My Experience Surviving in the Kitchen during Ramadhan
As we are celebrating Aidilfitri, I still want to write about Ramadhan =)
Well, this post serves as a reminiscence for me to manage my time wisely and to be a better home manager =) Well, you see, it's not easy to run a household. I even think that it's easier to run an office, because you have all the resources to assist you - when you want to solve an issue or to make an important decision you can call for a meeting and discuss about the options and what not.
But when it's totally a different story when it comes to your own household. Decisions have to be made almost all the time and it must be very quick. One of the most frequent decisions to make is "What to have for dinner?" And MH, being a thoughtful person that he always is, will answer my question with a simple "Tak kisahlah, you masak je apa-apa". Thaankkksss...
So you can imagine my nervousness as we enter Ramadhan, where time is scarce and (good) food is expected to be on the table, on time. The fact that I'm not only an amateur in cooking, but also slow in the kitchen was not helpful at all! I like to call my style of cooking like a host of a cooking show - I'll put every ingredients on the table, then only I will start cooking. I will also look up to the recipe from time to time, just to make sure that I do it right. Cooking under the pressure of time is really not my kind of stuff!
So, I have to find ways to make the some-what impossible, become possible. Getting organized is the key here. I knew that I had to start somewhere. My aimed was to provide home-cooked meals as much as I could because it is cleaner, healthier and also economic =)
My tip #1, is to to use Weekly Meals Planner. I'd been meaning to use it since forever, but for some reasons, it had always been a 'projek terbengkalai'. No commitment. But last Ramadhan, I made it a point to do the planning every Monday during lunch break. It was just a simple spread, but little did I know that it could be very useful!
I found that a simple practice of preparing my family weekly meals' planner has saved me a lot of time, energy and not forgetting some money! First, was because I didn't have to think of what to cook everyday. I needed to do the 'thinking' once a week (when I was making the plan) and stick the planner on the fridge. For the rest of the week I just follow what was written on the planner. Secondly, with this practice I managed to avoid wastage because I know exactly what was in my fridge, especially the perishable item. So, when I cook, I gave the priority in cooking it earlier. Thirdly, the planner also help to guide me when I did my grocery shopping because I knew exactly what to look for at the market. Otherwise my shopping basket would be full with so many things that sometimes ended up being in the trash bin because I forgot that I had them in my fridge!
Tip #2 is preparation. As I mentioned earlier, I'm an amateur in cooking, so preparation also mean getting the recipes ready and studied the recipe before hand =)
And also because I know what to cook in advance with the help of the planner, the preparation came easy. Before I went to sleep, I already did some preparation for sahur. Like removing the items from the freezer to the chiller, cutting the veggies, take out the steamer from the storage etc. I usually woke up for sahur at about 4.30 - 5 a.m. to cook simple dishes. Alhamdulillah, even though it was very simple, we didn't missed sahur this year.
However, my prep work didn't stop there. After sahur, while waiting for Subuh prayer, I started preparing for iftar. I did the cutting & marinating part, put it in small plastic containers and put it in the chiller. So that when I got back from work, I didn't need to wait for it to defrost. All I need to do was to take it out from the fridge and put it in the pan. Real time saver!
I also learned that left overs were very useful! Here comes tip #3, to make full use of the left overs! There were times when I over estimated the amount of sambal for ikan berlada for instance, so I kept the left over sambal in the fridge and use it next time by turning it into sambal telur. Just put in the boiled egg and voila, you got yourself a different menu already! I also 're-cycled' left over curry from iftar to be eaten with instant roti canai for sahur. Who knows one can be very creative with left overs!
Alhamdulillah, I could say that except for a few eating-out for iftar invitations, family gatherings and 3-4 visits to Bazaar Ramadhan, almost 80 percent of our sahur and iftar meals are #homecooked and I managed to get everything ready by the time azan Maghrib! Hooray for beginner like me! But, I had to admit that it was quite tiring doing all this day-in day-out. Plus I'm a full time working mother. But the satisfaction that I got was priceless especially when I noticed that the price of some food at Bazaar Ramadhan was ridiculous and some food were even tasteless. So it is always better to cook =)
But when it's totally a different story when it comes to your own household. Decisions have to be made almost all the time and it must be very quick. One of the most frequent decisions to make is "What to have for dinner?" And MH, being a thoughtful person that he always is, will answer my question with a simple "Tak kisahlah, you masak je apa-apa". Thaankkksss...
So you can imagine my nervousness as we enter Ramadhan, where time is scarce and (good) food is expected to be on the table, on time. The fact that I'm not only an amateur in cooking, but also slow in the kitchen was not helpful at all! I like to call my style of cooking like a host of a cooking show - I'll put every ingredients on the table, then only I will start cooking. I will also look up to the recipe from time to time, just to make sure that I do it right. Cooking under the pressure of time is really not my kind of stuff!
So, I have to find ways to make the some-what impossible, become possible. Getting organized is the key here. I knew that I had to start somewhere. My aimed was to provide home-cooked meals as much as I could because it is cleaner, healthier and also economic =)
My tip #1, is to to use Weekly Meals Planner. I'd been meaning to use it since forever, but for some reasons, it had always been a 'projek terbengkalai'. No commitment. But last Ramadhan, I made it a point to do the planning every Monday during lunch break. It was just a simple spread, but little did I know that it could be very useful!
 |
| Sahur & Iftar for Week 1 |
I found that a simple practice of preparing my family weekly meals' planner has saved me a lot of time, energy and not forgetting some money! First, was because I didn't have to think of what to cook everyday. I needed to do the 'thinking' once a week (when I was making the plan) and stick the planner on the fridge. For the rest of the week I just follow what was written on the planner. Secondly, with this practice I managed to avoid wastage because I know exactly what was in my fridge, especially the perishable item. So, when I cook, I gave the priority in cooking it earlier. Thirdly, the planner also help to guide me when I did my grocery shopping because I knew exactly what to look for at the market. Otherwise my shopping basket would be full with so many things that sometimes ended up being in the trash bin because I forgot that I had them in my fridge!
Tip #2 is preparation. As I mentioned earlier, I'm an amateur in cooking, so preparation also mean getting the recipes ready and studied the recipe before hand =)
 |
| I usually Google-d for recipes & ol'skool recipe books |
However, my prep work didn't stop there. After sahur, while waiting for Subuh prayer, I started preparing for iftar. I did the cutting & marinating part, put it in small plastic containers and put it in the chiller. So that when I got back from work, I didn't need to wait for it to defrost. All I need to do was to take it out from the fridge and put it in the pan. Real time saver!
 |
| I shared my daily cooking in my Instagram for motivation |
Alhamdulillah, I could say that except for a few eating-out for iftar invitations, family gatherings and 3-4 visits to Bazaar Ramadhan, almost 80 percent of our sahur and iftar meals are #homecooked and I managed to get everything ready by the time azan Maghrib! Hooray for beginner like me! But, I had to admit that it was quite tiring doing all this day-in day-out. Plus I'm a full time working mother. But the satisfaction that I got was priceless especially when I noticed that the price of some food at Bazaar Ramadhan was ridiculous and some food were even tasteless. So it is always better to cook =)
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