How do people afford to make Pesach?

amother

Babypink

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 2:37 pm

OP once you have all the utensils and dishes bought, its an easier bullet to swallow, if you're careful not to overspend on food. Make simple menus and shopping lists before you go the grocery, and just buy whats on your list.
As far as the dishes and utensils-we started off with very very little, and every year bought something new. My first year I bought 3 really cheap pots, a few mixing spoons, a spatula, a potato peeler, 3 knives, 5 bowls and a few other things. I didnt make potato kugel until a few pesachs in when I bought the food processor. Next year im going to get the hand mixer, etc.

gamanit

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 2:40 pm

amother [ Babypink ] wrote:

Agree but wanted to add that you can start with even less than that. I started with one peeler, one knife, one frying pan and one pot. The rest was inexpensive plastic. The next year black friday we purchased a set of pots. the next year a set of dishes. Each year we add on a little bit.

amother

Emerald

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 2:54 pm

I really like the Dave Ramsey approach to this. Pesach comes every year with it's expenses, as do all the Yomim Tovim. Some months don't have any Yom tov expenses and some months are swamped. So every month we put the same amount of money into the Yom tov fund and from there we pay all the special Yom tov expenses like lulav and esrog, menorah supplies, shalach Manos, the extra food needed for meals as well as all pesach expenses. That way it doesn't put an enormous strain on our budget that month and we can be calm about spending the extra money.

amother

Wine

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 2:54 pm

How do we afford it?
1 as others said now is not the time for new clothes. The kids can still wear their winter outfits especially at night and usually I get at least one hand me down or some clothes fit from last summer. I buy basics like new white shirts, yarmulkas, tzitzis, and maybe one outfit per kid. When things start to go on sale in a month they'll get more.
2 many people go to their parents for this very reason (not the cleaning)
3 yes to not buying it all in one year. And not needing the best supplies. My first year I got a pan, and a few utensils from the dollar store. ( We ate out most meals)
4 making simple dishes not the ones that call for almond flour and the like.
Potatoes and eggs don't go up in price.
5 yes to using disposables. Especially if your family is small I find the yt much more enjoyable when I'm not washing dishes all the time.

With an income of 125 and 3 kids we are able to save around 1000 a month. On months with big yomim tovim we are ok not to save. I don't see why you are so tight at 135 with 2 kids.

watergirl

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 2:59 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I think what I’m doing wrong, and I’m realizing from this thread, is that I need to save for Yom Tov. I guess we’re fairly new at making Yom Tov so haven’t been thinking about it smartly.

Thats what you got out of this thread? People have been sharing how they keep costs from skyrocketing. Who is saying to save?

amother

Coral

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 3:03 pm

Things I do that help keeps cost down.

1. A couple of years ago I started keeping lists of what I purchased, what I cooked and what we actually used. I actually typed up my grocery list, what dishes/utensils I had and what I cooked and how I scheduled the cooking/cleaning. Then at the end of the holiday I made notes. I.e. on items I bought and we did not use I wrote not used so I did not waste money on it anymore. On items we used and needed more of I noted we ate a lot and buy more next year. This has made pesach a lot easier and cut down food costs a lot. Cream cheese is $6 for a small tub, it helps to know if I need it and exactly how many.

2. Try to cook using items that don't need special kosher for pesach kashrus and are thus cheaper/regular price, like fresh veggies, regular & sweet potatoes and fish/chicken. For chol hamoed we have omelettes for breakfast, for our main meal I make a potato rosti/giant latke with a protien like a peice of shnitzel or a roasted veg like roasted broccoli or asparagus; matza ball soup with veggies or matza kugel with ground beef (this is like a giant matza ball in a baking dish and you spread mushrooms or cooked ground beef on top). All snacks are fruit or cake. I make cakes, my recipe is mostly eggs with a little potato starch, comes out very good.

3. Buy dishes/pots/utensils for pesach on black friday. You can get some great deals and if you keep a list of what you have/what you need it will be easier. Last year I bought a 6 pot set for $25 and I will have them for years to come, I am just using them a week a year!

4. We buy 1 new clothing item for each person for Pesach and usually we purchase it months in advance and set it aside for pesach so the expense is not at the same time as all the food items.

I hope that helps.

amother

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 3:09 pm

watergirl wrote:

Thats what you got out of this thread? People have been sharing how they keep costs from skyrocketing. Who is saying to save?

Sorry let me clarify. Someone commented that she would like to help me spend my money more responsibly. Even with everyone’s posts on how to save money, it still feels expensive to me. So the conclusion I came to is that it would be wise to try to save money.

amother

Salmon

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 3:18 pm

My food costs are pretty much the same as normal weeks. We eat lots of fruit, vegtables, and meat anyway. I don't buy junk. DH got pesach snacks at Costco. I make much of what I eat from scratch during the year.

I have a lot of storage and a Pesach kitchen. We bought in bulk years ago and still have non-Perishables.

I don't buy new clothes unless we need.

Only schmura matzoh is different. Must is given to us by a friend that makes.

amother

Violet

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 4:12 pm

We buy needed items for Pesach as I find them throughout the year, including shoes, clothing, utensils, I keep lists.
Food costs more, between wine and Shmura Matza
We only use items prepared at home, so we only buy produce and protein pretty much, this is for minhag reasons, not financial.

Despite cutting down deeply, still cost more than we can usually afford, I believe we somehow make it every year due to being repaid for yom tov.

We also don't do Pizza or takeout before Pesach because everyone else is.
We don't do big ticket Chol hamoed, we keep it simple and cheap family time.

amother

Cerise

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 4:28 pm

amother [ Salmon ] wrote:

It still costs me a fortune.

Let's say I'm making chicken marsala. Chicken costs about the same; so do mushrooms. But I'm going to need to purchase some sort of flour or potato starch to coat the chicken. New cooking wine or wine. New oil. Spices (which I do save year to year.)

New lemon juice for my salmon. New ketchup for my brisket.

Not to mention what that Pesach kitchen costs you. You had to purchase a home big enough to accommodate two kitchens. Hook up water lines for a sink. Purchase double appliances. It probably costs hundreds a year.

gamanit

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 4:31 pm

amother [ Cerise ] wrote:

Not to mention what that Pesach kitchen costs you. You had to purchase a home big enough to accommodate two kitchens. Hook up water lines for a sink. Purchase double appliances. It probably costs hundreds a year.

Wait what? Why do you need two kitchens? We kasher/cover everything. double coverings for areas where we're afraid cover might come off. We don't really have major appliances. We got some cheapies black friday like mixer and blender for $10. We kasher our oven and line our sink.

amother

Mauve

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 4:44 pm

This pesach is costing me a fortune. I just did my non-perishable and meet shopping and a cost me $1,100. We are a family of five and we will be away chol hamoed. I definitely splurge on certain things. But everything adds up, my kids like a certain cookie with maple syrup I make tons of those, each bottle of maple syrup cost me $12. I bought five. also I took into account, that I do the baking for my mother's entire family and I just bought the ingredients even though I could have taken for my mother. I defenitely could have cut down though.
I did not do my fresh shopping yet. I will do that next week. I do not expect it to cost me a fortune though.

as far as kitchen stuff, each year I buy more stuff that I would think I will need. this year I bought dishes that were on sale a service of 8 for $40 I bought service for 24 so it will last me for a bunch of years hopefully. I also bought myself a new food processor because the past few years I had to borrow my mothers. Bh we are comfortable and were able to buy the stuff we want.

I do not take clothing into consideration of my pesach expenses. that's something that I will have to buy anyways whether we have a yom tov or not. So happens to be I bought myself two dresses, and I bought my daughter two dresses, total of $70, and my two boys I bought on sale last year when they were 70% off.

We will be away chol hamoed do I did buy a bunch of snacks And food to take along since it will be a 7 hour drive from our house so that's where some of the food budget went.

amother

Teal

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 4:44 pm

amother [ Cerise ] wrote:

This would be a great survey item. How many people have a dedicated Pesach Kitchen.

curlyhead

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 5:02 pm

Pesach comes every year so it is expected expense. This year list exactly how much you spent on Pesach and then start saving up for next year either put money aside every paycheck or If you get extra money such as a bonus put it in a separate account.
Pesach is expensive. The thing I splurge on the most is cleaning help.
I do find I ended up buying more meat and plastic goods which last me more then just pesach so take that into account. Clothing you need anyway - so not really Pesach expense. Clothing you can buy in advance like february. Not everyone gets new yomtov clothing just those who needs.

amother

Fuchsia

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 5:10 pm

I don’t make pesach. And we still struggle! We buy new clothes /shoes as needed, sheitle wash & sets, new suits, every few yrs hat or kapote... the seasons usually change right around pesach, and /or winter stuff is worn out & at its tail end, not appropriate for Yom Tov.

We also have travel expenses, which we try to keep as low as possible. I.e. drive vs. fly whichever is cheaper.

Plus although we are away we still buy a lot of food. We have more chumros then our hosts, our kids are very particular eaters (and little so we can’t just leave them to ‘deal’), plus our hosts usually make the official seudos, but breakfast / lunch & some suppers everyone’s kinda expected to take care of their own families, welcome to use food by our hosts but we usually need to fill in a lot.

Honestly my biggest fear of making pesach one day iyh is the financial, even more then all the cleaning & cooking!

tichellady

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 5:38 pm

amother [ Mauve ] wrote:

Do you mind sharing the maple cookie recipe? Sounds yummy

SixOfWands

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 5:58 pm

JoyInTheMorning wrote:

Who makes Kosher L'Pesach maple syrup? Are you talking about imitation maple syrup or real maple syrup? The stores here (out of town) don't carry a brand that's okay for Pesach.

Someone does, but I don't know who. I picked up a bottle when shopping, gasped at the price, and carefully returned it to the shelf.