and a hotel is a plane ride or several-hour car drive away. B"H I've made Pesach several times, so I had experience to fall back on.

amother

Wheat

Wed, Nov 04 2015, 1:46 am

I gave birth to two of my kids two weeks before pessach and a motnh before pessach. What I did was clean up the entire house, including parts of the kitchen, in advance. Everyone knew there was no food in any of the rooms, only at the table. I did the cabinets and the fridge in advance and wrapped up the shelves with foil and plastic on top, with lots of tape, to ensure that it doesn't move. This way, a day before pessach DH took everything off and just wiped it in case there was a crumb or something and covered it again for pessach. THe real work was the rest of the kitchen which we did together a couple of days before pessach. Maybe you can get help for this one.
Regarding cooking- I didn't invite guests so we ate very simply. You might be able to cook in advance like a poster mentioned on top- kasher the kitchen for a couple of days. But it sounds insane to me Smile

amother

Floralwhite

Wed, Nov 04 2015, 10:35 am

lol! Didnt even realize its last years topic Smile

thanks for clarigying OP... I always try to "read" the OPs orginal post b/c posters tend to get of the topic ...

I think that a birth purim time has different challanges than the ones clsoer to pesach. Since the house can not be cleaned so in advance (I have 5 kids bh baby a year old. city kind of house... walk through ...) I cant cook in advance b/c its too early to turnover the kitchen a month in advance...