Diwali Sweet Planning
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Last year, I drove my husband crazy with numerous requests to go to the grocery store as I was preparing sweets and savories for Diwali. I do get a little stressed out during Diwali because where I live, it is not a recognized holiday and trying to make sweets for Diwali on a work week drives me up the wall. To simplify this whole process for both of us, I devised a simple but effective plan that would help me do the following-
- Plan the sweets ahead of time-based on their shelf life
- Group recipes to make optimum use of the ingredients as well as utensils (so that you don’t have to wash too many dishes).
- Build a complete grocery list (so that you don’t need to rush to the grocery store when you are in the middle of cooking)
Here’s how to plan the work and work the plan!
Step 1 – Make a list of sweets you are planning to make, the budget you want to adhere to, and determine the time you have to make them – make a realistic estimate and don’t overdo it.
Step 2 – Shortlist the sweets/dishes you want to make and group them in categories such as Barfis, Laddoo’s etc ( logic being you can use the same vessel, similar ingredients (in most cases) and thus save time)
Step 3 – Determine their shelf life (how long until they go bad) and based on that decide when to make it
Step 4 – Find recipes online (or from my own blog ;)) or look for your favorite cookbook (I love this one – Mithai by Sanjeev Kapoor)to identify the ingredients you need and the time it will take to make them. I put the ingredients that I might have at home in a separate column – “Common ingredients” along with the ones that are a repeat between recipes.
Step 5 – Gather all this information and put it in a sheet in this format 
Step 6 – Based on this list, make an inventory of what you have and what you need like the example below. Your grocery list is ready.
That’s it. Now that was easy, right?
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Happy planning and have a stress free Diwali!
