The summer is nearly over and we are headed for that most awe-inspiring and holy season. Back-to-back spiritually cleansing and uplifting days for nearly a month straight. When it comes to food, it is also one of my favorite times of the year.
There are so many special foods that we make, from the honey cake on Rosh Hashanah, to the Erev Yom Kippur kreplach, to the stuffed cabbage celebrating the miracles of Sukkot. But all of that food has to be cooked and baked, which means that we have almost a complete month of meal preparation. It is like preparing Thanksgiving dinner over and over again, sometimes 18 times or more, all in the span of one month. So much cooking! How can you make yom tov cooking a more pleasant and less insane experience? Here are three of my favorite, simple techniques that help me survive yom tov cooking season:
1. Plan out your meals. Knowing what dishes you are planning to make will help you in a few ways. It will help you streamline your shopping, which will also help you save money on groceries. You will spend less on extra items that you don’t end up using, because you knew what you needed ahead of time. You can also shop around a little for better prices if you aren’t doing a run-and-grab through the grocery store right before yom tov. And it will also help you to successfully utilize my next technique better.
2. Double and Freeze. Begin to double the dishes that you are making (the freezer-safe ones of course; don’t double your lettuce salad). Making chicken for Shabbos? Make a second pan at the same time. It won’t take much extra effort and you will have a meal to freeze for yom tov. Less cooking later. And if you have picky eaters who don’t like freezer meals, some dishes can be frozen while raw. This allows for that freshly cooked feeling while saving yourself from insanity, because you prepared it ahead of time, but cooked it right before yom tov.
3. Simplify. Make simpler dishes that taste great but require less effort and preparation (my cookbook is loaded with them!). And make fewer dishes. Your meals don’t have to have lots of options. Make only a few, but delicious, dishes per meal and you will have less cooking to do.
With planning, doubling and freezing, and simplifying, you won’t just survive yom tov cooking, you may even enjoy it!
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