I asked readers on the Cooking Manager Facebook page for topic ideas. One reader told me about her teenage son, who leaves the house at 6:30 AM and returns at 8 PM. The food provided by his school is expensive and unhealthy. She gives him some cash, but he’s expected to bring most of his food from home. Another reader works as a midwife, so she never knows how long she’ll be away from home and what facilities she’ll have.

People who work in an office usually have access to a refrigerator or microwave. Students, or those who work out of doors or with a series of clients, don’t usually have that option.A

Eating home-cooked food is one of the best ways to eat healthy and save money. But when you’re away from home the entire day, it’s tempting to eat out or rely on processed snacks. Bringing one or more meals from home is doable with a little bit of advanced planning.

Keeping food fresh for long periods is all about regulating temperature to counteract the temperature conditions. You can either start with the food at refrigerator temperature and try to maintain it, or start with the food frozen or partially frozen, planning for it to defrost by the time you eat. You’ll need to experiment to see what works best.

The simplest way to keep food cold is to purchase an insulated container. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just something with padding and a fairly good seal.  Place the cold food in the container along with one or two drinking bottles mostly full of ice, or the frozen food that you want defrosted. Enjoy the cold water with your meal. If the ice is still nearly all frozen by the time you eat, freeze less next time or add some water to the bottle. You can use a sealed, purchased ice pack too.

A hard plastic container can work too. My friend places a frozen leftover portion of meat and rice in an inexpensive lock-type box. In the winter, she starts defrosting it by putting in the refrigerator the night before. She adds a fork and knife (non-disposable), and a fruit, vegetable and drink in a separate container. The frozen food is usually defrosted by her son’s lunch time, and he heats it further in the microwave.

Condensation will form outside of the frozen items as they defrost, so pack accordingly or all of your food will get wet. And keep delicate foods like lettuce from touching the ice packs.

Opening the container will affect the temperature significantly, so if you are preparing more than one meal store them separately with different amounts of ice or degrees of frozenness. A thermos works best for hot drinks or soups, and can be used for pasta and stews. I just saw an insulated pot that would work well for larger amounts of solid foods.

My child’s teacher learned the hard way that the lovely thermos she received as a gift did not have a hermetic seal. It leaked coffee all over her purse and clothes when she was already late for the class trip! Wrap items carefully and keep food away from books and other equipment.

For ideas of foods you can pack, see School Lunch Ideas.

What tips can you share for keeping food fresh all day?

This year, Rosh Hashanah falls on Wednesday night through Friday afternoon, seguing right into the Sabbath.  That means four main meals of the holiday, and two meals for the Sabbath. My teenage daughter and I finally came up with a menu plan for Rosh Hashanah.

My daughter doesn’t eat any kind of meat or fish, but does eat chicken soup, or vegetables cooked in the meat or fish gravy. She is less particular than some others in the family.

I don’t want to go meatless for the entire holiday, but I do want to make sure she has things to enjoy at every meal.

And she will make the vegetarian stuffed cabbage and share the rest of the cooking as well, as will the other children. I’ll have four or five children home, and possibly a small number of guests.

When I plan I like to make several lists at once:

• Tentative menu for each meal.
• Shopping list.
• Cooking schedule.

With so many meals, though, I adjust things according to how much gets eaten. I haven’t planned every single item. We eat simply and the side dishes will depend on how much energy I have, how cooperative the kids are, and what I feel I need to use up at the moment.

While it’s traditional to serve sweet dishes, no one in our family enjoys sweet main dishes so we stick to mostly lemon and garlic like we do all year round.

All meals include challah. simple cooked vegetables unless others are noted, and salads. I know I’ll be making Beets Marinated with Ginger and Garlic, and Carrot-Apple Salad.

Wednesday night:

• Simanim—the special foods to symbolize the new year. Mainly apple dipped in honey, beets, cabbage, carrots.
• Vegetarian stuffed cabbage—like this recipe for Stuffed Cabbage only with chopped mushrooms instead of ground meat.
• Salmon
• Rice or potatoes

Thursday lunch:

• Chicken soup with matzah balls. My kids will happily eat soup at every meal
• Meatballs
• Bean salad
• Rice or potatoes

Thursday night:

People are not usually hungry for this meal, which is served late. If what I have listed turns out not to be enough I will gladly heat up special requests.

• Simanim (see above)
• “New” fruit just coming into season—another Rosh Hashanah tradition. Usually pomegranates or dates, both of which are also holiday foods.
• Leftover salmon as appetizer
• Chicken soup again

Friday lunch:

• Lasagna with Homemade Pasta

Friday dinner:

• Chicken soup
• Chicken—probably with olives and tomatoes
• Potatoes.

Saturday lunch:

• Slow cooker meal with turkey or beef.

For the last two meals, my daughter will eat the side dishes and salads, and other vegetarian leftovers.

Cooking schedule:

• Monday: Shop
• Tuesday: bake challah, rogalech (rolled yeast cookies with challah dough), and honey cake, pick up pre-ordered vegetables and prep them (see my Cooking Spreadsheet).
• Wednesday: Cabbage, lasagna, salmon, salads, the potatoes or rice, chicken soup
• Friday: Cook chicken and fill slow cooker for lunch on Saturday.

Whew! That sounds like a lot of work. What are you planning? How do youaccommodate special diets?

For more ideas:

Rosh Hashanah Survival Guide

Rosh Hashanah Tips and Recipes

Rosh Hashanah at Real Foods Digest

Kosher Cooking Carnival at Cooking Outside the Box.

: image

We’ve all been there: Dinner hour is arriving, but you haven’t planned anything. Maybe it was an unexpected appointment, or you just procrastinated for too long. So you pick up the phone to order a pizza.

Wait a minute. Maybe you can avoid takeout.

It’s tempting to order food. It can be the wise and sane choice if it fits your budget. But I often make simple and healthy last-minute meals, and you can learn to do it too.

The  most important factors in pulling together simple meals are flexibility and advance preparation. And some food. You don’t need fresh chicken or fish in the refrigerator, but you will need a minimal variety of food in the house. A last-minute meal can’t be produced from thin air,

Depending on your location, it may be quicker to run out to the store to get an item than order takeout. And don’t forget the neighbors! Maybe you’ll make a new friend.

The minimum standard for my meals is that they are mainly home-cooked, which means they have a limited amount of processed foods and everything that goes into them. They also need to have the major food groups: For me that means a starch—preferably a whole grain, a protein, and cooked or raw vegetables—preferably both.

Remember: Your homemade meal doesn’t need to be company-worthy. It just needs to be a better option than takeout pizza!

Quick starches

Starches usually takes the longest to cook, so get those started right away.

• Potatoes. Pierce potatoes, place on a plate in the microwave. Cook on high for about 3 minutes per potato.
• Bulgur. The finest is practically instant—pour boiling water over it and wait a few minutes.
• Couscous or other fine pasta.
• Spaghetti or noodles. You don’t need to boil large amounts of water, just enough to cover and a little extra. Stir frequently. It’s not always the healthiest choice, but better than take-out pizza.
• Rice. 14 minutes for one cup in the microwave.
• Rice noodles or ramen.
• Don’t forget alternatives like quinoa, polenta (cornmeal), oats (remember to be flexible!), and if you are really stuck, processed grains like pre-cooked rice.
• Bread.

Pre-cooked or fast-cooking proteins that are easy to have on hand:

• Canned tuna, salmon or sardines.
• Eggs.
• Canned beans, or cooked frozen beans that have been cooked and stored flat in a freezer bag for quick defrosting.
• Quick-cooking beans/legumes like red or black lentils. Green lentils take slightly longer, and black-eyed peas take slightly longer than that. No need to soak these.
• Cottage or feta cheese. Plain milk also counts as a protein. Remember, we’re comparing to takeout pizza.

Vegetables:

• Frozen vegetables, or canned.
• Fresh. I usually have carrots and cabbage in the refrigerator, even if they’re not the freshest. I can always grate them for soup.
• Sweet potatoes. Pierce and microwave, like white potatoes.
• Onions. These take longer to prepare and cook. Peel the onion, cut off the ends, slice in half lengthwise, and lay the two pieces cut-side down on a cutting board. Make about five slices in each direction. The layers of onion do the rest and you have cubes in about a minute. Or keep raw sliced onions in the freezer.

Putting it all together:

Remember the first rule of frugal cooking: Start with what you have. Check the refrigerator for leftover sauce or cooked vegetables that can be incorporated into your meal.

Meals that can be made from some of the above:

• Soup and a sandwich. Example: Saute onions, add other vegetables as above and one or two of the grains or legumes (oatmeal is great for thickening soup). Toast the bread (or not) and serve it in the soup, or serve the bread with spreads like tuna, egg salad or cheese.
• Shakshuka (amateur version). Saute the onions. Add pepper or mushrooms if you have. Add canned or fresh tomatoes, or tomato sauce. Season with oregano. When the vegetables are hot, crack whole eggs onto the mixture. Cover and cook on low until eggs are cooked through, about ten minutes. Serve with burgul or bread.
• Bread, tuna salad, sliced raw vegetables and sweet potatoes.
• Tortillas with cooked lentils, microwaved rice, grated carrots, and cheese.
• Salad. My ideas for summer salads work for last-minute meals too. If you don’t have enough vegetables for a salad slice what you have and arrange on a plate.
• Spanish rice.

These are only a few of the possibilities. It only depends on what you choose to keep around.

Bonus tip: A pressure cooker opens up new possibilities in last minute, one-pot cooking.

The good news is that once you are committed to ordering out only when absolutely necessary, you’ll find that your creativity will grow, along with your ability to plan in advance.

Happy cooking!

You may also enjoy:

Barriers to Home Cooking

Pantry List: Stock Up to Save Time, Money and Hassle

Use Your Freezer to Make Easy Meals

Foods for Pulling Quick Meals Together

 : image

During the winter I have lots of energy for cooking. It’s a pleasure to turn on the stove and warm up the house. But in the summer, I just wish the food would magically appear in front of me.

Readers on the Facebook page for Cooking Manager (join us!) asked for a list of ways to cook while keeping cool. You can bet that in a few weeks, I’ll be reviewing my own tips for inspiration. Please add your own tips in the comments.

First let’s look at appliances. Some appliances generate more heat than others, and they should be avoided.

• A slow cooker has little insulation and no thermostat. While it generates less heat than the oven, it needs to stay on all day. If you can move it outside or close it off in a separate room, it’s a good choice. But don’t waste the air-conditioner on your slow cooker.
• The oven generates a lot of heat, depending on how insulated it is. If you must use it, turn it on early in the morning or late at night. Toaster ovens are smaller, but may be less insulated.
• Stove-top. The gas or electric range heats the kitchen as well as the food. It’s fine for items that cook quickly.

These appliances work better for the summer:

• Microwave ovens only heat the food, so less  heat gets into the kitchen. But cook for long enough and you will eventually feel the heat. Larger quantities or dense items require longer cooking times and may not be worth it.
• Pressure cookers release steam when they are done, but the time and energy you save makes them a good option, especially for longer-cooking foods like beans.
• The grill is a summer favorite, as the heat stays outside in the first place.
• If you can make yourself a solar oven, you can cook outside with no energy usage.

More summer cooking tips:

• Cook long-cooking items like dried beans in quantity and refrigerator or freeze them so they’ll be available. Like Faye Levy suggested in the comments to my post on summer salads,
• Cook in the morning or evening, at most heating up food just before the meal.
• A lot of people don’t bake in the summer at all. I do, but I dread thinking about it. Plan carefully so that your oven is on for as short a time as possible.
• Watch the weather report and plan to cook more on cooler days.
• Use an exhaust fan to divert cooking heat out of the kitchen. You don’t need to install a special fan. Just direct your regular fan to blow the heat outside.
• Keep the kitchen door closed, if possible, so the heat won’t escape to the rest of the house.
• Choose quick-cooking foods like small pasta, fine bulgur, lentils, scrambled eggs, string beans, leafy greens, and pita.
• Food should never be overcooked, but in the summer you’ll want to pay more attention. Some foods, like vegetables or pasta, might taste better when cooked less time than you’re used to.
• Be especially careful with food safety. Defrost in the refrigerator, store leftovers right away, cover foods tightly and use them up in time.
• Prepare for cooking, including peeling and chopping, beforehand while the kitchen is still cool. Or make space in another room.
• Cook foods that will also taste good cold. Bean recipes, pasta casseroles and of course salads all work well. But experiment—just because something is traditionally eaten hot doesn’t mean you have to eat it that way.

More Recipe Ideas for Summer Cooking:

• Lentils with Onions and Garlic
• Healthy and Easy Summer Salads
• Bulgur
• Basic Microwave Recipes

What tips can you share for cool summer cooking?

Photo: Pink Sherbet Photography

Summer is nearly here, and are you ready? The family wants to eat lighter foods. If you have kids, they are on vacation and hungry all the time. You want to be spending free time outside and not in the kitchen. And the hot weather makes any dish with a long cooking time unappealing.

So what’s the solution? Salads, of course. A wide range of salads can make a meal, suitable to be whipped up as soon as you get home, or to pack in a cooler for a spontaneous picnic.

If you’re a traditionalist like me, you’ll want three elements in your meal: A variety of vegetables, at least one protein, and carbohydrate. There’s an endless amount of variety

Here are some ideas to get you started.

• Proteins
  • Cooked or canned chickpeas, kidney beans, black-eyed peas, dried peas, lentils,
  • Canned tuna, sardines, salmon, mackerel
  • Leftover fish, beef, chicken
  • Feta or farmer’s cheese, or other low-fat cheese
  • Nuts and seeds
  • Peanuts
  • Frozen peas
  • Hard-boiled eggs
• Vegetables
  • Raw greens including spinach, lettuce, kale, beet or turnip greens.
  • Fresh or frozen broccoli or cauliflower florets
  • Onions of various colors
  • Carrots, grated or chopped
  • Tomatoes (always add at the end)
  • Herbs, including mint, sage, chives, basil, thyme, dill, and more.
  • Celery
  • Celeriac or parsnip
  • Cooked vegetables like beets, sweet potatoes, turnips, carrots
  • Defrosted frozen vegetables including edemame, corn, mixed vegetables
  • Peppers
  • Mushrooms
  • Fresh or canned corn (I avoid this as most people get too much corn in other foods)
  • Fruits including pineapple, apples, olives, avocado, pears, grapes, peaches, dried fruits (in small amounts)
• Carbohydrates/Starch
  • Cooked potatoes
  • Pasta. Tip: Couscous cooks the fastest.
  • Croutons
  • Bulgur (doesn’t need to be cooked, only soaked)
  • Barley
  • Buckwheat
  • Quinoa
  • Rice
• Healthy Dressings
  • Tehina (sesame paste with garlic, lemon juice, cumin and enough water to achieve desired consistency),
  • Olive oil and lemon juice
  • Pesto or other herb dressing
  • Yogurt dressing
  • Salsa

  Here are a few more tips for summer salads:

  1. Instead of adding a carbohydrate to the salad, serve the salad with a hearty loaf of home-made or prepared whole-grain bread.
  2. Make a “salad bar” so everyone can choose whatever elements they like.
  3. Now is the time to get your kids involved. Invest in an extra cutting board and knife and teach them safe knife skills.
  4. Cook beans or grains in large quantities, then store in smaller quantities in the refrigerator or freezer.
  5. Wash and prepare ingredients in advance so you can pull everything together quickly.
  6. Layer the salad instead of tossing it, for more visual appeal.
  7. Watch out for excess sugar and fat. Not all salads are equally healthy.
  8. Keep your family safe and refrigerate leftovers right away.
     

     Summer Salad Recipes:

     Quinoa TabboulehCool No-Cook Summer Salad: TabboulehBeet Salad with YogurtChicken Salad with Green Onions, Ginger, GarlicGreek Salad with Feta Cheese and Olives

Photo: catsper

One of the most challenging things for home cooks is salad preparation. New mothers and people on a diet have an especially hard time getting fresh vegetables, since the vegetables usually can’t be eaten straight from the package unless you pay for the privilege.

But you can prepare a large salad, or just some cut up vegetables, on a weekend or whenever you have a chunk of time. The salad will keep for several days to a week. Keep a jar of homemade dressing to add to the salad just before serving.

Washing and peeling vegetables somewhat reduces their nutritional value. But it’s a lot better than not eating them at all. If you’re lucky, you can go into your garden and choose what you need before each meal. But most of us buy vegetables every week or so.

Peel the vegetables if necessary, wash the vegetables and dry carefully. Dry greens with a salad spinner or spread out on a towel. You can imitate a spinner by covering a strainer with a towel and shaking vigorously. Extra moisture will attract bacteria, so choose vegetables that are naturally dry:

Suggestions for salad vegetables to prepare in advance:

Cut to the desired size. Cutting larger sizes means less work, and preserves more nutrients. Add all the vegetables to a glass or ceramic bowl and cover well for best results.

Add just before serving: Tomatoes, avocados, olives, cooked beans, pasta, cooked vegetables, grains, and animal proteins like cheese, hard-boiled eggs or meat. I’ve read that if you cut tomatoes very small they will be okay, but I haven’t tried it.

Dressing: Make a dressing with one part olive oil and one part vinegar or citrus juice. Add herbs, garlic, and spices as desired and store in a cruet in the refrigerator. Your body absorbs more vitamins when vegetables are eaten with oil. And you’re more likely to actually eat the salad when you add a judicious amount tasty dressing. Add only to the portion you are about to serve or eat.

When you see that colorful salad sitting in your refrigerator you won’t be able to resist.

You may also enjoy:

Tips for Storing Fruits and Vegetables

Greek Salad with Feta Cheese and Olives

Photo credit: Kai Hendry

If you ask people why they resort to convenience foods and restaurants, they’ll tell you they don’t have time to cook from scratch. Cooking does take time, especially if you want to include vegetables and whole grains or legumes.

We all have the same 24 hours, but we have many commitments. Often, finding more time is a matter of setting priorities. And there are ways to make home cooking simpler.

Here are some ideas for setting up your kitchen, and your life, so you can avoid the temptation to order a pizza when dinner time is close.

If you’re celebrating the Jewish new year of Rosh Hashanah, you’ve probably started to plan. Traditional foods for Rosh Hashanah include anything sweet and round. Specific foods include round challahs, apples dipped in honey, fish, the head of a fish or lamb, fish in general, cabbage, carrots, black-eyed peas (apparently common in secular new year’s celebrations), pomegranates, dates, and beets. And I’m sure I’ve forgotten a few.

I’ve collected some links for Rosh Hashanah, including some from my other website. I’ll be posting a low-oil honeycake recipe on Wednesday.

In 2010 Rosh Hashanah begins on Wednesday evening, September 9, 2010 and ends Friday evening, September 11.

Organization:

• Menu Planning for Rosh Hashanah
• Rosh Hashanah Menu and the Vegetarian Child
• Rosh Hashanah Menu and Cooking Plan.
• Rosh Hashanah Survival Guide 2011
• What Hostess Gift Do You Like?
• Preparing for a Holiday Cooking Session
• Cooking Spreadsheet
• Simple Food Processor Recipes
• Estimating Quantities
• An Efficient Cooking Session
• Bar Mitzvah Cooking Session

Rosh Hashanah Recipes:

• Potato Kugel Secrets
• Low-Fat Turkey Meatloaf
• Gefilte Fish Balls
• Chicken with Tomatoes and Black Olives
• Challah Bread with Sponge Method
• Mirj’s Foolproof Challah
• Easy Stuffed Cabbage
• Carrot-Apple Salad
• Black-Eyed Peas with Tomatoes
• Cabbage Braised with Onions
• Pumpkin Soup with White Wine and Rosemary
• Tender Pot Roast
• Red Snapper with Lemon and Dill
• Beet Soup with Cumin and Ginger
• Grilled Eggplant Dip
• Chana’s Gefilte Fish Recipe
• Matzah Balls
• Spicy Tongue with Garlic and Allspice
• Marinated Beet Salad with Ginger and Garlic

Photo credit: kyz

This post was featured in the Real Food Digest Rosh Hashanah Carnival.

Reader Tanya asks:

Hannah, how do you start to cook healthy for kids who are used to home-cooked fast food (pasta, burgers, shnitzel/potatoes)?

It’s discouraging because sometimes the “meals* are the least eaten.
By best meals I mean the ones I plan. The well-rounded, healthiest, most diverse ingredients.  These are the meals that are most likely to be mostly thrown out.  It’s very discouraging as my available time for cooking is very short.

Tanya, I can sympathize. My kids used to eat a lot of those things. They still eat some of them. Here are some ideas for making gradual changes.

1. Pick the least healthy food that you serve. If it’s processed and expensive, even better. Then stop buying it. You can’t control what your kids eat, but you can control what food is available.
2. Don’t get emotionally involved with your kids’ food choices. If they object to something you make, don’t view it as ungratefulness or a reflection on your worth. That attitude usually backfires.
3. Cook the same foods but in a healthier way. Bake shnitzel or cook meatballs instead of frying hamburgers. Add whole wheat bread crumbs and carrots to ground meat, to stretch it. Replace half of white rice with brown.
4. Start with a healthy, filling soup. That way they won’t eat as much of the less healthy main course. Experiment with different textures and ingredients.
5. Have (only) one option for picky kids. “If you don’t want what the family is eating, you can have a peanut butter sandwich.” Don’t get into the habit of cooking separate meals.
6. Gradually reduce amounts of unhealthy ingredients. Reduce the sugar, oil and salt and buy lower-fat cheese.
7. Be patient and stay the course. There will probably be grumbling, but much of it will pass.
8. Save less healthy favorites as a special treat. This can be weekends, once a month or birthdays—whatever you decide.
9. Start young. This is especially important if you are planning on more kids.
10. Get your kids involved with menu-planning, shopping and cooking. Stay in control, but let them make some decisions too.
11. Start with small quantities of a new food. Better to run out because everyone likes it so much, than having to throw it out because you made too much.
12. Assume everyone will like it. If kids sense that you are apprehensive about a new food, they are more likely to refuse it.

What healthy changes have you made to your family’s menu? How did your kids react?

You may also enjoy:

Making Gradual Changes: Bread

Save Money by Eating Less Meat and More Vegetable Protein

Ms. Krieger left the following comment:

Do you have a system for using frozen food? I dream of having a rotating system for freezing food so I always have a quick meal ready to defrost…but I find if I freeze food I tend to forget about it if it is not used within a week or two.

So far I have managed to start a rotating collection of chicken stock (I save the carcass of the Shabbat dinner bird and boil it for stock to use the following week.) But that’s about it. Is the key to start small and gradually expand? Or do you have a formal system?

I think Ms. Krieger is asking two separate questions:

1. What system works best for rotating frozen food?
2. How do you remember to use your system?

A major challenge for home cooks applies to the pantry, refrigerator and the freezer: Rotation. How do you make sure that items don’t get pushed to the back and out of sight? The freezer is the hardest because we don’t open it as often, the food is  safe for the long term, and no one likes to stand in front of an open freezer. But before we realize it, the freezer gets filled up with little bits of this and that—things we could have used.

Using the freezer effectively means defrosting food in advance.

There are two basic methods of using your freezer to get a head start on home-cooked meals. Using a combination of these two methods works well too.

• Freezing components of meals. That is the method I usually prefer. The advantage is that the actual cooking is done on the spot, so the food tastes fresher. It’s also easier to adjust quantities. Here’s a list of cooked Foods for Putting Quick Meals Together. You can also marinate fresh meat or chicken, then freeze it. Put it in the refrigerator the night before you plan to cook it.
• Freezing complete meals. This is best for people who need to heat up food in a few minutes, say right after work, or home cooks who are not always home to serve meals.  It also requires several hours or more to plan and prepare so many meals. Or you can double or triple recipes as you go.

On Sunday I’ll share ideas for keeping track of your freezer contents and rotating them effectively.

A Week of Weekday Vegetarian Meals (How I rotated components throughout the week)

Do You Need a Second Freezer?

How To Defrost Your Freezer

Make Your Own Convenience Foods for Your Baby