How to manage switching back and forth meat and dairy

amother

Magenta

Mon, May 14 2018, 8:05 am

I'm curious how other families manage the switch on shavuos. I feel like this holiday is a practicum on keeping a kosher kitchen. At least on pesach the chometz stays away. Here, I've got chalav and bassar issues all yom tov.

How do you kept it separated? When do you wash up? How do you manage your kitchen over YT?

Thank you!

Last edited by amother on Thu, Oct 25 2018, 7:13 am; edited 1 time in total

cuties' mom

Mon, May 14 2018, 8:19 am

We use plastic for milchigs on shavuos for that reason. Shabbos will be fleishig. The first night will be milchig but everything will be cooked beforehand and just need to be warmed up. While dh and ods are in shul, I will clear off my stove, (I use a blech on Shabbos obviously, so I just need to take off any empty pots that were left on the blech due to lack of space and find room for it,) warm everything up once blech is put away, and set the table with disposables. If there is still time, I will start washing as much of the fleishig dishes as possible since I will be using them for lunch. Otherwise, I won't be able to wash my milchig frying pan, which I use to warm up my blintzes, and I leave it dirty overnight on my milchig counter. (The other pots should still have food since I serve the same thing both night meals.) The next day, we have fleishigs again, but other than the dirty frying pan on my milchig counter, there is nothing milchig around, having thrown out the disposable tablecloth the night before. During shul at night, I see if I have time to wash my fleishig dishes in the sink for the last day's lunch, otherwise, I wash the frying pan in the bathroom. (There were some years that I left the frying pan covered in the fridge instead so I don't have to wash it in the bathroom, but I don't usually have room in my fridge for an empty frying pan. Do what works for you.)

studying_torah

Mon, May 14 2018, 10:51 am

Why does everything have to be packed away before you can get out the other food?
Why not do all the meat meals first, then the dairy ones the last night and day, instead of alternating meat and dairy?
Or do parve, including dessert.

If your kids complain, let them help you out, or use plastic, or make simpler meals.
Please don't ruin your tom tov stressing about this, it's not worthwhile.

Rutabaga

Mon, May 14 2018, 11:22 am

Am I missing something? If you clean up after each meal then what's the issue?

We're having meat meals Friday night and Shabbos lunch and then pareve for shaleshudis. Motzai Shabbos will be dairy, as will Sunday night. The lunches will be meat. We'll use dishes for all meals except perhaps for shaleshudis. The dishes will be washed, dried, and put away after each meal except for Monday lunch when they'll go in the dishwasher.

I keep things very organized in the fridge. Everything gets made in foil pans that can be stacked for maximum use of space. Everything is labeled very clearly. Salads get stored in ziplock bags. It may not be environmentally friendly but it keeps me sane.

Ema of 5

Mon, May 14 2018, 12:01 pm

boogiebabe wrote:

I'm curious how other families manage the switch on shavuos. I feel like this holiday is a practicum on keeping a kosher kitchen. At least on pesach the chometz stays away. Here, I've got chalav and bassar issues all yom tov.

I have one kitchen, it's a nice size bh but not separate. On yom tov we eat on dishes. I've done Shavuos 20 years and it drives me crazy with the multiple switchng between meat and milk each year.

This year, I plan 2 shabbos meals meat.
Next 2 dairy meals followed by 2 meat meals. The magnitude of washing and cleaning in my kitchen is overwhelming. I live in the kitchen even if I cook before YT. It all has to be put away before the next meal, silverware, dishes, glasses, serveware, leftovers, salads. My fridge is stuffed as well.

I kerp trying new ideas. In the past, I have done dairy with kiddush on the porch followed by a meat meal in the dining room. Sometimes I do just the first meal dairy, which the kids protest, they want to butter the challah. We've also served a pareve fish meal on meat dishes, cleared and served dairy dessert. I've traifed silverware over this multiple times. And we must keep the challa and salads served at the table for the milk meals separate from meat meals as well.

Even those serving dairy only on shavuos have challenges this year because it follows shabbos.

How do you kept it separated? When do you wash up? How do you manage your kitchen over YT? I'm really not looking forward to stacks of plates and glasses or continuous washing.

I'm sure imamothers have at least 3 genius ideas that would help me. Yes, I've considered paper, have older kids to help. I'd love to put it in place, but need a system. What's yours?

Thank you!

I have two ovens and two sinks, so that makes it a little easier. But even when I didn’t have two sinks or two ovens, it wasn’t really so complicated. We served and ate with all plastic, so there wasn’t much left to clean up or wash after the meal. Whatever we ate got wrapped 2x.
Also, I cook everything in advance, except sometimes sauces that need to be made on the stove.

mommyhood

Mon, May 14 2018, 12:25 pm

Rutabaga wrote:

I don't wash dishes on Shabbos or yontif after a day meal unless I need them for that afternoon, we consider it preparing for the next day. It would have to wait until after I betnch licht.

Bnei Berak 10

Mon, May 14 2018, 12:51 pm

studying_torah wrote:

I was also wondering about the bolded above. Scratching Head

amother

Blue

Mon, May 14 2018, 1:46 pm

It takes a lot to actually treif your silverware. Using a meat spoon to eat your cheesecake doesn't qualify.

I guess I wonder what you normally do on YT, and why it's so different now. Either way, you will have to wash up dishes, clean the table and put away food before setting up the next meal. Doesn't that happen regardless of which dishes you plan to use for the next meal?

amother

Mint

Mon, May 14 2018, 2:21 pm

Rutabaga wrote:

Am I missing something? If you clean up after each meal then what's the issue?

.

My thoughts exactly. OP Don’t you switch back and forth on weekdays? I have a milchik blech that I use to reheat food on yomtovim , only because I don’t want to keep more than one small burner going, and it would take forever to heat up a YT meal one pot at a time. So I pile multiple pots on the blech in the a.m. and by lunchtime it’s all toasty. Oh, well, I cook most dishes in advance so they just need to be reheated, not cooked from scratch. That would take all week on a single small “simmer” burner.