Teach me how to cook in advance

amother

Thu, Jun 06 2019, 8:32 pm

I’ve thrown in the towel. I give up. I’m never doing this again.
I just spent 8 hours on my feet cooking in my kitchen and my back is killing. My feet are killing. My arms are aching. My fingers are even hurting!
I can’t do cooking marathons anymore. I’m done.

Please teach me how to cook in advance and freeze. The only thing I freeze is challah and cake.

amother

Jetblack

Thu, Jun 06 2019, 8:42 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I’m a huge freezer person. I freeze
Raw marinated cutlets
Raw stuffed chicken legs
Raw stuffed Capons
Cooked slices meat in sauce
Raw marinated London broil
Cooked meatballs
Raw breaded Shnitzel

Orzo
Farfel
Bow ties and cabbage
Potato kugel
Salt and pepper kugel
All veggie Kugel
All knishes

All soups
All sauces for pasta or chicken

Half baked pizza
Quiche fully baked
Ziti and lasagna baked

Challah
Cookies
Cakes

Ice cream and all desserts

Cheesecake

amother

Navy

Thu, Jun 06 2019, 8:46 pm

amother [ Jetblack ] wrote:

Not everyone has the freezer space for all of that!

PinkFridge

Thu, Jun 06 2019, 8:49 pm

Amother navy, if I wouldn't have freezer space, I'd probably take short cuts like box mixes for starches, etc.

amother

Lawngreen

Thu, Jun 06 2019, 9:01 pm

most soups freeze beautifully. same with cooked meats in sauce

amother

Thu, Jun 06 2019, 9:06 pm

Do you defrost chicken prepare it and then freeze again?
When do you make these things?
Do you do 1-2 things per day?

When do you start cooking for a yom tov?
Vegetable dishes you do fresh right?
When and how do you defrost cooked things?

I have a huge freezer space but I fill it with challah and cakes.

sky

Thu, Jun 06 2019, 9:09 pm

Chicken and meat I bake before freezing. This way I don’t have to think about baking before yom tov.

Soups freeze great.

Kugels.

Today and tomorrow I only have baby potatoes and roasted vegetables and quinoa - and a few other things.

I work full time so I do a lot of Sunday evenings. Like fleishig day, milchig, pareve, baking. Etc.

flowerpower

Thu, Jun 06 2019, 9:19 pm

Don’t do all in one day. Start two weeks before and make 1-2 things a night. Of course you’re collapsing! Now take a cold drink and relax on the couch a bit.

I only make food that freezes well. I like myself too much to kill myself.

thunderstorm

Thu, Jun 06 2019, 9:22 pm

flowerpower wrote:

This. I make 1-2 dishes a day

amother

Crimson

Thu, Jun 06 2019, 9:36 pm

Every yom tov has it's own warning signal of some kind.

For Shavuos, I started late this year, on Lag B'omer. But I try to start the week of Lag B'Omer. For Pesach, I start the day after Purim. For Rosh Hashana, I start cooking about a week or so after elul begins, and I make double of everything so that it can be for succos.

KEEP YOUR MENUS. I pull them out and mix and match, so I don't have to reinvent the wheel.

Each day I make one or two things. Thursday night, if I'm making for shabbos already, I'll make double - one for shabbos and one to freeze. (Shamor and Zachor, indeed).

First, I make a list of about four soups. I make one a night.

Next, when I go shopping for meat, I immediately toss it in a marinade when I get home, and freeze. I stuff chicken, and freeze.

Desserts are next. I make two types of cookies, and freeze. Do you have a kitchen aid? A child over ten? They can learn how to make the cookies. It's not that hard. You can even make the dough the day before and put in the fridge, and then bake them the next. That way it doesn't feel like so much. I tend to make simpler desserts that I can plate well. Have some pareve ice cream or whip in the fridge or freezer and put it on top of simple chocolate cake or brownies, etc.

I don't make lots of dessert, and I don't make kugels. I'd rather roast potatoes or broccoli than broccoli and potato kugel. Those are much simpler and take five minutes. Open a bag of broccoli, toss on a sheet, done. Slice yukon golds without peeling, throw salt and pepper, etc, done. I do freeze galettes.

Sometimes, I'll make components of things. Like a bbq sauce to freeze or a dough I'll use later (pizza dough, galette dough, topping for a crisp that I can just throw onto berries or sliced apples). These things are so ubiquitous and easy that I'll make double and have it in a bag in the freezer to pull out. I'll freeze pizza dough in smaller rolls so that I can take just what I need.

Serious don't are: babkas (I know they're all the rage right now, but they're super labor intensive), kugels (sooo much work. And for those women who insist that hand-grating is the only way to go, you're absolutely nuts), layer cakes (no one ever really likes them that much. Don't get me started on the three to five layer cheesecakes I'm seeing people do. It's just too much sweetness and sugar, and I'm a huge sugar junkie), and three layer gefilte fish.