Before the start of Ramadan 2019, I managed to make a full month’s meal plan in advance to free up my daily (or weekly time!) thinking about the dreading question: “Aaj kya banaoon?” (what shall I make today?). Of course, if asked from my husband, his favorite dish is “Kuch bhi!” (Whatever!), but as you all may be familiar with the idea that the most requested “KUCH BHI” dish has not been invented yet. Anyway long story short, I have a few frozen items for IFTARI time (Post fast meal), so I just ask my children when they fast as to what they would like to eat in iftar, and I prepare accordingly. Otherwise, the rest of the days we only have dinner after having a few dates and fruits for iftar.
Before I get into the meal plan, let me tell you the iftar items that I pre-prepare and are stocked in the fridge/freezer for a quick and scrumptious iftar:
- Spring Rolls (frozen)
- Samosas (frozen)
- Chicken Wontons (frozen)
- Chicken Tikka Garlic Mayo Puffs (frozen)
- Phulkis (for dahi phulki or chaat) (frozen) *I have tamarind chutney in the fridge for a quick chaat mix as well – just add yogurt, some chickpeas, boiled potatoes and sugar and its ready!)
The not pre-prepared but can be easily made items are:
- fruits
- Fruit Chaat
- Creamy fruit chaat (for a variation)
- Pakoras (there are soooooo many varieties of pakoras – mix, potato, spinach, eggplant, chilli, and the list goes on – our favorite ones are mix, potato and chilli pakoras)
- Potato cutlets
After the iftar, comes the Dinner part. So without further ado, let me delve into the meal plan.
Day 1: Spanish Rice
Day 2: Haleem
Day 3: Torayi + Daal
Day 4: Mutton Biryani
Day 5: Alfredo Chicken with corn casserole
Day 6: Chicken Qorma
Day 7: Leftovers
Day 8: White and Red Sauce Pasta with veggies
Day 9: Koftay
Day 10: Mediterranean chicken with pita breat, tzatziki sauce, chickpeas, salad, Hummus
Day 11: Mutton Pulao with Chapli Kabab
Day 12: Maash Daal with dhuuaan chicken
Day 13: Leftovers
Day 14: Chicken Tikka Pizza + Wings + Potato wedges
Day 15: Enchiladas + Beans
Day 16: Cholay chicken with Daal
Day 17: Chicken Malayi boti + Bihari Kabab
Day 18: Nihari
Day 19: Sulemani Karahi
Day 20: Leftovers
Day 21: Chicken Biryani
Day 22: Pasanday
Day 23: Karhi + Rice
Day 24: Zinger Burgers + Fries
Day 25: Nihari
Day 26: Palak Paneer + chicken 65
Day 27: Leftovers
Day 28: Nihari
Day 29: Chicken Pot Pie
Day 30: Seekh Kabab Salan
EDIT: Ramadan Meal Plan 2020!
Not via dates or days, but this year as we are in Quarantine, I have made a list of 30-40 items that I am going to cook. I am being EXTREMELY flexible in this as we will not be doing groceries as we usually do, instead, try to do groceries once in 10 days!
Make your own list, seeing what you and your family likes, and do the shopping accordingly. It WILL really help!
- Chicken Qorma
- Chicken Tikka Pizza
- Chicken Steaks
- Paratha Rolls
- Tuscan Mac n Cheese
- Chicken Lasagne
- Arvi gosht
- Biryani
- Zinger Burgers
- Tacos
- Shimla Mirch Qeema
- Koftay
- Daal Chawal with Chicken 65
- Khousey
- Chinese Rice with Manchurian
- Aaloo Gosht
- Parmesan Chicken
- Bihari Kabab with parathay
- Lobia ka salan
- Nandos Chicken
- Haleem
- Nihari
- Pakora Karhi
- Karahi
- Paneer Reshmi Handi
- Bhindi Gosht
- Enchilladas
- Fried Chicken
- Aaloo and Gobi Parathas
- Chicken Chilli
- Maash Daal with torayi
- Stuffed Bell Peppers with some grilled chicken
- Grilled Fish with sides
- Spanish Rice
This is it for now guys. The pointers below are still very helpful, but for this year, until the situation gets better JUST STAY HOME. I pray humbly to Allah that this gets better VERY soon!
Some other IMPORTANT points to focus while meal planning, specially during Ramadan:
- Stay flexible with you meal plan, you can change the dishes or swap the meals – check your mood – what do you feel like eating, groceries and himmat. We sometimes are drained out because of fasting.
- Do groceries once or twice every week, as your schedule or time permits
- Send Iftar to your neighbors/friends/relatives who live close by – whenever making easy to transport items like Biryani, Karahi, BBQ stuff, make a little extra before hand and send it with a few iftar items. Share and earn extra good deeds. (always tell the other party in advance that you will be sending some food over so they can prepare accordingly).
- Make less quantity so its finished the same day.
- Skip cooking if there is Iftar coming over and you already have a few leftover items from the previous days.
- Ramadan is NOT the time to experiment with new dishes. Eat and make what you love and what your family loves.
- Make whats EASIER for YOU.
Happy Fasting!
