My second daughter is due in mid-March. To help us get through the initial crazy period with a newborn and toddler at home, I'm planning to stock the freezer with a couple month's worth of meals.We tend to eat a lot of leftovers for lunch, so I want to have plenty stocked up for some lunch & dinner variety each week. I'll also do a few breakfast & snack items to break up the monotony of cereal, oatmeal, & crackers.
Our plan is to eat home-cooked as much as possible, to try and avoid the temptation of easy take-out when we're busy and sleep deprived.
My expectation is that our food expenses will increase a bit in the next month or so as we make and store our frozen dishes, but that the expense should even out during the post-baby period when we're shopping less. We'll see how that works out!
So far, here is what I have made:
--- Pasta sauce
--- Beef Stew
Other things I plan to make:
Chocolate chip and/or blueberry pancakes (from The Sneaky Chef)
Fruit & Veggie Muffins (See a great tip on freezing muffins)
Cabbage Rolls (substituting TVP for beef)
My husband loves to make giant vats of Chili and veggie soups, so we'll probably make some of those as well.
I'd love to see any freezer meal ideas or recipes you have! Please post them on your blog and link to it below. Or just post in the comments. Thanks!
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5 comments:
I haven't done any in a while, but I like doing pockets of any sort - pizza, ham and cheese, leftover roast w/cheese, breakfast, etc. :D
That is what I loved about the pizza pockets recipe I posted-- I can put all kinds of different things in the pockets for an easy way to have lots of variety!
We love chicken tortilla soup - and it freezes great as well. In a stock pot, put a couple of tablespoons of butter and melt. Add 1 large finely chopped onion, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp. cumin, a generous squirt of lime (lemon works if its what you've got) & 1 tsp chili powder. Let cook until onions are soft. Take a can of diced tomatoes and a can of rotel (I use off brand), and 1 cup of your favorite salsa, blend them and put them in stock pot. (I hate chunks). Add 6 cups chicken broth or stock. Keep it simmering. Pull apart a rotisserie chicken from the bakery (I try to find them on mark down), and add to pot. Finally, add 2 cups frozen corn kernels and 2 cans of black beans, rinsed and drained. Simmer for around an hour, then add 8 oz sour cream and stir. Top with crushed tortilla chips and your favorite cheese. I usually make this and put 2/3 of it in two one-gallon sized ziploc freezer bags, and put in the refrigerator overnight. Then pop into the freezer. (the extra time helps the spices blend better) so we have 3 meals out of one. I've found that if I freeze in smaller portions, we don't get quite so tired of the leftovers.
great idea! Those recipes sound good. I wish I had an extra freezer to fill before our next baby, but I am stocking up our pantry so at least we'll have some easy prep and convenience meals for that exhausting time:)
Before I had my youngest (of six) daughter, as soon as I found out I was pregnant, I began sextupling by recipes, meaning I made six and put five in the freezer. I didn't do this every single night, obviously, but I did it enough times that by the time she was born I had six months of meals in the freezer! It was amazingly wonderful, and I am trying to get into that habit again. Not pregnant now, just busy!
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