The Asian market is complete with raw produce, from vegetables, seafood and meat, and dry products exported from Asian countries. If you follow me via twitter and instagram (follow @ibyang in instagram if you want), you may have probably seen photographs of Filipino food that my Husband and I sometimes indulge in. It is in this Asian market that we get our Filipino food fix.
When I shop for raw produce at the Asian market, I buy in bulk so I can prepare, marinate and store them in bulk too. This is part of organizing and preparing the food that I will cook for the household in the coming weeks. I store the raw produce we bought in plastic containers and label them so it’s easier for me to figure out what to cook on a daily or weekly basis.
I buy a big slab of beef (1-2 kilos) and cut it to different cuts: cubes, strips, for steak. My choice of beef varies so we try different parts from time to time. So far, I’ve tried silverside, topside, rump and scotch fillet. It’s usual that markets already cut the beef for you but I don’t really mind cutting the beef myself. With a 1-2 kilo slab of beef, I get to maximize the meat we bought. I make my own marinades for Bulgogi and Steaks.
I also do a bit of cutting of chicken for my food preps, too. My usual chicken marinades are Garlic Salt, Soy Sauce and Lemon and BBQ.
For Seafood, I ask the market to clean the fishes for me but before storing them, I still clean them the second time around. I also take out the fish scales also. For squids, I clean them myself. I usually lather some salt or garlic salt to the fishes before I store them inside the freezer.
On weekends, I’m most busy in the kitchen as it is during this time that I make time to do some bulk preparations.
One of the things that my friends in Manila asked me when I was there in April was “Do you really cook the food we see in your blog?” And the answer to that has always been, “Unless stated that I bought it, yes!”. When I was single and lived in the Philippines, I never really talked about cooking much so it was a bit of a surprise for even my closest friends to see photos of food in my blog and in facebook. But the truth is, I’ve always had a love for food and I’ve always loved eating. Only it has been magnified now with the gift of technology and social networking.
Not only do I love to eat food, I also truly love preparing and cooking food. It’s tedious and may be time consuming to some but I find comfort and grateful that I know that what I put on the table for our family is something healthy and created with love.
13 Comments
jeanny
very organise ang sissy ko. 🙂
Wala bang kangaroo meat sa ref mo hehehe.:-)
Mommy Abigail
you’re so organized:) buying in bulk is one thing i just learned recently and its proven to be very economical. for us naman, we usually go to the butcher every fortnight. still have to find a nice place to get seafood though
Sarah A.
You’re so organized. How I wish I’m the same. I do grocery every week, and yes it’s painful both on schedule and pocket.
But thanks for the inspiration, I’ll try at least organize too,,
Zam
thank you very much for information !
kayni
wow, you’re so organized. i do most of my cooking during the weekends too, but i have to do grocery every week kasi if you’re single, buying in bulk won’t work.
bursky
haha! was about to post something similar. pero grabe, i’m organized (relatively) but i don’t put labels! you already Ibyang! 🙂 lol
A and i haven’t really gotten the hang of estimating how much we will be consuming in a month yet so we’re still on trial-and-error mode. hopefully in a couple of months, we’ll be as organized as you! 🙂
Ibyang
@jeanny: thank you! no kangaroo or lamb meat inside our fridge. i’m a bit hesitant to cook them.
Ibyang
@Abigail: thank you 🙂 in the middle of the month we pay a quick visit to the asian market if we need to replenish meat, fish and chicken. every week, i visit the asian market for our vegetable needs.
Ibyang
@Sarah: salamat! it took us awhile to have that monthly discipline of going to the supermarket for major grocery shopping. so maybe later on, you’ll also be able to only do grocery shopping on at least a fortnightly or monthly habit.
big advantages of going on a monthly or fortnightly basis: helps avoid overspending on grocery, cut costs in car petrol, saves time and lessens wastage of food at home.
Ibyang
@Zam: thanks for stopping by 🙂
Ibyang
@kayni: thank you! i agree, it’s hard to buy in bulk when you are living independently.
Ibyang
@bursky: thanks! i have to put labels on my containers because I tend to forget what i did to my meat, chicken and fishes (sometimes i can’t remember if I marinated them in salt already!!) haha. plus, it’s easier to think of what to cook (for example, one of my labels said “beef cubes for nilaga or kaldereta”). it will take awhile to master the art of preparing and cooking food for two so enjoy the trial and error part.
we’ve been through a lot of trial and errors in the home (not just in preparing and cooking food) and we believe we’re always a work in progress. in a few months or so, we finally get to find a practice that works for our household. I’m sure you’ll do well too.
Connie
Ibyang, you are sooooo organized. My goodness, I wish I can do that. I really wish.