This is just a quick reminder that as you’re packing up your kitchen tonight, this is the best time to start your notes for NEXT YEAR’S PESACH.
I make a note in either Evernote or Google docs, and then link to it in my Google calendar on next Purim. That way, right when my brain is getting ready to think Pesach again, I’ll have all my notes ready and waiting for me.
If this is the first year that you’ll be keeping notes, here are some of the things I like to jot down:
- Which recipes worked (chocolate marshmallow clusters!)? Which ones flopped (none this year, thank goodness)?
- What unopened food stuffs did I pack away for next year (2 boxes of potato starch, unopened ground cinnamon, etc.?
- How many dozen eggs did I go thru (8 dozen this year – it was a “light” year!), how many tubs of Temptee did we use (3, but buy 4 to be safe), etc.
- Which “plagues” I need to replenish (like these, which we used for “wild beasts” and were a huge hit with my daughter!)
- What my new target prices are on certain items — since this was our first year in Cleveland, I had to adjust my previous price list.
Did you leave yourself Pesach notes yet? What’s on your list?!
I do this every year! I already know for next year not to by cashew butter for hubby and I was able to get items on sale (2 for one) that don’t expire until 2017! I also know that my 20-something kids no longer want matzoh pizza and do want meat, meat and meat! No coconut marshmallows next year, but definitely mini-marshmallows. We barely touched cream cheese and overbought on the margarine. I now use more oil than margarine. I have to start with three (not two) times the amount of my chocolate almond apricot clusters. I also know that I need a new salad spinner for Pesach as mine broke. At this point in life, and with arthritis in my hands, anything that lessens hand use is a blessing. The lettuce lasts much longer if I clean it, spin it,d roll it in paper towel and place in a zip-lock style bag.
I have my menu, shopping list and cook/heat times for every Pesach since 2009 (after my mother-in-law stopped making Seder). There are definite patterns in what the family likes.
I have loved your Pesach Kosher on a Budget listings and have benefited greatly from them. Thank you!
Same here! I also write down where I bought/ordered my produce and other items, so I can sort next year’s list by stores as well. Mara, do you think potato starch that’s labeled with an exp. date of Nov. 2015 should be kept for next Pesach? Didn’t realize I had an extra one in the back of my cabinet 🙁