Emergency Shabbat meals kit (freezer/cupboard version)

As I posted about here, I recently was hospitalized and didn’t get to prep anything for Shabbat. Now, we could have had Shabbat meals from whatever we could find or tried to organize things to go buy the whole thing, but it was nice to have my emergency Shabbat meals set aside. We pulled the bags from the freezer and pantry and let the frozen things thaw, and it’s ready to go! Here are the items that I include:

• Grape juice (Cupboard): Just to be sure you aren’t out when you can’t shop for more
• Challah (frozen, one larger loaf and 4 smaller ones for us, although depending on what your family eats, you could use 6: 2 for each meal. You’ll need at least 4 if you reuse the 2nd). Matzah can also work if your family makes motzi on it.
• Soup (frozen); I’ve used lentil, chicken, or zucchini, but whatever your family likes.
• Fish (frozen or cupboard): could be gefilte, salmon, or a jarred something like Moroccan fishballs (photo).
• Chicken (frozen): Enough for one meal (dinner), fully cooked, ready to go
• Side (frozen): kugels, rice, or frozen veggies
• Dessert (frozen or cupboard): cookies, packaged brownies, wafers, a cake…
• Lunch main dish, either more chicken or something else you’ve frozen

All of these items had reheating instructions on the package so anyone could do it. It’s also bagged in my freezer and cupboard, so all anyone has to do is pull the bag and thaw it, then reheat as instructed. I know my family can have a nice Shabbat meal, even though I’m not up to making it. The keys to making this work are:

• Keep it to simple prep foods your family likes (e.g. make sure everything is ready to go with only heating up)
• Put everything into a container that it can go onto the blech directly (although for soup, I don’t usually do this)
• Label everything
• Put everything together into a bag or other container so it’s ready to pulled out with little fuss (both in the pantry and freezer)
• Refresh components as needed (make a note on your calendar!)

Here’s what we have in ours:

Challah loaves and rolls, lentil soup (although I have that put back into the freezer this week since I had split sea (pea) soup  ready to go into the crockpot recipe for Shabbat Beshalach), Moroccan fishballs, spicy BBQ chicken and chicken nuggets, spinach kugel, rice, and pumpkin spice cookies. For lunch we’ll have lamb stew as the main dish (leftovers from another week, frozen), and shalesheudos will be salads and veggies from our refrigerator.

Another option: keep a few packaged meals like LaBriute on hand: 2-3 for each person. You’ll still need grape juice and maybe a side or two, but this is an quick grab and go option in case you have a Shabbat on the go.

This is one easy way to take care of our families, and although we can pray it is never needed, it is such a blessing when it is!