The primary tip for a kosher holiday is to start planning early. Planning is the key element to ensuring that there is enough time to find and buy the proper ingredients for preparing the kosher meals. Planning ahead also permits for finding or ordering any decorations, tableware or accessories or other items that are not readily available in the local area.
Planning ahead involve creating a chart or a calendar for all of the things that need to be done. This allows a little to be completed each day, or a little at a time so that nobody feels overwhelmed or overworked. Some people organize a chart of each task that needs completing or each item that needs buying. The chart can even be used to assign responsibilities to different parties in the family so that no one person has to take on all of the shopping and cooking on their own.
Each kosher holiday does not have to be completely different from the prior year. Keep notes, recipes, decorations and other items from past kosher holidays. Instead of starting from scratch, this gives a starting point for organizing the list of tasks that need to get done or the items that need buying. It can also save a lot of time and money.
Try to choose meals and recipes that can be made ahead of time. Prepare the dishes and freeze or refrigerate the dishes until it is time to cook or serve them. This too permits preparation to take place a little at a time instead of trying to cook all of the items the night before or the day of the kosher holiday.
Spread out the buying of items to spread out the expense of preparing for the kosher holiday. Rather than go to the store and buy everything required for the holiday at one time, buy a few items at each store trip. Freeze perishable items or stock non-perishable ones. Especially try to watch for sales on items that are necessary for the kosher holiday to stock up on these items when they are on sale rather than just because they are required right now.
In the end, it is important to remember the purpose of the kosher holiday rather than to stress over preparing for it. When everyone focuses on the true meaning of the kosher holiday, it reduces the stress that everything turns out perfect.
