Use It Up

As grocery prices become annoyingly high, though fortunately for me still within my means, some of the irrationality of my selections appeared.  I can no longer squeeze all the frozen items into my freezer.  With shabbos dinners made in bulk and marked down Kosher meat too good  a bargain to overlook, I will not have to add to shabbos dinner possibilities for a couple more months.  As much as I like preparing elegant meals, they are really all targeted occasions.  The rest of the suppers come from quick meals.  Fish is really nature's fast food.  They come mostly in packages of two servings.  Easy enough to thaw a tuna steak, put the other one in a freezer bag.  Vegetarian phony meat, when on sale make quick suppers as do fish sticks.  They take up room, though.  Whole chickens and turkey half breasts make multi-meals, usually shabbos or even for our rare guests but occupy a lot of freezer space.  And I have my specialties:  spinach lasagna and macaroni and cheese in the manner of Horny Hardart.  Not fast food at all, but each good for four meals, including two taking freezer space.

A request from the USPS to supply food to the local food bank took me to my pantry.  More pasta than I will use, canned beans which I will eventually use, single serve applesauce that will be there a while.  Rice and barley last indefinitely.  Packaged couscous in its various forms supplements shabbos entrees.  Baking is a pleasurable hobby, but it comes in -spurts.  Cake and brownie mixes have gone on sale faster than I can use them, so a couple of these went to the food bank.

The Iron Chef always started with an ingredient that became multitasked as a reflection of the guest chef's expertise.  I probably ought to do less shopping but have a more immediate destination for anything I get.  Apples on sale become Apple Walnut Pie.  Bricks of cream cheese at 99 cents each should become cheesecake the same week that the bricks are purchased.  Frozen vegetables become spinach lasagna before occupying excessive freezer space. I need to change my thinking from what's a good deal to be used some day to what would be a good meal before my next trip to the megamart.

Supper Planning

My wife tends to the cat and makes sure the two Waste Management bins get wheeled to the edge of our driveway each Thursday evening. We each do our own laundry, though hers includes the bedding and mine includes the towels. Most other household chores fall to me, some done better than others.  Our dishes get washed every day. And we have supper every evening, almost never having to acquire it by going out or ordering a pizza.  When I do the shopping, or perhaps even when I read the Thursday Shop-Rite ads and log the digital coupons on Sundays, it is with menus in mind.  Some standards like Macaroni & Cheese in the style of Horny Hardart or Lasagna last four meals, two the week made, two the following week. Quiche, another staple fairly easy to make, lasts two. Shabbos Dinner is usually set as a chicken breast seared, then baked with some accompaniments or a crockpot melange known as cholent or dfina or stew depending on cultural origins.  A crockpot shabbos meal gets half frozen for another shabbos.  The availability of phony meat, from garden burgers to ersatz chicken supplies other meals, determined by what's on sale as I move my cart along the frozen cases.  And the freezer also has its share of fish, easily portioned, thawed the day before, pretty much nature's fast food.  We eat pretty well, especially in the evening, more often than not either without a lot of effort on my part or an investment of effort for later.  Just have to remember to thaw the fish, though some authorities claim this can be compensated by longer cooking.

Not very fast food but convenient just the same have been add-ons.  I like making kugel but it is a multistep process, though good for more than one meal.  More typically baked potatoes go with everything, wash and in the oven.  Frozen potatoes I only get when on sale, those have to be turned mid-heating.  Rice, barley, quinoa, and couscous take little effort, kasha a bit more with addition of mushrooms or bow pasta. Vegetables come fresh or frozen.  Easy to slice a tomato or an avocado.  Adding a variety to cholent, some fresh, some frozen, takes little effort.  Vegetables need only be boiled, sometimes peeled.  Squash can be sauteed if small, baked if larger.  This is generally more spontaneous than planned, though I know what is on sale for produce and incorporated into supper menus.

I like making desserts, though just not very often.  Apple Walnut Pie a la Fish Market in the fall at peak apple harvest, but generally labor-intensive desserts are for special occasions like birthdays, Thanksgiving, or Seder.  More often there is no dessert, or minor munching on ice cream or a banana.  Meals don't need much afterthought if given forethought.