tips for meals when Sukkah is downstairs and around the back

kinderCK

Tue, Sep 22 2009, 6:22 pm

To Ladies with sukkahs not right outside your kitchen. Please pass on your tips for making the shlepping managable. I try to do one pot courses (stew, etc) prepare as much stuff to leave down there as possible. I'm sure there are more tips that I've been missing all these years!

Raisin

Tue, Sep 22 2009, 6:58 pm

take everything down at once. make a list. You can wrap up soup and other hot food in towels to keep warm while you eat fish etc. Think of it as a picnic.

AlwaysGrateful

Tue, Sep 22 2009, 8:49 pm

Keep a table right inside the door that leads to the sukkah, and keep all of your plasticware on the table, as well as anything else nonperishable that you might need. You can also keep a garbage can right inside that door for easier cleanup. (Many people don't like to bring garbage cans into the sukkah.) To serve soup, if you don't bring pots into the sukkah, bring the big pot downstairs and onto the inside table, then serve straight from the inside table onto the sukkah table.

Use large, sturdy trays to carry things to the sukkah if possible. It's worth investing in them, if possible, and you can get them for pretty cheap.

HTH!

Tue, Sep 22 2009, 9:25 pm

Our family had a great setup - we lived in BP in a semi-attached. Succah was out back we were second floor and the bedrooms were in the back above the succah... we had a pully outside the window (the kind you use for laundry lines) we used a plastic dishpan and lowered up and down all the unbreakables and I bet some breakables too. While we still had many trips to make it could have been worse Smile

morahaviva

Tue, Sep 22 2009, 11:48 pm

If you have room - get a plastic thing of drawers - I stock it with my challah board, cover, kiddush cup, plastic tablecloths and plastic silverware/paper plates, that way its one less thing to shlep. We have a shared sukkah with our whole building, so the faster we get in and out the better. Our sukkah is also in the back of our building, and our apartment is in the back of the building. I got a plastic milk crate, two long strong ropes, and I lower the food down to the ground (we are only one flight up) to where one of the kids or dh is waiting (cant leave it - we have skunks, raccoons, and dh swears he saw a coyote- in the backyard.- Yes - we are in NYC!!!)

doodlesmom

Wed, Sep 23 2009, 12:05 am

how about one of those small refrigerators for drinks and fish....
Make a check list of e/th you need before yom tov for each part of the meal so that you won't have to run up for the croutons etc....

Mrs.K

Wed, Sep 23 2009, 12:37 am

Growing up we had this situation.

My parents put a pulley system outside my bedroom window with a big crate attached with rope around a wheeley contraption. My mother put everything into the crate and wheeled it down to the person waiting at the bottom.

Mrs Bissli

Wed, Sep 23 2009, 8:29 am

Make a list--make sure small things like salt & pepper shakers, challah cover, challah knife, wine opener don't get left behind.

Save a big, flattish cardboard boxes (we use the ones for fresh produces from costco) for easy food transfer. I line them with multiple sheets of used newspaper in case of spill and for insulation.

Save big mineral water bottles, fill with water for netilat yadaim. You can use a plastic rubbish bin for collecting water.

Do the first course that can be left in the succah before guests arrive, like salatim and dips.

For hot drinks after the meal, bring hot water in thermos and serve tea/coffee inside the succah. Less spillage/scalding risk than trying to bring in individual cups/mugs.

greenfire

Wed, Sep 23 2009, 8:37 am

just pretend you're having a big picnic ... get a few shopping bags ... in one have the drinks, another the paper goods, challah, honey & a knife and cover, and everyone should carry something up or down if they are going in or out ...

other tricks, some people wash before kiddush - except you cannot talk till after you eat the bread - which is very hard ...

skip difficult things like soup ...

to keep you warm don't forget the booze and the fire ...

Mini Cookie

Wed, Sep 23 2009, 8:46 am

I second always grateful's idea. I would advise you use a table that has wheels (if your sukkah isn't big enough for everybody to fit in as is) so as soon as everyone enters just slide it right out the door.

Whatever it is try to get as much help possible, even if it means asking the neighbors kids to take down the challah while you juggling soup, grape jc and fish...

Wrap the main course up ina dish that's arranged 'community style' it gives everyone a chance to choose what they like, you don't have to be bz serving while everybody watches & its easier for the schlepping part. Its also gr8 to bring down the soup in a, ach I forgot the name of that kinda bowl! You know the pretty big china bowls that comes with a matching cover?! (for those of u that don't bring pots into the sukkah)

Good luck!

Isramom8

Wed, Sep 23 2009, 8:50 am

Use bottled water instead of pitchers. One year we set up our water dispener in the sukkah!

Keep a large bag of plasticware and bentchers in the sukkah.

Don't serve soup.

Serve fewer courses, with more side dishes in each course.

Desserts that can be carried easily, not individual servings.

Tea lights on a non-flammable tray on a flat surface, if you light in the sukkah - just two, and light your usual number of candles in the house.

Make a list of everything each meal will need, including salt, ketchup, challah knife, chrain, honey, etc, so you can pack it all in bags to take down at once.

Use all plasticware, the nice kind if you want fancy for chag.

Greenie, you mean set up the fan, right?

Invite helpful guests!

im here!

Wed, Sep 23 2009, 10:51 am

My parents live in an apt. building on the 6th floor. (the sukkah was for men only)
We put in everything that was needed downstairs in a box, like the tablecloth, cutlery...
Before the men came home from shul we went down to the sukkah and prepared the table, and took along all the cold food till the soup, chicken...
Then when the men were ready for the main course someone went down with the main course and desert, and when they finished they brought everything up with them in the box.

Worked out pretty well for us.

morahaviva

Wed, Sep 23 2009, 11:39 am

Mollys Mama wrote:

Its also gr8 to bring down the soup in a, ach I forgot the name of that kinda bowl! You know the pretty big china bowls that comes with a matching cover?! (for those of u that don't bring pots into the sukkah)

Good luck!

TUREEN - spelling? LOL -My parents friend once announced to the many ppl at their table "MY wife is putting the soup into a latrine..." not sure anyone wanted to eat it after that!

Isramom8

Wed, Sep 23 2009, 1:03 pm

A tureen is a serving dish for foods such as soups or stews, often shaped as a broad, deep, oval vessel with fixed handles and a low domed ... (wikipedia)