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Shabbos/Yom Tov tips and hacks — all seasons welcome lol
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ra_mom




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Nov 22 2020, 7:51 am
Dina2018 wrote:
so you can freeze gala? wow how does it work?

After you defrost it, recook it to allow some of the water to evaporate, then refrigerate, and it will gel again.
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amother
Apricot


 

Post Sun, Nov 22 2020, 8:12 am
I recently discovered that you can make guacamole in advance. I hate cutting and washing on shabbos so I try to assemble all the salads beforehand.
I dice tomatoes and onions, mix with salt, and store in the fridge.
Then I mash avocado, add lemon, and cover with plastic. The trick is press down the plastic to cover the surface completely so there is no air trapped between. That way, it won't turn brown.
Then, on Shabbos, I just mix the guac with the tomatoes and onions and voila.
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amother
Blue


 

Post Sun, Nov 22 2020, 8:26 am
Tuesday I do a huge grocery shopping for the week and for shabbos preparations

Wednesday I bake challah and make potato kugel. Every few weeks I make a new pot of soup.

Thursday most of the food preparations gets done.... I take lots of shortcuts 😛... I’m the master of shortcuts I think!
I’m make a checklist on my phone in the beginning of the day and mark off as I work.

Friday I fill up the urn and the water pitchers. Cleaning lady comes and somehow with both of us working, the house becomes presentable. I set my timer on my phone to remind me to turn off fridge light and set the oven on shabbos mode. Table gets set. Things come out of freezer to heat up.
I’m already using my ‘notes’ app on my phone to start a new list of things I’ll need for next week- ex- garlic powder, baking pans....
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amother
Linen


 

Post Sun, Nov 22 2020, 8:43 am
Since I don't work on Friday I bake my challes then but make the dough on Thursday evening in order to be sure the dough has definitely risen by the time I twist and bake. The challes rise like crazy this way.

The best way to defrost potato kiggel is by pooring piping hot water into it until the surface is covered and leaving to stay. It's not going to turn out dry.

In winter I shower on Friday morning.

Since I took to preparing for Shabbos all week long I divide the chores through the week. Like laundering, ironing, cleaning, etc. so that none of is left for Erev Shabbos. I write down the menu and strike out the done dish.

I cook chicken soup for a few weeks ahead, divide and freeze. Same with kneidlech, cook, divide and feeze.

You can freeze everything already cooked: meat, chicken, fish, kiggles, soup, cakes. Important is to visibly inscribe them, also by the number of portions.
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MiriFr




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Nov 22 2020, 8:46 am
Motivational tip:
Listen to a song while doing something you love that makes you happy, like playing with your baby, or doing your favorite hobby. Do this every day for a few minutes.
Then when it comes time for Shabbos prep or cleaning up or something you’d rather procrastinate, play that song!
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amother
Green


 

Post Sun, Nov 22 2020, 8:50 am
I made a 4-week Shabbos menu. I don't like having the same foods every week, so I switch out. I can cook for Shabbos start to finish, including homemade challah, in under 3 hours, so I do it Friday afternoon. (Salads I do right before the meal.) I just defrost chicken the night before and I'm ready to go.

I open tissue boxes right when I buy them because I WILL forget.
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amother
Wheat


 

Post Sun, Nov 22 2020, 9:05 am
-Set table Thursday night.
-Plan for efficiency- peel all veggies at once, if processing, do them at once, in neat to messy order ( ie beets last) then wash once, chop all onions, garlic at once.
- use down time weeks for food prep, like after sukkos before we change the clock.
-Double up and cook one bulk batch on a weekday, like challah, cobbler, potato kugel, dip components (freeze cooked, chopped eggplant in ziploc sandwich baggies, make tomato dip and spicy mayo for a few weeks)
- store and serve all dips and salads in glass containers with their own covers. Prep to fridge to table and back. Wash only when the food is all eaten.
- clear out fridge Wednesday in winter or Thursday in summer to use up food and make room for shabbos.
- keep on hand components that can be assembled quickly, like frozen garlic cubes to stir into dips, lemon juice, precheck, chop and freeze parsley, dill, cilantro. Chocolate chips, canned beans, frozen corn, green beans and broccoli florets.
- collect recipes that freeze well or are quick to prepare for desserts and sides. This is my hobby.
- I have 3 wire racks in my meat oven and plan cooking to maximize the oven space. I use pans that fit so I can cook 6 pans at once. If it takes longer on the oven, its still so worth it in prep and clean up.
-Develop one-pan shabbos meals, like chicken over potatoes, rice, barley or other grains. These can even warm in a blech/ platta.
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amother
Goldenrod


 

Post Sun, Nov 22 2020, 9:11 am
amother [ Green ] wrote:
I made a 4-week Shabbos menu. I don't like having the same foods every week, so I switch out. I can cook for Shabbos start to finish, including homemade challah, in under 3 hours, so I do it Friday afternoon. (Salads I do right before the meal.) I just defrost chicken the night before and I'm ready to go.

I open tissue boxes right when I buy them because I WILL forget.

wow please share how do you do it!
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amother
Green


 

Post Sun, Nov 22 2020, 10:14 am
amother [ Goldenrod ] wrote:
wow please share how do you do it!

Shabbos week 1:

challah
Homemade

fish course
Sauce & Plain Gefilte Fish
Chumus
Bean Salad
Lokshen Salad
Cucumber Salad

soup
Soup
Matzah Balls

main
Breaded chicken fingers
Potato Kugel
Snap Peas

dessert
Brownies

day Salads
Sparlik
Chickpea Salad

cholent
Meat & Potatoes & Onions

day dessert
Italian Ices

--

That's one of my menus.

I basically just work through the list. I don't measure ingredients. I print out the menu and tape to a cabinet door for quick reference.

So, here's a step-by-step of how I'd do it:

(It works best if the kitchen is clean, most of the dishes are clean, the groceries are away, and if I've remembered to defrost the chicken the night before!)

1. Turn on the oven to preheat
2. Fill up hot water pitcher and turn on
3. Pour bag of flour into challah bowl, pour in sugar, oil, 2 tbsp salt, 5 eggs. Water should now be warm, pour in about 3/4 of it, add 3 tbsp yeast. Stand on stool so I can use my weight, knead about 120 times. (I use a few pesukim to keep track). Pour on some oil, leave to rise. It doesn't always come out exactly the same, I don't care - it always works!
4. Put foil on cookie sheet, spray 2 lines down, unwrap 2 rolls of gefilte fish under warm running water, put on sheet. Pour pasta sauce over 1 roll, pop in oven.
5. Open chumus.
6. Open can of green beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, drain. Put in bowl with lid and stick in fridge. (I usually dress salads closer to meal.)
7. Fill up pasta pot (has integrated draining lid) with water, cover, put on to boil.
8. Fill up soup pot about 2/3 with water. Add peeled onion, 2 lb baby carrots, 1-2 peeled potatoes. Put on stove to boil.
9. Dump about a half can matzah meal into bowl, add 5 eggs, about 1 tsp baking powder, salt, pepper, some oil. Mix well. Add about a half cup of water, mix again, stick in fridge.
10. Dump pre-cut chicken nuggets into foil pan, mix with mayo or italian dressing. Pour on flavored corn flakes crumbs, mix to coat, spread out; put in fridge (it needs to be baked uncovered, and I don't cook both fish and chicken uncovered in the oven at once). (If I was making chicken on the bone, I'd just stick into foil pan, pour on sauce of some sort, cover, and put in oven. I don't clean it.)
11. By now water for pasta should be boiling, dump in pasta, stir once, turn off burner, cover, and set timer for time on box.
12. Peel potatoes for kugel. I buy jumbo russets, so I only need to peel 6 or so for kugel. Put into bowl as I peel, rinse all at once at the end. Peel an onion as well. Put eggs and oil and salt and pepper into large bowl, ready for grated potatoes.
13. Soup is probably boiling now, put in 2 chicken legs, kosher salt, dill. Turn down burner.
14. Pasta is probably ready by now; drain, rinse to cool and set aside.
15. Take out assembled food processor, cut potatoes quickly into chunks that will fit in processor. Grate potatoes and onions in two batches (my processor is too small). Mix with eggs and oil, then dump into foil pan and stick into oven.
16. Fish is probably ready by now (light to dark brown on top, varies by week), remove from oven to cool and stick pan with chicken in oven.
17. By now challah dough is probably risen enough. Take challah with a bracha, put aside piece to burn later (can't burn in oven with food in there). Put parchment on 2/3 size pan, quickly make rolls (take small pieces of dough, turn inside out to make pretty smooth rolls). On smaller pan, make two rough 3-braids (they won't be super-smooth, but I don't care). Put aside to rise.
18. Put foil on cookie sheet, spray with oil, dump on bag of fresh snap peas, drizzle with honey and olive oil, sprinkle on some salt, stick in oven.
19. In foil pan, make duncan hines brownies, lick spoon, stick pan in oven; remove chicken which is probably ready by now.
20. Turn up temp from soup to return to rolling boil. Take out matzah meal mixture from fridge, wash hands and roll mixture into balls, drop straight into soup.
20. Open can of chickpeas and drain. Dump 3 frozen garlic and 2 frozen parsley cubes into bowl to defrost for sparlik.
21. Peel potatoes and onions for cholent and cut into chunks; pull down crockpot and line with bag, plug in (I removed knob so kids can't change the setting from low); put in potatoes and onions and water and spices, put package of cholent meat nearby so I won't forget. (I put it in right before Shabbos.)
22. Remove brownies from oven.
23. Crack egg into bowl, mix quickly, egg the challah, sprinkle on sesame/poppy/everything (some or all), stick into oven. (If I'm feeling pressured I skip the egg wash, it doesn't look as pretty but still tastes good.)
24. Take out challah after about 20-30 minutes, or when I notice/remember.
25. Right before Shabbos, turn off soup, put meat into cholent, turn off oven, put all mains inside to stay warm.

(25 steps * about 5 minutes each = a little over 2 hours active time.)

On a typical week I need to nurse a baby, change diapers, deal with various kid crises, and juggle counter and/or fridge space in my too-small kitchen. So I usually end up overcooking something or having something boil over, but it all works out in the end.

I printed out all my salad recipes and stuck into cabinet interior. Of course they require a minimum of measuring!
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r_ch




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Nov 22 2020, 10:41 am
Amother Green, you rock!
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Dina2018




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Nov 22 2020, 10:57 am
amother [ Green ] wrote:
Shabbos week 1:

challah
Homemade

fish course
Sauce & Plain Gefilte Fish
Chumus
Bean Salad
Lokshen Salad
Cucumber Salad

soup
Soup
Matzah Balls

main
Breaded chicken fingers
Potato Kugel
Snap Peas

dessert
Brownies

day Salads
Sparlik
Chickpea Salad

cholent
Meat & Potatoes & Onions

day dessert
Italian Ices

--

That's one of my menus.

I basically just work through the list. I don't measure ingredients. I print out the menu and tape to a cabinet door for quick reference.

So, here's a step-by-step of how I'd do it:

(It works best if the kitchen is clean, most of the dishes are clean, the groceries are away, and if I've remembered to defrost the chicken the night before!)

1. Turn on the oven to preheat
2. Fill up hot water pitcher and turn on
3. Pour bag of flour into challah bowl, pour in sugar, oil, 2 tbsp salt, 5 eggs. Water should now be warm, pour in about 3/4 of it, add 3 tbsp yeast. Stand on stool so I can use my weight, knead about 120 times. (I use a few pesukim to keep track). Pour on some oil, leave to rise. It doesn't always come out exactly the same, I don't care - it always works!
4. Put foil on cookie sheet, spray 2 lines down, unwrap 2 rolls of gefilte fish under warm running water, put on sheet. Pour pasta sauce over 1 roll, pop in oven.
5. Open chumus.
6. Open can of green beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, drain. Put in bowl with lid and stick in fridge. (I usually dress salads closer to meal.)
7. Fill up pasta pot (has integrated draining lid) with water, cover, put on to boil.
8. Fill up soup pot about 2/3 with water. Add peeled onion, 2 lb baby carrots, 1-2 peeled potatoes. Put on stove to boil.
9. Dump about a half can matzah meal into bowl, add 5 eggs, about 1 tsp baking powder, salt, pepper, some oil. Mix well. Add about a half cup of water, mix again, stick in fridge.
10. Dump pre-cut chicken nuggets into foil pan, mix with mayo or italian dressing. Pour on flavored corn flakes crumbs, mix to coat, spread out; put in fridge (it needs to be baked uncovered, and I don't cook both fish and chicken uncovered in the oven at once). (If I was making chicken on the bone, I'd just stick into foil pan, pour on sauce of some sort, cover, and put in oven. I don't clean it.)
11. By now water for pasta should be boiling, dump in pasta, stir once, turn off burner, cover, and set timer for time on box.
12. Peel potatoes for kugel. I buy jumbo russets, so I only need to peel 6 or so for kugel. Put into bowl as I peel, rinse all at once at the end. Peel an onion as well. Put eggs and oil and salt and pepper into large bowl, ready for grated potatoes.
13. Soup is probably boiling now, put in 2 chicken legs, kosher salt, dill. Turn down burner.
14. Pasta is probably ready by now; drain, rinse to cool and set aside.
15. Take out assembled food processor, cut potatoes quickly into chunks that will fit in processor. Grate potatoes and onions in two batches (my processor is too small). Mix with eggs and oil, then dump into foil pan and stick into oven.
16. Fish is probably ready by now (light to dark brown on top, varies by week), remove from oven to cool and stick pan with chicken in oven.
17. By now challah dough is probably risen enough. Take challah with a bracha, put aside piece to burn later (can't burn in oven with food in there). Put parchment on 2/3 size pan, quickly make rolls (take small pieces of dough, turn inside out to make pretty smooth rolls). On smaller pan, make two rough 3-braids (they won't be super-smooth, but I don't care). Put aside to rise.
18. Put foil on cookie sheet, spray with oil, dump on bag of fresh snap peas, drizzle with honey and olive oil, sprinkle on some salt, stick in oven.
19. In foil pan, make duncan hines brownies, lick spoon, stick pan in oven; remove chicken which is probably ready by now.
20. Turn up temp from soup to return to rolling boil. Take out matzah meal mixture from fridge, wash hands and roll mixture into balls, drop straight into soup.
20. Open can of chickpeas and drain. Dump 3 frozen garlic and 2 frozen parsley cubes into bowl to defrost for sparlik.
21. Peel potatoes and onions for cholent and cut into chunks; pull down crockpot and line with bag, plug in (I removed knob so kids can't change the setting from low); put in potatoes and onions and water and spices, put package of cholent meat nearby so I won't forget. (I put it in right before Shabbos.)
22. Remove brownies from oven.
23. Crack egg into bowl, mix quickly, egg the challah, sprinkle on sesame/poppy/everything (some or all), stick into oven. (If I'm feeling pressured I skip the egg wash, it doesn't look as pretty but still tastes good.)
24. Take out challah after about 20-30 minutes, or when I notice/remember.
25. Right before Shabbos, turn off soup, put meat into cholent, turn off oven, put all mains inside to stay warm.

(25 steps * about 5 minutes each = a little over 2 hours active time.)

On a typical week I need to nurse a baby, change diapers, deal with various kid crises, and juggle counter and/or fridge space in my too-small kitchen. So I usually end up overcooking something or having something boil over, but it all works out in the end.

I printed out all my salad recipes and stuck into cabinet interior. Of course they require a minimum of measuring!


cool thanks so much!
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amother
Rose


 

Post Sun, Nov 22 2020, 11:17 am
Green, you did a great job of explaining your routine.

If I were you, I would double wrap the challah and put it in the oven right away. There's less chance of the separated challah going astray that way.

My hack isn't for now, but starting Shabbos Nachamu, I make a big batch of challah every week and double or triple one item that I cook for shabbos. That way, I have a well-stocked freezer by the time yom tov comes around with hardly any fuss.
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amother
Pearl


 

Post Sun, Nov 22 2020, 11:23 am
Best tip: cook large pot of chicken soup and divide into 5×7" pans or oblong challah pans.
Cover pans with silver foil, freeze.
Once soups are frozen, Stack pans one in top of another. Its very space maintaining.
Best of all, ez to rewarm erev shabbos.
Options: take out soup pan, place on blech in the morning on low flame, or a few minutes before the zman on a high flame.
I cook all good in disposable pans.
*Gefilta fish- in 5×7" pan, fill 1/2 pan with water. Add sugar and fish seasoning spice. Bake 1 hour.
*salmon fillet- in disposable pan. add some oil, sugar, fish seasoning spice. Bake 1/2 hour.
*Kasha- cook in water or chicken soup with salt. In 5×7 pan.
* noodles for soup, or any noodles in disposable pan.
*chulent I cook in a crock pot- add chulent bag before putting in ingredients. Yala, clean pot!
I'll share my delicious recipe that everyone loves bh!

2 bags Chulent mix
Potatoes- cube
Any meat (optional)
Sauted onions (I saute' lots in advance and freeze in small containers). Remove one container and drop into crock pot.
Salt, Black, white pepper, paprica, onion soup mix.
water to fill pot. Cook on high for several hours. Than leave it on warm over shabbos.


Last edited by amother on Mon, Nov 23 2020, 12:31 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Another mom




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Nov 22 2020, 8:50 pm
OMG Green - you are so organized why not use your imamother name? Or real name actually? This is amazing, I could never cook so many dishes at once!
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amother
Green


 

Post Sun, Nov 22 2020, 9:11 pm
Another mom wrote:
OMG Green - you are so organized why not use your imamother name? Or real name actually? This is amazing, I could never cook so many dishes at once!

LOL I'm actually very disorganized, my house is a total wreck. There are plenty weeks where I have a traffic jam of things waiting for the oven, or waiting for the stove. But this system works better for me than cooking in advance. I just keep reading down the list to see what to do next. And I'm very lazy so everything has to be easy!

(Lots of great freezer tips on this thread, but I don't have enough freezer space to cook in advance, we live OOT and my freezer is needed for bread and meat and fish.)
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egam




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Nov 27 2020, 11:21 am
Dina2018 wrote:
so you can freeze gala? wow how does it work?


Yes. You can. Freeze it while it's still liquid. If you want it for Shabbos day, take it out of the freezer Thursday night or Friday morning, bring it to a simmer and pour it in a tray. It will solidify.
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amother
Purple


 

Post Fri, Nov 27 2020, 12:18 pm
My bff has a permanent checklist for fridays that includes all the little tasks that are easy to forget, like setting timers, cutting TP, lowering the setting on the crockpot etc. She laminated it so she can use a felt-tip pen to check off each item and then wipe it clean for the next week.

Another friend has a system for serving an assortment of cakes every Shabbos: on each of 4 consecutive weeks, she bakes a different cake, cuts it into quarters, wraps each quarter and freezes. She now has 4 pieces each of 4 different cakes. Each week thereafter she serves one quarter each of four different cakes and bakes one new cake, which she cuts up and freezes.
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bnm




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Nov 27 2020, 3:36 pm
ra_mom wrote:
I keep a shabbos list on the fridge for the early shabbosim, to make sure I don't forget the details including soup, eggs, hot water urn, shabbos lamp, etc.



Thank you. I wrote up the list last night and hung it on the fridge. I got home to a kid having modified 1 item and written 'done' on another.
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amother
Lavender


 

Post Fri, Nov 27 2020, 4:20 pm
I go shopping on Wednesday, NO MATTER WHAT.
Cook EVERYTHING Thursday no matter how long it takes
Cleaning lady comes Friday, she deals with the kitchen, plus all the cleanup. She also sets the table for me.

Every Thursday I make big tubs of chopped veggies, tomato, cucumber, peppers 3-4 different colors, onions, garlic (small), celery, carrots, cabbage,etc. Each veggie separately. I put paper towels on the bottom of the containers to soak up moisture. They last me throughout the week.
Then when Shabbos comes, I just dump a little of this and a little of that. Véala, instant salads.
I make all the dressings before hand and keep them separate in mason jars.

Once a month or 2, I buy chicken or beef bones, neck, etc. and make a HUGE pot of bone broth.
Bones, 1 onion cut in half, 1-2 carrots, 1-2 parsnip. I let it simmer for 24+ hours.
I strain it through a cloth. Put it in containers and freeze.
When I want chicken soup I chop fresh veggies and simmer them. But the bulk of the work is done.
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