How to prepare a meal Misty Gulick 21814803
Preparing a meal can be simple, easy and enjoyable. You will need to ask yourself many questions. To begin with, do you have a recipe in mind? If not you can find one in newspapers, magazines, cook books, or online. How many people will you be cooking for? Most recipes tell you how many it serves, you may need to cut the ingredients in half or double them depending on how many people you’re cooking for. Do any of your guests have health or dietary restrictions? You may need to cut out or substitute ingredients, such as salt, meat or wheat.
Look in your pantry, refrigerator, and freezer for ingredients you already have. This will save you time, energy and money later while you’re grocery shopping. Find out which ingredients you need and make a grocery list. You will also need to know what cooking ware you will need. It is important to have the correct type and size of utensils because it can affect the finished product. You may want to do your shopping one to two days before you plan to prepare the meal. While you’re shopping check the expirations dates and keep in mind the quantity you will need.
The day before you need to prepare your meal read through the recipe fully, if there is any terminologies you don’t know look it up. This will help you plan how long you need to cook the meal and make sure no surprises pop up during cooking. At this time you can do some prep work as well, like chopping, slicing, dicing, and shredding. This will save you time on the day the meal will be cooked and allow more time to socialize with guests.
When storing your ingredients, doing prep work and cooking you will need to keep in mind food safety. This is very important; food not handled properly can result in your guests getting sick. Make sure foods are stored at the proper, recommended temperatures, cooked to a safe internal temperature to destroy harmful bacteria, and cooked and uncooked foods are kept separate. If...