Post Pesach Wrap-Up - Part 2

Thanks for all of the great e-mails yesterday. It was so nice to hear positive feedback and about how most of you had a more organized and happy time getting ready for Pesach this year.

For those of you who requested my lists, they were all sent by 6 am this morning. If you sent the e-mail after that, I will get to you tonight. If your e-mail was sent before 6 am and you didn't receive the lists, please send another e-mail so I can try again.

I am still in Pesach mode and it's getting harder to still be there. I know that come March next year, I will be thrilled. But as of this morning, I wish everything was just put away.

To explain the lists, I want to start with the Pesach Planner. This is the (very long) shopping list that should encompass all that needs to be bought for the 8 days of Pesach.

In the first column (Have), I am going through what is left and what I plan to save and entering it.

In the second column (Buy), I am writing how many I will need to (you guessed it) buy next year.

After Yom Tov ends next year and you want to quickly pack up food items in your kitchen, you can use the Have Left column. (The Have Left column will become your Have column for the following year.)

Does this make sense?

First, I do the items I have left over that I plan to save. Then, I fill out the rest of the items on the (very long) list.

WHY DO THIS NOW???

I promise you - no matter how good of a memory you have - next year, you will not remember how many cans of crushed pineapple you used. Or how many bottles of ketchup you had left over. Or how many times you ran back to the store for matzo meal because you ran out.
(I do think I will remember the number of dozens of eggs I used. That number is so unbelievable, I don't think even my bad memory will forget it.)

"Time heals all wounds" applies to the insane amount of trips you make to the store at crazy hours of the day. All because you ran out of this or that or forgot to buy this or that.

Your memory about what worked and what didn't this year will never be clearer than it is now. I know I am beating the dead horse, but the last thing I want to be doing right now is making my shopping list for next year. Muster up all of your inner strength to stay in the Pesach mode and fill out your shopping list for next year. You will be thanking me next March.

Next list I e-mailed was the menu planner. I know, I know. I can read the e-mails I will be getting already...Isn't that a bit much to plan what you will be eating next year, RIGHT NOW??!!

Yes, it's definitely on the planning in advance spectrum which I know that some of you are not that into. Let me ask you a question? How were your meals this past Yom Tov? A roaring success? A dismal failure? Somewhere in between?

(I admit I served raw chicken during the 2nd days. Thankfully, it was my husband who noticed this first before someone else took a huge bite into the raw chicken. Fortunately, it wasn't Shabbos and I was able to put it back into the oven. And most comforting to me, was the fact that one of my guests who I served this bacteria-laden main course to, had just relayed to me that she herself served a raw roast to her family at the Seder.)

If your meals worked, why not repeat them? I don't think your family will be sick of matzo applesauce kugel between now and next year? Try not to think of repeating your Pesach food year after year as boring. Instead, think of it as family tradition. (It really does become just that, a tradition. My oldest 2 kids can tell you with 90% accuracy what I serve at both Seder meals since I don't deviate.)

Yes, I add new recipes. But I do it now. Recipes that look interesting are added now for next year. Then I adjust the shopping lists accordingly.

I take out the failures now, while I still remember them as what they are. The flops. You know, the dishes that came back to the kitchen mostly untouched.

I also write quantities. Like the meal that I made a strawberry apple kugel. I made two 9x13 pans. A huge success, everyone loved it. But not 2 pans of it. One pan was put back into the freezer and is still there. Waiting to be served to my unsuspecting children one Shabbos when they think they will be getting the chametz version, but instead, the potato starch variety will be placed in front of them. We'll see if they like it as much a month after Pesach... You get the point, make notes on your menus as to what went and what there wasn't enough of.

Pesach for next year falls out on the same days as this year. Why not just repeat your delicious menus from this past year, and tweak them to make them better for next year.

Time to get the kids moving. I will finish this up tomorrow. By Sunday, we will be done with Pesach.