Getting Ready for Shabbos

Motek

Thu, Oct 21 2004, 9:37 am

when do you start Shabbos cooking (and other) preparations?
when do you finish?

I know someone who says Friday is her day for going out with her husband because everything for Shabbos was finished on Thursday shock

, chulent made, table set, etc.

that is definitely not the way I do it!

I may buy things for Shabbos as early as Sunday, if I'm in a store and remember that I need something, but serious preparations begin more like Wednesday, when I think of what I'll be cooking and what ingredients I need to buy.

I'll buy things on Wed., Thurs., Fri. ... start cooking usually on Thurs.

I make challa and freeze them, so I just remove what I need from the freezer on Friday to defrost. Challa baking is usually earlier in the week.

I make an 8 qt. pot of soup and freeze it. Heat up on Friday.

Other frozen items sometimes available in my freezer: fish of some kind, cooked chicken, side dishes, sliced corned beef.

I regularly do MOST things well in advance of zero hour, BUT my nemesis is f-I-n-I-s-h-I-n-g the last few things! It's SO annoying to be so ahead of the game, 98% finished, and then to rush like a maniac finishing the 2% Mad

Rochel Leah

Thu, Oct 21 2004, 12:03 pm

Motek, I think its like that with most paople- no matter howin advance you prepare, before shabbos you are always rushing last minute- doesnt matter whether it is a "long" firday or "short" friday.

I genrally, do my desesrts on wednesday. salads, prepare vegies for soup, kugels and matzah balls on thursday. and the fish, eggs, chicken soup, and cholent and schnitzel I do on fridays.

recently since I hae my son in daycare I have been able to do more on friday mornings.

zuncompany

Thu, Oct 21 2004, 1:57 pm

I am known for making everything in the last hour. Literally! embarrassed

My neighbors would always stop by and be in shock cause I had nothing done and it was noon. I make 5lb bags of flour for my challah. It makes about 6 weeks worth of challahs for us. I make 2 rolls and 2 big challahs for each shabbos. Plus a few extras usually. Soup I will put up when I get up in the morning (only in the winter). My cholent if I am making also than. Other than that most gets done during Zu's nap time.
Sara

Pickle Lady

Thu, Oct 21 2004, 4:02 pm

Me too. I am also last minute too. I am not a freezer women. So I don't like putting things in the freezer because I usually don't use it and it stays in the freezer forever. Once in awhile I make soup. We aren't big on soup so I do freeze some, sometimes. Since I have a bakery a black awai. I often just buy challah. Or I make a small batch. I am trying to make challah a regular thing I make but I don't want to over do myself. Going into shabbos with shalom bias is more important. I like to bake shnitzel for friday night with a side dish either a kugel or rice. Shabbos day is cholent. Also I bake my fish, I think its easier that cooking on the stove and tastes better to me. I do most of my cooking while my sons are taking a nap or are playing nicely. Meat forsure has to be done while they are sleeping. Idea

micki

Thu, Oct 21 2004, 6:16 pm

gosh you are all so organized.- I ? relly on my hubby to do the "important"
cooking. like fleishigs and kugel and cake.
I do the "petty" non important things, like the salads, fish and dessert.
he doesn't work most fridays soooo....
I do the cleaning and he does the cooking.
trust me, by the time he is done I have the HUGER job!

and if I have a newborn then I start thursday otherwise my kids are now old enough to "kick out" and they don't need my care. sso its a mad rush friday

speaking of which, ladies its thursday t!!!

su7kids

Thu, Oct 21 2004, 6:21 pm

I do almost all of my cooking on Friday. Used to do vegetable shopping on Wednesday or Thursday, but now I do it on the way home from dropping the kids at school on Friday.

With Shabbos coming in earlier and earlier, I really DO need to get going a bit earlier, but I make very simple Shabbosim. After years and years of making kugels and veggies and side dishes, etc, and having no-one eat much past the fish and salads, I cut back, and sometimes can get by with only one chicken for Shabbos!!!

I do NOT like to plan ahead. That is ME!

Especially now with dd being a major cake baker (she did a Wilton's class or two), she takes over the kitchen on Thursdays, so Friday is my day.

Yael

Fri, Oct 22 2004, 1:01 pm

I make a very simple shabbos. just soup chicken cholent and chatzilim. my husband buys gefilte fish ready cooked, and sometimes also some small salads. (he works in the buisness). I dont bother making more b/c noone eats it. I hate having leftovers. if we're having guests then I'll also make a kugel and some green beans.
I make salad on friday night. and the rest sometime during the day. whenever the kids are sleeping or playing. if I dont have a cleaning lady in the morning there is a mad rush before shabbos to clean everything b/c we wait till the last minute, but my husband does most of the cleaning so thats helpful.
my husband cant handle the stress of rushing before shabbos. so I try to have as much as possible done early in the day, so he can be relaxed and thus we should start shabbos happy.

Tefila

Sun, Oct 24 2004, 4:00 am

Ladies It is amazing that all we really need is 3hrs to cook
I atchually timed it one time solid uninterrupted 3hrs! cholent ,2 kugels (dough has to be prepared b/4 hand) challah braided and baked. 2 cakes made. Sweet and sour fish balls cooked. eggs boiled and peeled for devil eggs, Soup( my specialty ) veg peeled and thrown in later when cooked I cut it , or remove it b/c some of my kids hate cooked veg (which I on sun day make into a pie which hubby likes). Chicken with garlic and honey sauce usually (sometime vary with mushrooms fried onions but it usually takes too long)Ice-cream the cleaning admittedly does take longer for some reason
Salads I do usually on Shabbos and yes when I am rushing I cheat and buy the salad bags so all I need to do is season Beets and potatoes get boiled during that time together no the potatoes don't get red b/c I only peel after it is soft & readyi wll make vinnigrette and potatoe salad, for corn salad I just use can and radishes and mostly I can do on shabbos
Whew all that made me exhausted Very Happy

But the trick is when are u for sure going to get 3 uninterrupted hrs for me it is Thurs night.
Oh one more thing if your hubby is the type to taste the food oneg shabbos : so much so you wonder on shabbos if you made it at all! I will wrap with tinfoil , freeze and label with a permanant marker 'raw meat etc ' anything to keep it from disappearing totaly Twisted Evil

Mon, Nov 01 2004, 1:51 am

If it's just my family, Shabbos is pretty easy for me. However, if I have even one guest, I become a maniac. My specialty is salads - and they are very time consuming (and delicious if I do say so).

I make a menu, shopping list on Tuesday. I often shop by Wednesday and start cooking Thursday and finish Friday. I have found that my main meal is very simple - because we usually have gefilte fish and salmon teriyaki and 6-10 salads, no one wants a big main course. I follow it with chicken, rice or potatoe dish and then usually green beans with spices. My husband usually is so tired by that part of the meal, he doesn't want to eat that much - I got tired of wasting food, so I pared it down.

Shabbos day usually consists of salads (of course), fish, egg salad, majas herring (all the men/boys in my life love it), chulent and sometimes a deli roll.

I actually love cooking for Shabbos as it's my most creative time of the week. When I am overwhelmed, B"H we have lots of places to pick up prepared salads and I do not hesitate to get them if I need it.

I am not big into desserts - I make a peanut butter ice cream pie which consists of 2 ingedients and is good and easy, and fresh fruit or a cheeseless cheese cake.

amother

Mon, Nov 01 2004, 2:23 pm

Wow! cs when do you have the time to make so many salads. I also am very into making a lot of salads and dips because I don't eat chicken or fish(only red meat). I also like to rotate salads so we don't have the same ones every week. Can you post some ideas and recipies for different salads and dips. I love to try new ones. Another thing I love to do is read cookbooks for ideas and then I take a few recepies and make my own up using a little of each.

curlyhead

Thu, Nov 11 2004, 5:50 am

I Make a very simple Shabbos. First thing fri morning I do the chicken and soup. Stopped making kugel because no one eats it. Instead I make rice. its alot easier. I check lettuce for the whole week on friday and make my salads then also. I normally spend the afternon cleaning up.

sarahd

Tue, Nov 16 2004, 5:44 pm

I have some pressure because there is very little take-out food available where I live, and the shop there is closes at 2 PM, winter or summer. If you haven't cooked it, you don't have it! I cook my fish, eggs and soup lukshen on Thursday, and also bake a cake then if I'm planning on having one. I also clean my chickens then and check my salad leaves (no Bodek here!), and put my chulent beans to soak. I find I can't make salads on Thursday because by Shabbos they're unfresh. I am a very simple dessert person - usually compote. Maybe once a year ice cream or sometimes in the winter an apple crisp, if we're having guests. Everything else I do on Friday, as I prefer fresh food. My mother does this too, and I'm used to the mad rush Friday afternoon. I would really like to be ready well before Shabbos, but it never ever happens. Even if I should happen to get done three hours early, something will always come up ten minutes before candle lighting.