Passover always involves a lot of food for thought. Or, rather, thoughts of food. What about the second day? Will there be enough sides? What should you serve your vegetarian cousin?
Whether you just need a side to bring to a Passover potluck or hate cooking and want someone else to provide the whole meal, local supermarkets and kosher caterers have you covered. Here are the places you can get your premade, ready-to-eat (with maybe some microwaving) Passover food.
Balducci’s Food Lovers Market
The catering side of Balducci’s is offering a full Passover menu. It includes a mix-and-match full Passover meal, along with individual starters, entrees, sides and desserts available to order for pick up.
Maybe you want a the full meal — choose from brisket, lemon-thyme roasted chicken or citrus glazed grilled salmon, among other entrees — or maybe you just want to impress the family gathering with parmesan encrusted artichokes.
Be sure to note, however, that Balducci’s, with locations in Bethesda, Alexandria and McLean, calls its selections “kosher style” — not kosher.
See full menu at balduccis.com/catering/Passover.
Max’s Café/Signature Catering/Shalom Kosher
The Shalom Group, the owners of local kosher favorites Max’s Café and Catering, Signature Caterers and Shalom Kosher, offer a classic Passover menu every year.
“We probably get over 200 orders,” says Kenny Wong, Shalom Group office manager. “It’s our biggest catering event for prepared food.”
The Silver Spring-based group has been offering Passover premade food for more than a decade, Wong adds, and customers love to mix and match their own recipes with Shalom Group food. There’s a minimum $50 per order and the menu features everything from full seder dinner packages and both meat and vegetarian entrees to side dishes and a variety of kugels. The menu also indicates options that are gluten free and nut free for those with allergies.
The Shalom Group is under the supervision of the Rabbinical Council of Greater Washington. For full menu, go to theshalomgroup.com.
Moti’s Market
Moti’s Market in Rockville also has a full Passover menu to choose from. If you’re hosting the whole family, maybe spring for the 16-pound turkey with stuffing and gravy or even the turducken (which Moti’s estimates will feed 20-25) for $165 and $175 each.
Otherwise, all the favorites are there, like baba ganoush, matzah ball soup, tzimmes, chopped liver and gefilte fish. Orders must be in by March 19 and can be picked up March 29 and 30.
Moti’s Market is under the supervision of the Rabbinical Council of Greater Washington. For full menu, go to motismarket.com/holidaymenus.php.
Souper Girl
Alongside its normal kosher offerings, Souper Girl in Washington has a special just-for-Passover menu available. And it’s not just soup, although that’s a specialty. The Passover soups — garlicky borscht soup, roasted carrot fennel soup, gingery quinoa vegetable soup and, of course, matzah ball soup, among others — can be ordered in a quart of gallon directly from Souper Girl or at local Whole Foods locations and the Wheaton Costco.
“It’s very busy,” says Souper Girl Operations Manager Jenna Bergier. “We do a lot of deliveries, a lot of preorders. And that first week in April we have a lot of people coming in and eating.”
Alongside the signature soups, Souper Girl is offering a quinoa pudding, faux chopped liver (made from mushrooms, onion, walnuts and carrots), root vegetable tsimmes and traditional charoset.
Souper Girl is certified kosher for Passover by the Star K and the Rabbinical Council of Greater Washington. For full menu, go to souperpassover.com.
Potomac 18
If you’re looking for a fancier (and slightly pricier) premade option, Potomac 18, based in Gaithersburg, has you covered. It’s offering full breakfast, lunch and dinner options for every day of Passover with brand new menus. And it includes the full meals for the first and second seders.
Every dinner is a three-course meal and every meal is different. From a poached salmon lunch and fresh pastry breakfast to dinner entrees of pan roasted sea bass and roast prime rib, Potomac 18 has something for everyone. Customers can order their meals before Passover and pick them up or have them delivered.
Potomac 18 is certified kosher under the supervision of the Orthodox Union. Order at potomac18.com.
Whole Foods
While Whole Foods has been offering premade Passover food for many years, this year they’re partnering with cookbook author Joan Nathan to reproduce some of the recipes of her newest cookbook, “King Solomon’s Table.”
“People want your bubbe’s brisket that you’ve had for years,” says culinary coordinator Alan Morgan. “And those are staples we’re never going to be able to compete with. But [these dishes] have some traditional parts, but then have some new, modern twists to them. They’re just fun and they’re delicious.”
The store is offering a full Passover meal for eight or 12 people, but the dishes can be ordered separately as well. The recipes include double-lemon roast chicken; Sicilian eggplant caponata Jewish-style; Tunisian carrot salad with cumin, coriander and caraway; and Brazilian charoset with apples, dates and cashews.
The food is kosher style, and not prepared under rabbinic supervision. See full menu at shop.wfm.com.
