Thursday, November 4, 2010

Preparing for Baby: Freezer Meals


I mentioned previously that I'm working on freezer meals for when the baby comes. My plan is to basically cook double the month of November so we have roughly meals for a month after Zombie Baby appears. I know what I'm doing won't make our lives a breeze, but I'm hoping that it will help us not order pizza every other night or rely on our moms to come make us food while we are sleep deprived and figuring out this whole parent business. We'll of course have to shop for some of the sides and items like milk and eggs, but this will cut down significantly on our time in the kitchen as well as cleaning!

To prep for this, I bought a package of Ziploc containers as well as aluminum casserole tins with lids and pie tins. Then, of course, I figured out which meals I would make for each week which was more or less a guide rather than a strict menu plan.

Below is my overview plan. I'll do follow up posts with details, recipes and instructions for anyone interested in doing some prep cooking be it for a baby on the way for you or someone you know or perhaps you just want to have a stock of dinners in your freezer!

Pre-Week 1: (I had a few things to cook the week prior that were suitable for freezing, so I jumped the gun in October)
  • Spaghetti Sauce
  • Tomato Beef Chili

Week 1:
  • Meatballs
  • White Bean Chicken Chili
  • Creamy Chicken Spinach Pasta
  • Florentine Stuffed Shells
  • Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins (these might not make it to January :) )

Week 2:
  • Macaroni & Cheese
  • Chicken Pot Pies
  • Vegetable Lasagna
  • Mashed Potatoes


Week 3:
  • Sausage Egg and Cheese Strata
  • Laughing Cow Chicken (Saved individually)
  • Beef Enchiladas

Week 4:
  • Classic Beef Stew
  • Cottage Pie (Shepherd's Pie but with beef)
  • Sweet & Sour Chicken


Carl isn't completely inept in the kitchen either, so hopefully between the two of us when none of these sound good or we run out, we still have some options. Some easy dinners I plan on having stocked in the pantry and freezer are as follows:

  • Buitoni's Cooked Cheese Tortellini with Pesto Sauce (Both are kept well in the freezer for months)
  • Polish Kielbasa with Zattarain's Jambalaya Mix (Freezer for kielbasa and pantry for rice mix)
  • Waffle Mix and Turkey Bacon (Mix in the pantry, bacon in the freezer- btw- bacon thaws unbelievably quickly!)

So that's the plan. We'll see how well I can stick to it, especially with Thanksgiving thrown in there. Eek..the holidays are going to be here before we know it. I suppose I should get my butt in gear on preparing for those as well. What was I thinking have a baby in January? ;) So much going on in the next few months!

8 comments:

  1. hi! I started reading your blog from thenest and love your posts. I just had my baby in September and also froze some meals and I am SO glad that we did. Even though we have a very good baby it was nice just being able to stick something in the oven and be done with it! I did a blog post with the dishes that I made if you want to see some other recipes:
    http://bellybabbles.blogspot.com/2010/10/freezer-meals.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. I stumbled across your blog the other day and this post couldn't have been timed better. I'm due with a little girl in less than three weeks and have been avoiding the freezer meals. (I'm just not a chef!) I have a friend bringing something over tomorrow, but I'd really like to do a lot myself and not have to depend on other people volunteering (and possibly not following through). Can't wait to see your recipes :o)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Such a great idea! I am having #2 in the spring and am nervous about keeping it all together. Having some meals in the freezer sounds like a great way to get through the tough days.

    Will you please, please share your recipes?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I started freezer cooking this week too! Looking forward to following along! I posted my first one a couple of days ago, if you want to check it out.

    ReplyDelete
  5. A group of us (Indiana Bumpies) get together every month to "freezer cook". Each of us finds a recipe, buys enough ingredients for each participant, then makes those meals. Then we exchange with each other and take home as many meals as there are participants :)

    Here is one of my favorite freezer meals:
    http://peachskitchen.blogspot.com/search/label/freezer%20cooking

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm due with my first just 6 days before Christmas, so I feel your panic! I've been working on some freezer meals also, but would you please post your recipes so I can add a little more to my freezer?

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is such a great idea, and something I'd defintely like to do when I'm expecting. But it would also be great to just have a few meals stocked up for busy weeknights. Can't wait to see your recipes and storage tips.

    ReplyDelete

Molly gets just a touch happier when you comment!

Blog Widget by LinkWithin