Help me make shabbos!!

ra_mom

Mon, Jul 15 2024, 8:20 am

For this week:
Soak cholent beans and then freeze with seasoning Monday.
Chicken soup Tuesday (use croutons this week)
Fish Wednesday.
Eggs Thursday. Plus season and refrigerate chicken and whole mini red potatoes on Thursday.
Place chicken and potatoes in oven Friday along with a sheet pan of frozen broccoli. Also add barley, water, and meat to cholent beans and turn on crockpot.

Going forward:
On Wednesday night make one thing in bulk so you're only cooking these things on rotation every 4 weeks.

Soak beans for 4 weeks and freeze.
Cook lokshen and freeze.
Cook chicken soup and freeze.

You can cook farfel and freeze instead of potatoes.
You can cook kugel and freeze if that's the side dish you want.
You can season chicken in pans for many weeks and freeze.

Some people cook gefilte fish, remove paper, drain, pat dry with paper towel, wrap in dry paper towel, then in foil, and seal in ziploc bags. Defrost fully night before in fridge and use.

Goldie613

Mon, Jul 15 2024, 8:26 am

Not sure if this will help, but honestly, I'd say pretend you don't have Friday to get ready. Aim to have everything done by Thursday, that way whatever went off schedule you can do on Friday, because that is now your back up day.

Besides that? An old trick is to make double of whatever you cook that week, so that you are not trying to cook everything every week. So, week one you make double the kugel, freeze whatever you are not using for the following week. Then week two, make (for example) double the chicken - again, freezing the extra for another week. This way you are doing less dishes each week, hopefully freeing up time.

Don't leave laundry for the end of the week (I am soooo often guilty of this and regret it every time). Aim for Wednesday at the latest, unless you really feel like you have the time to put one tiny load in on Friday (for myself, it just doesn't work well, but YMMV)

Try to figure out at the beginning of the week what you ran out of on Shabbos, so you are not leaving your Shabbos shopping for Thursday. Yes, I can see leaving cake or veggies for then, but most things can be earlier in the week. Though if you are comfortable with online shopping, I would say just do your Shabbos shopping online - some of the store websites even let you just reorder the same order as the last time you shopped, so you won't even have to go hunting again for all your basics. Plus with your kids so little you won't have to take them out shopping.

Tinfoil pans are your friend - less pots to wash! Plus then you don't have to keep a close eye on your stove, you can just stick pans (covered/uncovered/whatever) in the oven and ignore until the right time.

yachnabobba

Mon, Jul 15 2024, 9:03 am

Buy gefilte fish. You need two slices. Not worth your time to make it
Add chicken and baby carrots and salt and water into a pot. Boil. Voila chicken soup
Buy frozen knneidel
Make rice in a 9x13 when it’s ready throw in a can of peas and carrots drained
Open a bag of frozen broccoli put it on the blech
Baked apples.
Your Friday night seuda in under twenty minutes
Boil eggs
Buy liver
Instruct husband to make cholent
Leave cook book recipes for another time in your lifr

amother

Gardenia

Mon, Jul 15 2024, 10:34 am

Are you home on Sundays and would it work for you to spend time then prepping for Shabbos? I have been married many years and always worked full time. More Shabbos prep gets done on Sundays then on Fridays. My kids are now older, but when they were little my husband would entertain them for a few hours so that I could get a head start on the week. I agree with others about rotating cooking in bulk and freezing, so you don't have to do everything every week. One Sunday I bake challah and desserts only, the next Sunday is chicken soup and kneidalach, next is a bunch of kugels/muffins - all making sufficient quantities for 3-4 Shabboses. Your freezer will become your best friend!

bakingmom

Mon, Jul 15 2024, 11:05 am

yachnabobba wrote:

amother

Broom ↓

Mon, Jul 15 2024, 11:29 am

yachnabobba wrote:

This
Make Shabbos easier
Challah- dump a bunch of Rhodes frozen dinner rolls in a mold, defrost, bake

Friday Night
Gefilta Fish or Salmon
Bag of lettuce or coleslaw DOLE
Heart of palm salad - heart of palm baby tomato avocado salt olive oil lemon
Canned slice Beets drizzled with Tehina
Jar of mashed eggplant mix with garlic and Mayo
Israeli pickles
Baby corn
Baby carrots
Tehina

Chicken and rice Cassarole -or
Flanken and canned potato

Roasted cauliflower or broccoli
Dessert
Icecream and cookies made from store bought frozen dough

Shabbat Day
Everything mentioned above plus
Cholent - just dump everything in a lined crockpot
If you really need - deli, chicken fingers, and kugel from take out

Do EVERYTHING Thursday night-
Friday is for cleaning the house, laundry, and setting the table

amother

Camellia

Mon, Jul 15 2024, 11:38 am

Do you have cleaning help?
I have her spend 1/2 hr or less prepping all my vegetables. It is a life saver and saves meso much work

Peels 7 lb potatos - chicken and kugel
Peels soup veggies
Peels veggies for roasting
peels apples for kugels or compote
Cleans green beans

It takes her a fraction of the time it takes me bec she works uninterrupted. And just prepping to food after is so much faster.

amother

Eggshell

Mon, Jul 15 2024, 11:53 am

It says in the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch that Thursday should be for laundry and not on friday.
In any event, I make sure to wash the Shabbos laundry right away in the beginning of the week so that it will be ready for Shabbos.
There's a really good book that helps you do this step by step. It's written by women for women. I can't seem to remember the name.
It guides you to prepare throughout the week so that it's not that hectic on friday.
Soak your beans wednesday, peel your potatoes and vegetables a day earlier and keep in a bowl with water in the fridge.
Bake your cakes/desserts/ices on Monday or Tuesday.
Bottom line is, don't leave it all till the end of the week.
Go shopping earlier so that you have the items in your home.
It will bring brocho into your home and eternity. Lots of hatzlocha!

amother

Pistachio

Mon, Jul 15 2024, 12:00 pm

I have a few rules- no baking past Wednesday, no dishes that need a mixer past Wednesday. That way it’s less coming at the end of the week and less complicated dirty dishes.

Bake everything in doubles or triples and freeze. Salmon in liquid you can freeze as well. Thursday I set aside an hour or two at night and finish up the rest.
Roast some veggies, put chicken in the oven with a quick sauce, do a variation of roasted potatoes. Use a baked side and baked desert and challah from freezer stash. Soup and Chulent veg get chopped all at once and prepped.

amother

DarkYellow

Mon, Jul 15 2024, 1:04 pm

Pick one time a week (either Sunday or a weeknight after kids are asleep) for bulk baking- enough for 3 or 4 weeks of cookies/ small pans of cake/ meat borkeas/ deli roll/ whatever you eat for shabbos lunch. Freeze it in enough for 1 shabbos and on Friday you pull out a dessert and a lunch food. If you bake challah do that once a month and freeze.

Soup can go in an instant pot or crockpot Friday morning. Baby carrots instead of peeling and cutting saves a lot of time.

I prepare the chicken in the pan while it's still frozen, stick it in my oven and let it defrost during the day and set the oven to turn on at 2 so I come home to the cookd chicken.