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Baking and Cooking for the Home
Grocery Shopping
The Cupboards Are Bare - What Do You Need?
Once you have gathered all your Christmas recipes you will be using, now is the time to make your grocery list.
Make a list of all your items make a mark next to things you already have as staples in your cabinet that you will not likely need to purchase (things like milk, spices, etc.). As you are making your list divide it into two columns: Long Term and Short Term.
Items under the Long Term section should include items you can begin purchasing NOW. These items will be things that do not go bad by storing them. This includes items that can be placed in the freezer such as butter, items in cans, and items that have a long shelf life.
Items under the Short Term section should include items that must be purchased near the time they are used, such as fresh fruit, buttermilk, etc.
Now that you have, your items separated out - lets go shopping!
December Dinners
Whether you choose to eat out a different restaurant every night in December, a sit down meal each night or something in between, it is important to plan. During this holiday season, you will need to come up with between 30 and 37 different meals. It does not mean it has to be meals that you cook yourself but you do need to fill in on your calendar what is for dinner each night or where you are eating. Personally, I like to do freezer or batch cooking in order to prepare myself for the holiday season.
Beginning in the fall, either I have one big cooking session or I just double dinner for a month or so in order to fill up my freezer. Then I have all my meals planned out and many of them started or even finished so I am not slaving away in the kitchen while everyone else watches the beginning to my favorite Christmas movie! Not only does planning your meals save you time cooking but also can help you save money. With just the knowledge that dinner is already cooked and waiting for me in the freezer at home I will choose to spend the 10-15 minutes preparing it from the freezer rather than the 30-45 minute wait at the restaurant!
One great site for freezer cooking information and recipes is the Friendly Freezer yahoo group site. This is where I learned all the basics to help me have an easy time with December Dinners. The files section has lots of recipes and information, including homemade laundry soap!
Baking for the Holidays
Some people love to bake and cook all throughout the holiday season while others would love to have someone bake and cook for them. Either way it is very important to plan. If you are one of those who love to cook and bake then consider giving someone on your list whom doesn't several gifts of food during the month of December.
One of my favorite things to do every year is to bake things for other people and to have as a treat at home but sometimes the time it takes to make these goodies can be overwhelming. One of my secrets along with planning out my baking items is to do freezer baking. Many cookie dough's, cakes, pies and even some candies can be made ahead and froze. Even if you do not want to freeze some items you can mix up the dry ingredients ahead of time and they will be ready for you to mix with the wet ingredients and bake. There are definite time savers that you can put into action for your holiday baking with just a little planning and work before December rolls around!
While there are many baking items you can give it is important to think about and plan the following:
Creating Menu Cards and Meals
For years I tried to pull out recipes and organize them for my weekly meals and it never worked for me. Also what was I supposed to do about things I did not need a recipe for - like hamburgers? It was too confusing for me and I needed something that was reusable like a recipe card. One day it came to me! Who says we have to just put recipes on recipe cards - why not meal cards?
Starting out I just used index cards and then I got tired of writing all the same basic line information over so I created Menu Planning Cards which are offered through the Christmas Organizing site. (All of the products offered through Christmas Organizing have been designed by me because of a need I had.) Whichever method you choose is fine with me. On the card there should be a place to put down the main dish, ingredients needed and additional comments. Make sure you have around 50 cards.
