(2009/08) August 2009 MTBs

need some advice from those who have maids:

those who have maids who cook, do you plan the daily menu, and direct what ingredients to buy weekly? or do you ask them to cook as and when and get them to go buy ingredients as & when also?
 


Tas,
for ang moh...
no experience cos no ang mohs friends...
maybe can ask pris to enquire from her neighbour

pris,
can ask ur neighbour if they have any special things to watch out after childbirth? like any taboos?
 
actually, angmoh alot problems one (joints / bones issues, etc). just that they dont associate it with confinement.

For malays and indians, I wonder if it got to do with anything they eat, lots of herbs, spices, curry and mutton
 
babymaking
it depends on how independent and apt ur maid is woh... also depends on ur household habits. some family like to plan for 1 whole week and buy the food from market.. others prefer to think on daily basis n get their food from supermarkets.

not all maids know how to cook... some maids must have supervision de.

my uncle's maid having worked for him for several years, does her own marketing n worry abt the menu.. does all the cooking...
 
bbmaking,
my sil who has a fili maid...
the maid decides what to cook but will ask the sir/mdm/kids if they wanna eat ...
if no...then the mdm/sir have to tell maid what they wanna eat and maid will buy the ingredients...

this fili maid work in HK b4 so she no problem cooking chinese dishes...
and getting ingredients is no problem for her...
but my mil who goes market wif her ...
told us that those ingredients she choose are the good and expensive ones...cos she eat with them mah...
happy.gif
 
a bit more info

basically i was thinking along the lines of one pot dish for lunch (as there's only me & the maid during day time) & at least 2-3 dishes in the evenings for dinner (for 3 pax).

also need to maximise the fresh ingredients purchased.

anyone has a sample menu plan for a week or something like that?
 
The malay & indians do use herbs for showering and they take alot of herbs too. I know some places selling those herbs for malay confinement.

The ang mo do use warm water for washing. In fact, in vancouver and here, the ang mo are using warm water for dish washing.

I know some ang mo has alot of pain or "suan" when they do not use warm water.
 
hmm interesting, the maid i have is basically quite new.

She's independent as in can go supermarket to buy fresh ingrdients on her own but will prob have to list down what to buy and what quantity to buy.

she's also picking up new recipes from MIL, so her range is quite limited, we can prob try new dishes at least once or twice a week, so that can expand her range of recipes.

now the thing is, menu planning for 3 pax - one dun eat fish, one dun eat pork - what dishes are left to cook which are healthy?

and economically speaking, it seems more sense to buy food than cook, cos fresh ingredients cost more for 2-3pax than buying food from the coffee shop.
 
babymaking,
how r u doing? Your maid is here already ah?

maybe for lunch, u can ask her to make simple stuff like
1) porridge
2) fried rice/ noodle/bee hoon
3) or stir fry some veg with meat/seafood and put over rice.
 
Tas

Medical hall does sell those confinement ready pack herb. The one my mum brought the smell is still ok leh. 1 box there is 2 pkt.

Ya lor. Never heard b4 that at 4 wks can feel hor... Some don't even know she is pregnant.
 
cloudme
i think only our own mom wash our panties (with blood stain or not) without any complains!!! I dont feel comfortable with letting confinement nanny or anyone else to wash my panties! so I will prolly use those disposable panties bah... unless uncomfortable then my hubby will have to help me wash liao haha better teach him how to now lol

Taslyn
weird... the sonographer never count my bbay's fingers,toes and scan his 2 testicles wor... well like she never mention to us lor... *puzzled*
___________________

For ang moh... they can give birth and next day go to pub leh. their body is build differently from asian woman bah...

good to know that we can simply use warm water to wash hands. not a must to add anything like ginger in the water right?
 
Cloudme, my neighbour the one that passed me all the bb clothing. Told me during confinement, no touching cold water as I hate using warm water or hot warm to clean dishes. She told me everything must use warm water to do and also make sure I take my calcium.

In Vancouver, I have witnessed some of our ang mo during their confinement, strictly warm water, ask them why before told me, they do not want to have joint problems and these ang mo go to TCM ones ok. They know more herbs than I do haaha.
 
bbmaking,
u can get the recipies book from popular...

saw it during the expo sale and these are for fili or indo maid cos got translate chinese to their language one (on the same page)...

like pink mention...
cook those noodle/bee hoon soup or dry or macoroni/pasta... with lots of veges...and chicken meat...steam egg is good too...
 
my neighbours over where I am staying here, alot of them believe in TCM ones haahaa. Like one of them was telling me last week when Kai was sneezing and having a cough where I brewed the chinese herbs with fruit for him. I went huh, you meant you know about that haahaa.
 
bbmaking, you can teach them to make spaghetti too. I supposed all of you can take beef too right? Add lots of carrot and zucchini in together with onion and garlic and also can use the sauce as nacho dip.

Hor fun, mui fen is also used to make.
 
SL
i m medicine hall idiot... all chinese herby stuff i let hb settle de.. coz he learnt tcm...

reira
they r supposed to count woh.. at least for #1, the ger did count n showed us n we count together.. mb sat busier so they chop chop gao tim?? not sure ley.. but i know these are the standard things they do.. see wat those mummies say?


pris i think those ang moh tat use warm water n tcm are "easternised" liao.. kakaka
 
kiki,
cook from whatever is available - yeah logically shd be that way, but what quantity of ingredients and what type to buy also depends on what recipes to cook..so it's like a chicken & egg situation.

cloudme,
phili maid easier as they also eat pork, so basically the range of dishes to cook/eat is much wider.

pink
how are you? back to work already? yep, maid here for about 2 weeks already, been busy orientating her & MIL came over to 'help' also. so far MIL been planning the menu, but it's like haphazard cos i see her/or the maid going to buy ingredients every other day, or soemtimes even twice in a day ; is either miss out this or that or not enough or dun have ingredient to cook that particular dish.

yep, that's what i plan for daily lunch (one pot dish), cos easier and more cost effective.

tas,
tingkat is not very healthy and the food not that fresh, sometimes delivery is like 2-3 hrs ahead of meal times & got to reheat - which defeats the purpose of eating 'fresh'


hiaks, this meal planning is making me lose my appettite.
sad.gif
 
tas, most ang mo used warm water one even those who do not go to TCM. If not, they know they get joint pain. I was told by some ang mo staying at my apartment block in Vancouver, kept reminding dun just use cold water, it is bad for the joint. And they are not in their twenties to thirties.

Over here in Sydney, I am staying in a middle class suburban and western dr does not prescribe medication for cold or cough till quite serious. These ang mo here turn to TCM for advise one.
 
babymaking, to add to what Pris suggested, other easy and healthy western dishes you can try are pesto pasta (buy bottle of pesto sauce from supermarket, stirfry cooked pasta with chix/veges + add pesto sauce -- very nice) or shepherd's pie (minced beef stir fried with veges topped with mashed potatoes, cheese and baked).

Will ur maid be making confinement food for you? Then u may need a confinement food cookbook as well.
 
babymaking
true lar.. tingkat is not very healthy

for lunch u can try getting the maid to prepare
-spaghetti/lagsagne or
-ABC soup where u throw in chicken, veg eg potato, carrots, white/yellow onions and boil plus rice
-fried beehoon/mee
-simple western food eg chicken chop/fish n chips
 
babymaking
I am fine. Yup, back to work after a 3 month break. Slowly adapting, but get backache from sitting down for too long.

r you still on bedrest?

re: menu planning
actually, its more cost effective to plan menu for 1 week. Going to the market/supermarket can be cotly. Actually indo maids are very simple in their meals. Just sambal & veg makes a meal for them. You should concentrate on eating well for yourself, like lots of fish & protein stuff. For the maid, can buy just one packet of frozen chicken wings etc and ask her to cook her own.
 
bbmaking, I always plan a week in advance so I do not have to think of wat to cook. I know some indo maids do take pork one.

Tas, I think I am the weird asian in Vancouver and here, I use cold water but those asians over at Vancouver and here are all using warm water for washing dishes and stuff haahaa.
 
babymaking, ya agree with what pink said about the fish... though 1 family member doesn't eat fish, u can still have it yourself since its good for baby. unless you're the one who doesn't like fish???
 
bbmaking, I have some recipe in my food blog, maybe you can explore. Simple dishes.

I love sheperd pie too, baked rice etc.
 
re: tingkat meal

i dun have a choice... no maid.. both mil and mum working... den no place to employ CL... den have to take care bb myself.. so tingkat is the best option..
 
pris
lol
i dun mind washing using warm water.. in fact when i go oversea.. i wash with warm water.. but SG dun hv warm water for us to wash our dishes mah...

re: 2nd tri
anyone feeling more tired than 1st tri?
i dunno y but i m feeling tired.. even abit MS.. sigh.. so weird de
 
pris, how do u do baked rice? I like that too. Is it cook ingredients, put on top of rice and bake w cheese?

janice, better get a confinement tingkat for the 1st month. Hope u are not thinking of the normal tingkat cos that kind won't give u enbough nutrients esp for breastfeeding..
 
babymaking
must have fish for preggy!! lots of dha n protein from the fishy..
i hate fish but i still eat them... for baby's sake mah...

if u wan, can get maid to pan fry salmon n drizzle teriyaki sauce on the fish... simple n easy... else can have pan fried codfish n drizzle some heated soy sauce + spring onion on it...
 
re: tingkat meals

right now I having tingkat meals for dinner. But the one that I having has a better quality of food and no msg. no choice for now as working & got no full time maid.
 
janice, the confinement tingkat is quite good lah... cos its really expensive so we're paying for better food/ingredients. So after the 1st month, how do u plan to take care of ur meals?
 
Mich, I used raw seafood for all my bake rice, then you have to get the cream sauce to layer the rice with seafood and mixed vegetable and the last layer is the cream sauce and cheese.

Janice, you can order the confinement tingkat, www.newbaby.com.sg is one that a friend use.
 
janice
i think neogarden de confinement tingkat is greatly recommended by most mummies...

pris
aiyo tat mean water heater has to be on all the time.. electricity bill v high woh!
 
pris, so the seafood is not cooked yet and it cooks when you baked it? Cream sauce I can use the bottles that are meant for creamy sphaghetti?
 
mich.. after 1st month.. den can eat normal food still not so jialat... can anyhow eat anyhow prepare.. no need specific food ma.. can ta bao lo..

tas.. wats neogarden webby?
 
mich
coz those are the only fish things i eat.. other than sashimi n fish noodles from foodcourt, cantonese style steamfish... the rest i dun eat de.. i scared of fishy smell

janice
agree that confinement tingkat is ex... but i guess the ingredients are better?
u can have trial for them to test which suits ur taste buds better de..
 
janice,
their subsidary does confinment dishes. you can check with them. last time I kanna m/c, ordered before and the taste & quality is alsoquite good.
 

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