Ramadan is just around the corner, and that means its prep time. Apart from shopping, planning to visit hometown and making a guest list for iftar party and Eid, there is lot more. To cut down some of your work, I thought of sharing with you a quick and easy guide on Ramadan Cooking. In today’s post, I will be sharing some important tips and easy to make recipes which are perfect for iftar and sehri (suhoor). With lots of planning and working, I have come up with a 30-Day Ramadan Meal Plan. This meal plan includes recipes for sehri, iftar and dinner.
What Is Ramadan?
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic Calendar (Hijri). In this month Muslims around the globe observe fasting from sunrise to sunset. Fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam. During the holy month of Ramadan, Zakat-al-Fitr (charity) is calculated and given to the poor. At the end of 29 or 30 days, depending on the sighting of moon, Eid al Fitr is celebrated with much glory and greatness around the globe.
What Is The Purpose Of Ramadan?
Ramadan is not only about fasting and giving charity to poor, but also about praying, doing namaz, reciting Quran and performing Tarawih. Tarawih is the night prayer, where Quran is recited during Namaz.
My grandma always says, cultivate a good habit like reading Darood or praying nafil namaz in every prayer during Ramadan, etc. Continue doing this throughout your life. As 30 days is long time, you can easily cultivate a good spiritual habit and continue doing it.
Ramadan is the combination of both physical and spiritual virtue. Talking about physical habits, reduce the intake of refined sugar or practice yoga or take time for yourself and go for a walk. This Ramadan cultivate a habit that keeps your body fit and mind active.
Why Do I Need A Meal Plan For Ramadan?
Allhumdulliah, thanks to the men in my family they are never fussy over food. They eat what is served. But I have seen in some of my friends and relatives’ families, women end up in kitchen toiling themselves whole day. Cooking according to the needs of a family is good. But ending up in the kitchen without time for proper namaz and ibadat is not good.
Some people think, Ramadan is a time to relish lavish meals. They will not think about the adverse effects these meals will cause on their health post Ramadan. Ramadan teaches us about eating moderately and eating healthy. People often forget this and stuff themselves with all the available fried foods and spicy meals. Just remember, fasting is not about starving, it is a natural detox.
I often say, cooking is easy but planning what to cook is difficult. Rather than spending lots of time on thinking what to cook, make a meal plan. A good meal plan will reduce your stress on what to cook and keeps you organised.
Importance of Meal Planning
Keeps you stress free – You can easily avoid last minute thinking on what to cook.
Less trips to grocery store – If there is a meal plan, then you can order according to that. This helps in reducing your tension, energy and grocery trips.
Less wastage of food – When you cook according to your meal plan, then there is zero or less wastage of food.
Zero leftovers – The good thing about meal plan is there will be no leftovers.
Saves money – With meal plan, you can be more prepared and can reduce impulse buying of unnecessary items. You can also cut down eating out and takeaways. Saves money!
Saves time – One big advantage of meal plan is, it saves your time. How many times a day, do we think, wish we had little extra minutes to complete the work. Plan a meal and get that extra time to complete other tasks.
Portion control – As you plan your meal, you can have a control on your food intake.
Stay fit: Through meal plan, you can set a health goal and can easily reach it.
30-Day Ramadan Meal Plan
In this 30-Day Ramadan Meal Plan, I have included 30 recipes for sehri (suhoor), 30 drinks + snacks for iftar and 30 dinner dishes. This is mostly an Indian Meal Plan. As it is summer, here in India, I have planned my drinks, snacks and meals accordingly. If you want to plan your own free ramadan meal plan template, then download it by clicking button below,
If planning for a month is huge task for you, then plan for a week and go from there. I have kept in mind about the nutrition, diet and health while preparing this meal plan. Plan according to your family needs.
One more thing, I would like to add here is, I don’t cook any fancy meals or recipes during Ramadan. We eat, what we usually eat daily, nothing new or fancy or lavish. Sometimes, we eat rice or roti in sehri and millets in dinner. Being a small family, I make chapatis in the seher and sometimes cooks rice before I go to sleep or when I am doing tahajjud.
Don’t forget to check out my 100+ Eid Menu Ideas, a complete guide on Eid Meal Plan.
Best Ramadan Recipe Collections
Apart from this 30-Day Meal Plan, I am sharing with you Best Ramadan Recipe Collections. These recipes will provide you with new ideas and help you in planning your meal plan efficiently.
Ramadan Meal Plan – I & Ramadan Meal Plan- II
12 Must Try Biryani Recipes – Fantastic collection of biryani recipes to serve at iftar and eid party.
30 Tantalizing Iftar Bites – Mouth-watering and spicy iftar bites, which are kid-friendly too.
30 Refreshing Iftar Drinks – Keep yourself hydrated with these refreshing and rejuvenating easy to make drinks.
15 Super Delicious Indian Vegan Snack Recipes – I get a lot of requests to post vegan snacks. So, here you go. 15 super delicious vegan snacks for iftar and eid party.
40 Refreshing Drinks for Ramadan – Collection of refreshing homemade summer drinks, which are perfect for Ramadan too.
30 Scrumptious Soups for Ramadan – Soups are budget-friendly, nutrition packed and energy giving comfort one-pot light meal. Soups are good way to restore energy and to all fibre in your diet.
75 Appetizing Iftar Snacks – Nothing can beat homemade snacks. In this collection, you can find vegetarian, non-vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and make ahead snack recipes.
30 Best Indian Curries for Iftar and Suhoor – A collection of Best Indian Curries from my blog. Pair these with roti, rice, or any south Indian breakfast recipe like idli, dosa, etc;
30 Best Iftar Meals – Pantry friendly iftar meals, which are perfect for iftar dinner and suhoor (sehri).
Tips To Reduce Cooking Time
Here are few tips, which are very useful in reducing your cooking time.
- Prepare your masalas and spice pastes ahead. You can make garam masala, roasted cumin powder, roasted coriander powder, ginger-garlic paste, etc; ahead and store them in jars.
- Make a big bottle of broth. Pour it in ice cubes and set. Once set, transfer these to food safe bags and leave in refrigerator. This will come handy when you are making soups.
- You can even make tomato paste and freeze it. Similarly, you can make onion paste or fried onion paste and freeze it.
- All these come handy and will help you in cooking easily.
Must-Have In Your Ramadan Grocery List
- Stack Papads and Fryums, as they always come handy.
- Fill your kitchen counter with 2-3 different pickles and podis.
- Fill your fridge with samosa pattis and puff pastry sheets. They come handy when you have sudden guests at home.
- Sauces and mayo when you have kids at home.
- A bottle of Rooh Afza is mandatory. My mom makes and stores a big bottle of lemonade concentrate.
- Don’t forget to add dates to your grocery list. It is sunnah to break our fast with dates.
Eat healthy. Keep yourself hydrated. Pray harder. Stay safe. Happy Fasting!
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