WFMW: And this porridge was /just/ right.
Posted by lorena bee on 22 Apr 2008 at 10:38 pm | Tagged as: food, works for me wednesday
Works for me Wednesday!
Once the office work day ends, another set of races begin. Get the kids. Supervise homework while dinner cooks. Cool food enough to serve hungry children. Try not to scorch their little taste buds. Actually manage to serve the adults warm food at the same time.
For a while, I simply mixed frozen veggies into each serving of kid food, then tossed the plated meals in the refrigerator for a few moments. Mixed results, mostly good, until it was time to rotate out the hurricane stocks of canned veggies. At the same time, I realized the kids were ready for actual plates and bowls made of glass instead of plastic, current data on BPA aside. So I borrowed a trick from the hub: keep the plates and bowls cold, using the refrigerator.
This time, I put the empty bowls and plates in the chiller. Then I started dinner. By the time the meal was cooked, the dishes were rather cool. I pulled the dishes, added hot food, popped them back into the fridge, and waited a shorter amount of time than I had with frozen veggies or room-temperature plates. As the kid meals continued the cooling process, I plated the adult food as usual, and everyone could sit down at the same time to meals served at their desired temperature.
The idea hit me like a bolt of lightning as I pulled a dish of leftovers out of the fridge for re-heating. The heat just transfers to the dish, glass or plastic. If you start with a cold dish, the temperatures balance out more quickly. Now if only I could convince a few restaurants to do this with the perennial kids’ favorites such as the scalding-hot mac-n-cheese meals or spaghetti … I guess that’s what large tables and pocket book treasures are for.
This and other great ideas can be found at this week’s WFMW hosted at RocksInMyDryer.net.
great tip! thanks!
Great tip!!!!
My kids are older now, but that is a great tip! My husband always taught the kids to spread the food out on the plate as well- something about it cooling faster when there is more surface area…
Have you ever had problems putting hot food in a chilled glass bowl? I’d be afraid the bowl might crack.
Thanks, ladies.
Amy, no; I only fridge them and the food is pretty warm but not searing hot. I wouldn’t do this with something fried, for example.
And most of my dishes are tempered glass (not those bowls, I think). But you make a good point. I’ll amend my post tonight.
This is great tip. I used to do this when my childfen were very young. Thanks for sharing.
Great idea! I’d been using the fridge already, but now I’ll use it to chill the plate, too. Thanks. :)
You’re right, LeeAnn – that will be a great science lesson as they get to that stage. Eldest is almost there, but Helvi’s got a ways to go.
Thanks for stopping by, ladies, glad you liked it!
Great idea, i have to remember this one for when I have kids.