Fasting in Ramadan is hard; it’s harder during summer and it’s even harder when you have to cook while fasting. Not to mention if you have to cook for several people. It’s a problem especially if you have to taste while cooking like I do. If a recipe has many steps, I have to give it a taste frequently to make sure it’s going well. It’s simply torture. Here are a few things you can do so cooking up Iftar takes the least effort as possible.
1. Cook in bulk. Try making things that take a lot of time like soup and broth in bulk for the whole week. You can make them at night in large quantities and then divide them up into bags or boxes and keep them in the freezer. They’ll be fresh and healthier than processed foods. This is applicable to any foods with tomato sauce like peas.
2. Prepare ahead of time. If something needs to be thawed, take out it out of the freezer the night before. You can either leave it on the kitchen counter or in the fridge. But with the weather like it is now, it’s safer to keep it in the fridge if you don’t want to come back to spoiled food. Don’t forget to prepare your ingredients too. If there’s a certain meal you want to cook, have a look around your kitchen to make sure all the ingredients are available.
3. Choose easy recipes. Don’t decide to cook up something tricky for Iftar. You can always try after Ramadan. Choose easy recipes that don’t require a lot of preparation and cooking time.
4. Get help if you can. Sometimes you feel like you still need help to finish quickly so maybe you can have your spouse help out. One person can peel potatoes while the other starts making a sauce. That way, you’ll finish twice as fast. Or if you have a domestic helper.
5. Embrace leftovers. As long as the food is stored safely while it’s still fresh, it can be eaten the next day and even the day after.
6. Use the oven. You can make pretty much anything in the oven. People think you need a lot of time for food to get cooked in oven but you really don’t. Depending on the food, you can make most meals in 20 or 30 minutes. Fast, healthy, and no cooking pots to clean! Now, who doesn’t want that?
