How early can I get ready for Pesach?

amother

Vermilion

Sun, Feb 26 2017, 9:18 am

I want to finish up my basement and start cooking down there this week. I'd like to have no more chometz in the house two days after Purim (but we can eat in the yard). Then over the next month we'll eat pesadik while I clean the house. (I want to do the kitchen first so that we are not generating more crumbs while I clean the rest of the house). My parents are coming a week before Pesach and I don't want to be cooking and cleaning frantically then. Is this too early? I have three kids under 6 who eat almost exclusively chometz.

ra_mom

Sun, Feb 26 2017, 9:34 am

It really depends on your lifestyle (and the weather I think).
If they're home all day they'll be very deprived and you'll have a hard time on pesach itself when they're sick of the food and refuse to eat but there are no other options at that point.
I think I'd go for cooking for a full week before mom comes rather than cooking for three weeks before she gets there. Do you think you can do that?

Either way, cook your regular food and then serve outside in baguette sandwiches. Keep closed bags of chometz snacks in the hallway that you give to them oitside. Make sure to have special foods that you wouldn't normally have on pesach like kitnyius pretzels, crackers, cheesesnacks, hot dogs, cold cuts... Do whatever you can to make the food as similar as possible tp year round food. And different than what you'll serve on YT.

amother

Blush

Sun, Feb 26 2017, 10:56 am

amother wrote:

I have a friend who turns over her kitchen before Purim and cooks all her food and puts it in the freezer she then goes back to chometz, kashering again Erev yt .

Wow, so she repacks all her Pesach dishes? That's a lot of work!

We're going away to EY a week after Purim, and not returning until a week before Pesach, so I'm cleaning now, and kashering the Sunday after Purim, a couple of days before we leave.

I've been working for weeks. All I have left to do now is the fridge, the stove, and a last few cabinets and drawers that I do at the end.

I have made and will double bag (after I finish the freezer) frozen meals that can be heated and eaten in the dining room on paper plates. Lots of kitniyos, some actual chometz. I have a menu for the final week before kashering, and for the time after. I'll clean and prep the dining room at the end.

Every year, when I want to kasher early, DH says we should just eat outside. But a lot of the time, it's too cold.

amother

Bronze

Sun, Feb 26 2017, 1:32 pm

amother wrote:

I have a friend who turns over her kitchen before Purim and cooks all her food and puts it in the freezer she then goes back to chometz, kashering again Erev yt .

My sister did this one year when she was due erev Pesach. It worked out very well for her, but it's not for everyone...

I'm super-super-organized and I hate leaving things to the last minute - think menu planning and cooking for Tishrei over the summer - but I can't imagine doing waht you're planning to my family. Just not worth it. I'd rather have a crazy week than make everyone crazy for a month.

yOungM0mmy

Sun, Feb 26 2017, 1:54 pm

I have 5 little kids under age 10, picky eaters who eat almost exclusively chametz, and I wont prolong pesach an extra day than I have too. I do the bedrooms a month or so before, and leave the main floor until the week before pesach. Dining room takes a few hours and is done 2 shabbatot before ( we eat in the kitchen the last week), living area and kitchen week before, and kitchen table is last, with a microwave and cheese toaster, and chametz cereal and milk, until 2 days before, even if I'm already cooking pesach. I leave myself a full 3 days to cook (we use no processed foods, so everything from scratch, but also no baking). Last year my inlaws came 3 days before pesach, my mil helped with the peeling and chopping, we ate a couple of meals outside (it's still a little cold here), and everyone was calm and kids still love pesach, not having to live like that for too long.

amother

Blush

Sun, Feb 26 2017, 2:11 pm

L K wrote:

Another blush, could you list what you've cooked, and your menu for the week after you return?

Sure.

Make in advance in chometz kitchen:. Squash soup, veggie stir fry, rice, sesame noodles, plain pasta, chicken, challah rolls.

(Most of these are made extra for a Shabbos then frozen.)

Bought precooked: pizza, veggie burgers, rolls, bread, crispy noodles.

In stock: tortilla chips, canned corn, chickpeas, peas, beans.

Before we leave:

Purim seudah - out
Monday - Thursday, regular.
Shabbos - both meals out
Sunday - kasher, bring microwave and toaster into DR. Dinner - burgers broiled in pesach kitchen oven, rolls in DR, salad.
Monday - pasta (in freezer, defrosted in microwave), sauce, and cheese, cut veggies.
Tuesday - to airport, travel food plus what's on the flight.
........
Return Monday 4/3 Dinner - frozen pizza reheated in microwave.

Tuesday - precooked rice, canned corn, choice of sliced chicken (premade) or pb&j.

Wednesday - egg drop soup made in Pesach kitchen, crispy noodles kept in DR, defrosted veggie stir fry, rice.

Thursday - squash soup (premade, frozen), pasta (if left from last week) or loaded nachos, sprinkled w shredded cheese

Friday/Shabbos Hagadol - fish, chicken soup, meat or chicken main, and potatoes made in Pesach kitchen; corn salad, chickpea salad (cut everything possible in Pesach kitchen, add final ingredients in DR), sesame noodles (precooked and frozen). Challah rolls from freezer, fruit, and leftover Purim baked goodies from freezer. No cholent, my family is not a big fan.

Sunday bedikas chometz - last frozen veggie burgers for lunch, last frozen pizza for dinner.

Monday Erev Pesach - kugels, soup, cut up fruit and vegetables, dips, maybe hot dogs warmed in pesach microwave.

We broch.

First seder - Matzo, spreads (eggplant, olive, guacamole, salsa, etc), smoked brisket or turkey, potatoes, zucchini creole, salad, fruit salad, lemon meringue pie

Lunch 1 - matzo, fish, minted zucchini soup, green salad, stir fried broccoli, meats

Seder 2 - matzo, soups, spreads, almond schnitzel, broccoli kugel, mashed potatoes, cookies/brownies

Lunch 2 - dairy - fish, eggplant parmesan, veggie frittatas, matzo grilled cheese for kids.

SacN

Sun, Feb 26 2017, 3:06 pm

I dont think I can even buy pesach food before purim.

I live in an apartment, so it's just not worth it to clean early. It gets everywhere. I do the bedrooms first, slowly, then the toys, and living room about two weeks before. I do the kitchen cabinets slowly too. No major burden, we eat normally, but food must stay in the kitchen and hands washed before we leave.
I turn over about 4-7 days before Pesach, all in one night, and slowly cook/shop that week. After that, chametz is for the pizza store and outside our building.

It's not that big a deal.