With the holy month of Ramadan being only 1 week away, I’m sure many of you are looking forward to the new change of pace; the shorter working days, reflecting on the past year and most importantly, spending quality time with family. This however, does come with its fair share of responsibility; namely thinking about what to feed yourself and your family for iftar and suhoor.

Ramadan is also a very social period, and typically involves a great deal of hosting and gathering of friends and extended family members. Also, and given that this is probably the only time of year when many of us will eat most of (if not all) our meals at home, a good amount of pre-planning is required. As with most things listed on this blog, the answer is to ALWAYS plan ahead.

True, planning for 30 days in advance can be a bit daunting, but here are a few tips to get you started.

Meal Planning & Preparing for Ramadan

• Do a little inventory; check what’s already in your freezer and pantry and work from there. If you’re a planner, chances are you already have most of what you need in terms of dry ingredients, and your freezer will be stocked with essentials such as stock, meat and in my case, chopped herbs.

• Grab a pen and paper; based on what you already have in your kitchen, create a meal plan revolving around ingredients you already have, which would make for a much lighter shopping list – consider both iftar and suhoor when doing this step.

• Create a weekly shopping list and assign one day per week to get it done – start from the week before Ramadan so that you are all set well in advance.

• Create a ‘cooking-plan’; opt for dishes that can be made in large quantities, that keep well and that can be re-heated the following day. If you’re a family that enjoy leftovers, this saves you the hassle of having to cook every day.

• Get your mise-en-place out of the way early; we all know the hardest part of cooking any meal is the prepping, so if any part of this can be made ahead and kept in the freezer, get them out of the way as early as possible. I for example, find washing and chopping fresh herbs very tedious, so any dish I make that requires an abundance of these ingredients, I make sure to have prepped and stowed away well in advance!

• A little cheating never hurts; luckily, most supermarkets nowadays sell several ingredients frozen and pre-chopped, so if you’re pressed for time, these are extremely useful and will save you a great deal of time in the kitchen! I’m also no stranger to the occasional use of store-bought stock or bouillon to add extra flavour to my dishes.

• Keep things simple; unless you’re hosting, there is no need to go all out with a massive spread every time. Your priorities should be staying hydrated and maintaining a healthy balanced diet during this time, so dishes to consider should include soup, a healthy salad and a main dish that is high in protein.

• Lastly, stay hydrated! The biggest challenge in Ramadan is staying hydrated, as the bulk of our day is spent fasting. Unfortunately, this is also the reason we feel tired and lethargic. Difficult as it may be at times, be sure to drink plenty of water when you can, and hit your quote of a minimum of 2 litres per day.

Please feel free to share your Ramadan prep tips in the comments below!