Frozen meals--Best Idea Ever!

mamayo26 · April 2012

So DH and I spent a day and half preparing frozen meals for when LO arrives that literally can just be tossed in the oven.

We are lucky that we have a stand alone freezer to put it all in, because even though we only prepared 7 recipies (we doubled some) it is now almost full. We have about 15 meals (not including what will be left over from each one of those that we can have for lunch later in the week.

We still have 8 other recipies that we want to do before LO comes, but may have to keep those as singles so that we can fit them all in.

DH asked why we have never done this before (I used to mention that we should create our own 'frozen meals' instead of paying so much for the ones in the store). I told him because we never had a baby before...but it looks like we will plan on doing this at least once a year, so that we always have a good meal ready to go.

I highly recomend this to anyone on the fence about it. It takes awhile, but your house will smell so good.

Here is the site we used, but I know there are a tone of others out there:

https://joelens.blogspot.com/2007/01/freezer-friendlymake-ahead.html

khill86 · April 2012

We're planning on freezing meals. Okay I'M planning on freezing meals. Did you freeze entire batches of things or did you choose to portion them out? I can't decide if I want to freeze an entire tray of lasagna, if I should portion it out, or if I should make like 4 half trays. Or maybe do a mix of all three.

Same with chili. Should I freeze a pot of chili in one big container or make half batches, or single bowls. I don't know why this is so hard for me to decide!!

mamayo26 · April 2012

We did some big and some small. That way if it is just the two of us we can jsut have it for dinner.

The bigger ones will be if people pop in around dinner time or we want to have people over for dinner, but don't want to go through a big hassle to prepare soemthing OR so that there are some leftovers for lunch (again so there is less for me to have to think about/prepare).

I also left some as bigger servings since I am planning to bf and need the extra calories (I eat more at dinner usually).

GL.

babyruth88 · April 2012

I keep debating on doing freezer meals. my husband is staying home for two weeks. and I figure I will be up and cooking after a week. I am sure we are going to be so busy I wont even be thinking of big meals. might keep it simple with chicke n salad and grilled cheese for a few days

JuneBugBaby2012 · April 2012

This time around we're just making spaghetti sauce, soup, and chili. We freeze the chili into single and double portions, but leave the soup together because it disappears fast anyway. The spaghetti sauce I divide in half (2-3 cups sauce, 4 sausage, and 6 meatball). Since it will be summer we'll grill a lot and using the crock pot too.

notfrancie · April 2012

What an accomplishment! I am so jealous that we no longer have that kind of freezer space. My favorite cookbook is the Make Ahead Recipe (it's America's Top Kitchen book). You should check it out-- awesome!