If so, I am planning lots of easy and healthy soups! I am excited to have a winter baby for this reason. Preferably ones that I can easily drink in a mug while nursing if need be.
Oh I have sooo many, I'll have to go collect my recipes but here are our fave freezer meals: For crockpot- Chicken curry Sunday Night Stew (Pioneer Woman!) Pot roast (make potatoes separate the day of, they do NOT freeze well!) Tater tot casserole Corned beef and cabbage
For oven (freeze in aluminum pans): Lasagna Chicken spaghetti (another PW recipe) Cinnamon rolls (because yum!) Coffee cake
Quick meals: Pizza (we make tons of homemade pizzas and freeze them on cardboard rounds wrapped in plastic. Way cheaper than store frozen pizza and it's homemade!) Meatballs Chicken nuggets Breakfast burritos (DH's fave) Chicken and black bean burritos Calzones Cookies (freeze dough in balls and they are ready to pop onto a pan and bake!)
These ones are ones we've made often, I'll have to go back through all my Pinterest boards and find some others we've done and liked! I LOVE freezer meals.
Married 6/1/13
BFP #1 7/2013 MMC 9/17/13
BFP #2 5/2014 MC 6/15/14
BFP #3 11/13/14 (Found in ER with ruptured cyst) Diagnosed MC 11/15/14
BFP #4 4/2015 MC 7/1/15
BFP #5 10/21/15 EDD 7/3/16 Praying for our rainbow!
If so, I am planning lots of easy and healthy soups! I am excited to have a winter baby for this reason. Preferably ones that I can easily drink in a mug while nursing if need be.
ooooh yeah, that sounds great!
I have been looking at some pinterest stuff and plan to make some for post baby, all I have so far is lasagna roll ups, stuffed shells, chili, soup, and maybe some bolognese sauce?
It I could offer one tip it would be to have a variety of things. It seems that the most classic freezer stuff has a tomato base (chili, lasagna, casseroles, and spaghetti sauce). In my experience and of people I know as well it is not uncommon for the acidity of the tomatoes to bother some babies making them gassy and causing diaper rash sometimes. Just good to have a variety of things for that reason.
Look up dump chicken recipes. Those are easy and offer something a bit different. It's basically different versions of a whole cut up chicken in different marinades that you just thaw and toss in a slow cooker
DD born Oct 2011 - DS#1 born Jan 2014 - DS#2 born Apr 2015 - DS#3 born Sept 2016 - LO#5 due Feb 7, 2018
Oh I have sooo many, I'll have to go collect my recipes but here are our fave freezer meals: For crockpot- Chicken curry Sunday Night Stew (Pioneer Woman!) Pot roast (make potatoes separate the day of, they do NOT freeze well!) Tater tot casserole Corned beef and cabbage
For oven (freeze in aluminum pans): Lasagna Chicken spaghetti (another PW recipe) Cinnamon rolls (because yum!) Coffee cake
Quick meals: Pizza (we make tons of homemade pizzas and freeze them on cardboard rounds wrapped in plastic. Way cheaper than store frozen pizza and it's homemade!) Meatballs Chicken nuggets Breakfast burritos (DH's fave) Chicken and black bean burritos Calzones Cookies (freeze dough in balls and they are ready to pop onto a pan and bake!)
These ones are ones we've made often, I'll have to go back through all my Pinterest boards and find some others we've done and liked! I LOVE freezer meals.
It I could offer one tip it would be to have a variety of things. It seems that the most classic freezer stuff has a tomato base (chili, lasagna, casseroles, and spaghetti sauce). In my experience and of people I know as well it is not uncommon for the acidity of the tomatoes to bother some babies making them gassy and causing diaper rash sometimes. Just good to have a variety of things for that reason.
Look up dump chicken recipes. Those are easy and offer something a bit different. It's basically different versions of a whole cut up chicken in different marinades that you just thaw and toss in a slow cooker
Good point with the tomatoes. If we had spaghetti one night, tacos (with homemade pico) The next, and then something else with tomatoes DD1 would get diaper rash. For awhile she couldn't do more than two tomato meals a week.
I totally agree with what @sabriel1 said, but don't stress too much. My LO's were sensitive to peppers, onions, tomatoes, broccoli, dairy of any kind… You never know what it's going to be.
Does anyone have good Fall recipes for freezer meals? I have a feeling that as my energy comes and goes I should utilize it when it's here and make it easier to cook when I'm exhausted.
Along the same vein, we use an Insta-pot and it has been a life saver. I am the absolute worst when it comes to prepping food ahead of time, so the insta-pot has really solved a ton of my too busy/ too lazy problems.
Mongolian beef for the crock pot (put it all in a ziplock uncooked, can cook from frozen)
Spinach and mushroom lasagna
@winnie1122 can you share your breakfast burrito recipe
Andrea (31), married Aaron (36) September 2012
Parents to fur babies Tiki and Gizzmo and 2yr old Georgia IF veterans; #1 conceived on second clomid+HCG+IUI, #2 conceived on 1st Letrozole+HCG+IUI EDD: Feb 5, 2018
@Aeml1985 Yep, super simple! I just scramble a bunch of eggs, cook up some breakfast sausage patties (or just thaw precooked ones from the store if I'm feeling lazy) and put a little of both in a tortilla with cheddar cheese. Roll them up and place in freezer bag to freeze, and they microwave up perfectly when you're ready to eat one. You could probably bake them too but I never have. DH used to get these at McDs all the time and so I just started making our own and he likes ours better, woohoo! I like to make several dozen at a time to freeze.
Eta: I would say there's about 1 1/2 eggs and one sausage patty per tortilla. I use the fajita size tortillas. DH usually eats like 3 of them for breakfast when I have them on hand.
Married 6/1/13
BFP #1 7/2013 MMC 9/17/13
BFP #2 5/2014 MC 6/15/14
BFP #3 11/13/14 (Found in ER with ruptured cyst) Diagnosed MC 11/15/14
BFP #4 4/2015 MC 7/1/15
BFP #5 10/21/15 EDD 7/3/16 Praying for our rainbow!
I love potato soup and any kind of soup really, the temperature of soup always makes me relax even if it's only while I'm eating it. Pulled pork sandwiches Grilled chicken and have steamer bags of veggies or fresh veggies Quiche One thing to add is if you are going to be on maternity leave or are a stay at home mom make sure to freeze individual servings so you can easily have lunches too.
Good thinking @gymmonkey95! I'll be a sahm to a 3 yo, 1.5 yo, and a newborn when Squish is born. That will be* nice to have things in smaller portions for me and the girls.
This is officially my favorite thread. Working really hard to clear out our freezer in the next two months so I can start stocking these. Love the suggestions so far ladies!
When I started getting really into freezer cooking I totally splurged on a little chest freezer for the garage so I could prep more stuff at once. Haha watch out for the obsession to hit if you start!
Married 6/1/13
BFP #1 7/2013 MMC 9/17/13
BFP #2 5/2014 MC 6/15/14
BFP #3 11/13/14 (Found in ER with ruptured cyst) Diagnosed MC 11/15/14
BFP #4 4/2015 MC 7/1/15
BFP #5 10/21/15 EDD 7/3/16 Praying for our rainbow!
This may be a dumb question, how do you store and reheat the freezer meals? For example, a crockpot recipe that's already cooked like pulled chicken. Would you store it in Tupperware then microwave the whole thing? How do you prevent that old frost bitten flavor that sometimes happens in the freezer?
This may be a dumb question, how do you store and reheat the freezer meals? For example, a crockpot recipe that's already cooked like pulled chicken. Would you store it in Tupperware then microwave the whole thing? How do you prevent that old frost bitten flavor that sometimes happens in the freezer?
Once it's cooked I don't usually re freeze it, just refrigerate leftovers. Though I guess some things I precook to freeze and microwave, like meatballs, and freezer bags work fine for that. You can also get deep freeze containers for cheap that I sometimes put stuff in, supposedly they help with freezer burn?
Married 6/1/13
BFP #1 7/2013 MMC 9/17/13
BFP #2 5/2014 MC 6/15/14
BFP #3 11/13/14 (Found in ER with ruptured cyst) Diagnosed MC 11/15/14
BFP #4 4/2015 MC 7/1/15
BFP #5 10/21/15 EDD 7/3/16 Praying for our rainbow!
Along the line of the breakfast burrito post above. You can make egg cups in muffin tins. Grease them. Crack and egg or egg whites. Toppings of choice. Bake till eggs are set. Wrap each individual in Saran Wrap, throw in freezer bag and be done. My hubby will toast an English muffin and pop one in the microwave for a fast on the road breakfast driving to work.
@Ashoes123 most crock pot meals freeze better uncooked. I made 20 before I went back to work after DD1, just dump all ingredients (except pasta/barley etc) in a ziplock freezer bag and then write instructions on the outside. Some recipes you add liquid to on the day of cooking.
Andrea (31), married Aaron (36) September 2012
Parents to fur babies Tiki and Gizzmo and 2yr old Georgia IF veterans; #1 conceived on second clomid+HCG+IUI, #2 conceived on 1st Letrozole+HCG+IUI EDD: Feb 5, 2018
@3plus1equals4 I haven't frozen a quiche yet because I eat it too fast lol but I would freeze in a foil pie pan just like freezing lasagna. If I were to not eat it so fast I would freeze individual servings in seal a meal bags.
@Ashoes123 I put meals in seal a meal bags so they don't take up too much room and they can thaw in the bag. Depending on what food it is I just pop it in the microwave or on the stove.
I love the idea of premade uncooked crockpot meals that you dump the frozen contents into the crockpot. I had no idea that could be done without defrosting it first. I'll also look into smaller individual freezer containers. My problem I'm the past is that I'll store in too big of batches.
My favorite freezer meals have been: turkey chilli, English muffin breakfast sandwhiches with egg white cheddar and turkey bacon, sweet potato and black bean burritos, quesadillas for my toddlers lunches, pumpkin pancakes, and smoothie packets.
We did a ton of crock pot meals last time. Our favorites were beef roasts and cranberry pork roasts. If you do crock pot freezer meals, I highly recommend getting the crock pot liners so you don't have to clean out the pot. We would just dump the bag when it cooled and put in a new one ready for the next meal.
It's been hard for me in the past to do freezer meals becuase I don't really eat meat and hubby isn't a fan of crock pot meals lol. I have found I really enjoy freezing soups, breakfast sandwiches, different types of pasta sauce and chilies! Also love having some lasagne roll ups in the freezer. Soups and sauces are good in small freezer bags, chili and lasagna are good in the disposable foil trays. I usually do a nice small amount becuase I don't like to bother having tons of left overs of a freezer meals, we are small eaters.
for sure going to try the breakfast muffins as some of you have suggested. I find breakfast and lunch is what I need stuff ready to go for as I am good at fast and easy suppers.
Oh and I forgot pulled pork!! Make a big batch, and feeeze desired portions. We have a vacuum sealer so we can seal it up in a bag, then you boil in the bag for ten mins and serve it with your buns and coleslaw. Its probably hubby's favourite.
tamales are great freezer meals, but a ton of prep work. We usually do them once a year during Christmas break to last til the next year. Also meat can be thrown into a crockpot completely frozen and will be ready by dinner and you can make a ton of different flavor combination and use different cuts - ground meats, sausages, cubed meat, roasts, chicken pieces or whole birds, pork chops, etc. And you get a different meal by changing up the sauces. When you get home it might takes 30 minutes to make rice or pasta and heat up some vegetables, but you could precook those on the weekend. And you end up with a meal that isn't a one pot crock pot meddly stew But that didn't take a lot of time our effort to make.
My mom always does a clever thing- she will spend a morning making a tonnn of chicken breasts. Then she makes a big batch of homemade chicken noodle soup (with big egg noodles and loads of chicken and veggies). Then she makes a large batch of chicken and RICE soup with a creamier broth - mainly the same ingredients but a few switches and it's effectively a totally different tasting meal. Finally she takes the remaining chicken (she made a lot!) and individually freeze those to be thawed/ reheated later and served with whatever easy side is available- or as a chicken sandwich. The labor involved is minimal because the soups cook slowly on their own and wrapping / freezing chicken is simple enough. She raised a bunch of kids while working full time so the lady knows how to maximize her time in the kitchen- i plan to do this prior to baby's arrival so that we have some healthy things to toss on the stove when I'm too tired to think of a good meal plan.
@gymmonkey95 Waffles and pancakes freeze well to take out as needed. I've also done cinnamon rolls and coffee cake with berries in aluminum pans so they're ready for mornings I want a 'special' breakfast for company or just because and I don't have extra time. Also love making smoothie packs! Freeze individual servings of your smoothie ingredients (I do yogurt cubes that I freeze before assembling the packs, chopped frozen strawberries, and chopped bananas) and add to the blender with a can of v8 juice (but whatever liquid you like) the morning of! Quick with minimal clean up, and you can put whatever you like in the smoothie packs!
Married 6/1/13
BFP #1 7/2013 MMC 9/17/13
BFP #2 5/2014 MC 6/15/14
BFP #3 11/13/14 (Found in ER with ruptured cyst) Diagnosed MC 11/15/14
BFP #4 4/2015 MC 7/1/15
BFP #5 10/21/15 EDD 7/3/16 Praying for our rainbow!
Loving this thread and all the yummy ideas! Best thing about a February due date is that I’m always in the mood to cook in the winter, especially soup, which usually freezes up nice! I’m actually looking forward to the freezer stocking and cooking I can get done on maternity leave (hopefully).
I love the idea of having some meals made up before the baby gets here because I pretty sure I will be in no mood to cook and I always feel kinda bad when I have to make DH cook dinner.
Love the idea of the breakfast burritos and will definitely try to have some stews or a chili ready to go in the freezer. Thanks for all the fantastic ideas ladies!
Totally agree @sabriel1, make sure you don't have all your freezer meals be tomato based (many common ones are)! After my c section, my stomach was so irritated I couldn't handle anything with tomatoes or onions. Or anything too spicy or greasy. And my friend had a nursing baby who got so sick if she ate anything Italian. I know people experience that with dairy too. So it's good to have a variety. I didn't do any freezer meals last time but I think I should this time - since I have my daughter to feed! So many people had mentioned bringing meals but then no one really did in reality. Except my MIL, who brought something gross! So don't rely on other people, lol! I have froze meals in the past. But we forget to eat them. Or I don't take them out to thaw soon enough and it's frustrating - because I usually froze extras that were already cooked. I definitely need to figure out ideas that we will eat and are easy to thaw/cook. When they are so little they hardly want you to put them down. And at least for us, the witching hour started early. And that is right at dinner time. So definitely plan on something that you can just pop in the oven or crock pot. Or something your spouse can handle doing! It needs to be easy!
Oh, and a good supply of frozen veggies, hash browns, French fries, rice etc is a good idea too. Or those microwavable rice, veggies. So you can make quick sides. Don't make my mistakes...take time to label everything properly! List what it is and when it was frozen (and maybe even when it should be eaten by). Organize your freezer well. Keep a list on the freezer door and cross off as you eat them.
Resurrecting this cuz so people mentioned freezer meals in the to do lists.
Anyone know if quesadillas freeze well? I'm trying to come up with stuff we actually both like to eat regularly that could freeze... Also if you make breakfast sandwiches and freeze, when you defrost/heat up, are the eggs the same general texture as if you just cooked them or does the texture change?
@clc515 The only egg things I’ve frozen so far are breakfast sandwiches and burritos, and they do keep their texture well in that form! The only thing a little different was that when you reheat them in the breakfast sandwiches the eggs do get a tad slippery and fall out of the sandwich, so when I assemble them now I put a little cheese on both sides of the egg to melt it all together when I reheat them. But otherwise no unpleasant texture changes! I’m still trying to hack the potato, anyone found the secret to freezing potatoes successfully?? Even the blog posts telling ‘the secret’ don’t seem to work when I try them, and I have given up on freezing any potato things. But it sure would be nice! I feel like if I can get potatoes in the freezer aisle that aren’t gross I should be able to freeze them too, but so far no luck.
Married 6/1/13
BFP #1 7/2013 MMC 9/17/13
BFP #2 5/2014 MC 6/15/14
BFP #3 11/13/14 (Found in ER with ruptured cyst) Diagnosed MC 11/15/14
BFP #4 4/2015 MC 7/1/15
BFP #5 10/21/15 EDD 7/3/16 Praying for our rainbow!
Thanks for the input! Can't go wrong with adding more cheese to a sandwich to avoid slippery eggs haha.
We are so very bad at eating things in the freezer, or leftovers in general, so I'm thinking hard about how much I want to prep in advance. Plus our freezer is tiny, so we'll see! Brainstorming now so can do stuff in Dec so things last 2-3 months.
@winnie1122 I don't know how you've frozen potatoes but I have put twice baked potatoes in a seal a meal bag and they have heated just fine. I haven't tried other forms of potato though
TattoosandLace
member
Re: Freezer Meal Chat
If so, I am planning lots of easy and healthy soups! I am excited to have a winter baby for this reason. Preferably ones that I can easily drink in a mug while nursing if need be.
For crockpot-
Chicken curry
Sunday Night Stew (Pioneer Woman!)
Pot roast (make potatoes separate the day of, they do NOT freeze well!)
Tater tot casserole
Corned beef and cabbage
For oven (freeze in aluminum pans):
Lasagna
Chicken spaghetti (another PW recipe)
Cinnamon rolls (because yum!)
Coffee cake
Quick meals:
Pizza (we make tons of homemade pizzas and freeze them on cardboard rounds wrapped in plastic. Way cheaper than store frozen pizza and it's homemade!)
Meatballs
Chicken nuggets
Breakfast burritos (DH's fave)
Chicken and black bean burritos
Calzones
Cookies (freeze dough in balls and they are ready to pop onto a pan and bake!)
These ones are ones we've made often, I'll have to go back through all my Pinterest boards and find some others we've done and liked! I LOVE freezer meals.
I have been looking at some pinterest stuff and plan to make some for post baby, all I have so far is lasagna roll ups, stuffed shells, chili, soup, and maybe some bolognese sauce?
Look up dump chicken recipes. Those are easy and offer something a bit different. It's basically different versions of a whole cut up chicken in different marinades that you just thaw and toss in a slow cooker
morning glory muffins
Mongolian beef for the crock pot (put it all in a ziplock uncooked, can cook from frozen)
Spinach and mushroom lasagna
@winnie1122 can you share your breakfast burrito recipe
IF veterans; #1 conceived on second clomid+HCG+IUI, #2 conceived on 1st Letrozole+HCG+IUI
EDD: Feb 5, 2018
Eta: I would say there's about 1 1/2 eggs and one sausage patty per tortilla. I use the fajita size tortillas. DH usually eats like 3 of them for breakfast when I have them on hand.
Pulled pork sandwiches
Grilled chicken and have steamer bags of veggies or fresh veggies
Quiche
One thing to add is if you are going to be on maternity leave or are a stay at home mom make sure to freeze individual servings so you can easily have lunches too.
IF veterans; #1 conceived on second clomid+HCG+IUI, #2 conceived on 1st Letrozole+HCG+IUI
EDD: Feb 5, 2018
@Ashoes123 I put meals in seal a meal bags so they don't take up too much room and they can thaw in the bag. Depending on what food it is I just pop it in the microwave or on the stove.
My favorite freezer meals have been: turkey chilli, English muffin breakfast sandwhiches with egg white cheddar and turkey bacon, sweet potato and black bean burritos, quesadillas for my toddlers lunches, pumpkin pancakes, and smoothie packets.
I have found I really enjoy freezing soups, breakfast sandwiches, different types of pasta sauce and chilies! Also love having some lasagne roll ups in the freezer.
Soups and sauces are good in small freezer bags, chili and lasagna are good in the disposable foil trays. I usually do a nice small amount becuase I don't like to bother having tons of left overs of a freezer meals, we are small eaters.
for sure going to try the breakfast muffins as some of you have suggested. I find breakfast and lunch is what I need stuff ready to go for as I am good at fast and easy suppers.
Make a big batch, and feeeze desired portions. We have a vacuum sealer so we can seal it up in a bag, then you boil in the bag for ten mins and serve it with your buns and coleslaw. Its probably hubby's favourite.
older siblings: ds 16 dd 14 ds 13 dd 11 dd 7
Love the idea of the breakfast burritos and will definitely try to have some stews or a chili ready to go in the freezer. Thanks for all the fantastic ideas ladies!
I have froze meals in the past. But we forget to eat them. Or I don't take them out to thaw soon enough and it's frustrating - because I usually froze extras that were already cooked. I definitely need to figure out ideas that we will eat and are easy to thaw/cook. When they are so little they hardly want you to put them down. And at least for us, the witching hour started early. And that is right at dinner time. So definitely plan on something that you can just pop in the oven or crock pot. Or something your spouse can handle doing! It needs to be easy!
Anyone know if quesadillas freeze well? I'm trying to come up with stuff we actually both like to eat regularly that could freeze... Also if you make breakfast sandwiches and freeze, when you defrost/heat up, are the eggs the same general texture as if you just cooked them or does the texture change?
We are so very bad at eating things in the freezer, or leftovers in general, so I'm thinking hard about how much I want to prep in advance. Plus our freezer is tiny, so we'll see! Brainstorming now so can do stuff in Dec so things last 2-3 months.