With a newborn in the house, I gotta have a plan. If not, no one eats. Well, no one eats anything except snack food and cereal.
In my nesting phase, I cooked, baked and froze a ton of food. A chest-freezer full amount of food. Thanks to this frenzy of food-making, I am able to feed my family for close to a month with meals from the freezer. Whatever food I do make fresh will be extremely simple. And that’s (partially) how I keep my postpartum sanity.
As a fun project, this month, I made the menu plan pretty and hung it on the fridge.
I got tired of having to print the plans out from my computer. This method works better. An added bonus – as I was making my pretty menu project, I realized that there are two fast days, the Three Weeks AND the Nine Days this month. Good thing I noticed that, since I had originally scheduled to serve two meat meals during the Nine Days and regular meals on the fast days. Oops.
Here’s the skinny on the menu (anything in italics means the meal comes from my beautiful, beautiful deep freeze):
Week One
- Sunday, the 1st: meatballs and rice.
- Monday, the 2nd: squash soup, bean salad, orzo
- Tuesday, the 3rd: salmon, potatoes
- Wednesday, the 4th: sautéed chicken, rice, green salad
- Thursday, the 5th: cheesy noodle casserole, tomato salad
- Friday, the 6th: tuna patties, salads, corn kugel, beer beef stew, ice cream
- Shabbos, the 7th: all of that, minus the stew, plus cholent (most likely vegetarian cholent, since my husband doesn’t like to eat meat too many days in a row).
Week Two
- Sunday, the 8th: fast of The 17th of Tammuz (observed). We’ll break the fast with leftovers.
- Monday, the 9th: French roast, carrot kugel
- Tuesday, the 10th: tilapia, california salad, rice
- Wednesday, the 11th: borscht, potatoes, coleslaw
- Thursday, the 12th: cheese blintzes, green salad
- Friday, the 13th: salads, broccoli kugel, sautéed chicken, ice cream
- Shabbos, the 14th: everything but the chicken, plus cholent
Week Three
- Sunday, the 15th: leftovers, glorious leftovers
- Monday, the 16th: roasted tomato soup, faux potato kugel, green salad
- Tuesday, the 17th: the same
- Wednesday, the 18th: Italian pot roast, green salad
- Thursday, the 19th: burritos with spinach, cheese, tomato and bean filling, corn salad
- Friday, the 20th (Rosh Chodesh Av): salads, fish, corn kugel, sautéed chicken, ice cream
- Shabbos, the 21st: the same, minus the chicken, plus cholent, a small, small cholent.
Week Four (the Nine Days)
- Sunday, the 22nd: tuna patties, corn salad, potatoes
- Monday, the 23rd: bean and cheese burritos, salad
- Tuesday, the 24th: fish, rice
- Wednesday, the 25th: caramelized shallots, chickpeas and orzo
- Thursday, the 26th: cheesy noodle casserole, salad
- Friday, the 27th: salads, broccoli kugel, beer beef stew, ice cream
- Shabbos, the 28th: the same, minus the stew, plus a teensy, potentially vegetarian cholent
“Week” Five
- Sunday, the 29th: Tisha B’Av observed. For the break fast, roasted tomato soup and leftovers (not meat, though)
- Monday, the 30th: salmon, rice
- Tuesday, the 31st: french roast, caramelized shallots, potatoes
And there you have it. Yummy dinners, minimal preparation. Ahhhhh (that was a sigh of relief, not a shriek of anguish, ftr). If you’re interested, the cookbooks I mainly used for these meals were: Fresh and Easy Kosher Cooking, Kosher by Design Lightens Up, Spice and Spirit, Hadassah Jewish Holiday Cookbook, Kosher by Design Short on Time, and Quick and Kosher.
What are you making for the Nine Days? What are some of your favorite freezer meals?
And, just because, here’s a picture of the girl in pink:
Rivki Silver ~ thoughts & music 
The menu is pretty but I like the magnet at the top left corner better. Lol
haha, it’s the small things, right?
Wow ! What an organization Rivki ! it’s quite amazing ! i don’t know if I’d be able to do so much in your condition…
Thanks for all the ideas you gave me for the nine days (I’m always wondering what to cook during those nine days ^^).
Beautiful picture of your little cute girl !
Thanks, Lucie Esther! Cooking during the nine days can definitely be a challenge. I like to browse some kosher cooking blogs for ideas.
Holy Crowley, Rivki! You are so organized! I have a request. Do you have a recipe for cholent? I’d like to try doing that in the hot pot, I assume? I want your beautiful, beautiful deep freezer.
They don’t call me type triple-A for nothing! I am madly, madly in love with that freezer. It is a life-saver. As for the cholent, this is how I usually make it:
~4-6 potatoes, quartered or sixthed (yeah, that’s probably not a word);
~1/2 cup barley or rice;
~one whole onion. You can cut it up if you so desire. I leave it whole b/c we like the flavor, but my husband doesn’t like to eat the onion pieces so much;
~1 lb or so of stew meat. Flanken is also yummy, but it’s a bit fattier.
~3-4 carrots (only sometimes do I include these, usually if they’re in my fridge and will be going to waste if I don’t use them up);
~spices, usually one of these combos: (1) salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika; (2) salt, pepper, coriander; (3) salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, sage, rosemary. I don’t measure, just pour them in very liberally;
~water to cover;
~sometimes I add tomato paste or ketchup, but usually I don’t.
I spray the crockpot w/Pam, place the onion in the middle, surround it with the potatoes and meat (and carrot, if applicable), pour the barley (or rice) over top, add the spices. Then I cover all that with water. If I put up the cholent in the morning, I’ll set it on low, if in the afternoon, I’ll set it on high and turn it to low before candlelighting. Those amounts should probably be enough cholent for four adults. It feeds us on Shabbos, and we almost always have leftovers. Enjoy!
Yum! I am all over that! Thanks, Rivki! Good Shabbos!
oh, how I wish I could be this organized. My dream is to have a fully stocked freezer so i can spend my time making fun stuff that are time-consuming and terribly impractical.
kudos for being on top of your game! (and having time to share)
It’s a beautiful dream, one I share. My days of making fun, potchke-esque recipes are currently on hiatus. For a long time, probably. Sigh…
I can only concur with the exclamations of organized Baale Busteh! I don’t think I’ve ever been that organized in any condition. We don’t eat fleishigs much during the week anyway (today is an exception because my husband is home & couldn’t wait to grill!), so the nine days aren’t too different than our usual menu. We do lots of pasta, eggs, veggies & one weekly fish night. The girl in pink is adorable! :)
We keep saying that we should get a grill. I guess we should probably get a house first… minor details. The only reason we have such a high amount of meat on the menu is that my MIL (love her) sent us a gigantic slab of meat. So I thawed it and made an astounding amount of meals, and then froze them. There are at least two or three more meat meals that aren’t even listed on this meal plan. Amazing.