My One Little Trick That Helped Me Master the Art of Making Shabbos

All I had to do was listen to that timer…

I’m usually an organized person: I can plan a month’s worth of lessons, create custom itineraries for travelers, head school productions and create day camp programs. But it took me 9 years to figure out how to make Shabbos.

Making Shabbos was something I couldn’t seem to master. I’d plan to make chicken soup on Thursday morning before work only to wake up and see that I’d forgotten to defrost the chicken bones. Or that I had no carrots. I’d leave all my cooking for Friday and make a huge mess in the kitchen just after the cleaning lady left. Or I’d be too exhausted to shop on Thursday after work but then not have any ingredients in the house on Friday morning.

Well, I found a solution. Maybe it could help some of you as well.

I set a series of alarm clocks reminding me what to do. For example: On Wednesday afternoon, it rings for shopping, Wednesday evening for defrosting whatever’s in the freezer. Thursday morning for making soup, kugel, chicken, eggs. Thursday evening for baking challos or cake and Friday morning for cholent, sides and salmon.

The trick to making this work for you is figuring out your schedule and fitting your errands/cooking in around it. It’s also very important to ‘listen’ to your timer no matter what. Otherwise, it won’t become ingrained in you. If you follow the cues of the reminders then within a few months you won’t need them anymore.

More from Miriam Hammer

Miriam Hammer

Miriam Hammer is a mom of two boys and an English teacher in Vienna, Austria. Her hobbies include photography, graphic design and cooking quick, fresh, and nutritious meals that her picky 4-year old won’t touch. She loves using her creativity to come up with fun lesson plans and exciting projects for her students and kids. And, of course, she also loves to travel. She’d love to share tips with you. Contact her at europekoshertravel@gmail.com or on Instagram: @europe.kosher.travel

5 responses to “My One Little Trick That Helped Me Master the Art of Making Shabbos”

  1. Suri Avatar
    Suri

    I always put in the chicken bones still frozen… is that very bad? I figure it defrosts in the water and then cooks.
    Love the timer idea!

    1. Mindy Avatar
      Mindy

      Totally fine, I have done it for 25+ years. I put the chicken in frozen too. Just put it in, add cold water, bring to a boil, etc. Comes out perfect every time.

  2. Dinah Avatar
    Dinah

    This is a great idea…! I love it! I already have a time ringing every Friday to remind me to cut kids nails… ????

  3. Fraidy Avatar
    Fraidy

    You know what I love most about this post? That we are all so connected! Here’s a woman from Vienna posting helpful advice- nice to see how we are all the same rather than seeing our differences. Kol hakavod!

  4. Dinah Avatar
    Dinah

    This is a great tip! I have a reminder going on Tuesday (!) evening to remind me to make a grocery list. I love that it gets me thinking about shabbos and planning what I want to cook…
    Thanks for a great tip!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Contact Us

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

FREE GIFT!

Close the CTA

Get our BCP Lifepages Planner by signing up to our email list!