I thought about it today and I've actually gotten a lot of stuff into the freezer thus far! 2x chicken pot pie casserole, 1x million dollar spaghetti, 3 different kinds of soups frozen in individual servings, 8 litres of turkey stock, chili, and I'll be making turkey soup later this week which I will freeze a bunch of. I still definitely want to do a bunch of lactation cookies!
With my first, I made a huge batch of oatmeal cookies to freeze because a.) I had GD and wanted a cookie after baby and b.) I justified this because oatmeal is supposed to help milk production. I am doing the same this time. Also, I am completely obsessed with Pioneer woman so I froze a ton of her meals like the lasagna rolls, chicken pot pie, and spaghetti sauce. Also, I suggest leaving a little room in your freezer because people love to feed you after baby.
Had the urge to be productive today but hadn't really planned ahead to do any specific freezer foods this weekend, so I raided my pantry and managed to do 2 loaves of pumpkin bread and a big batch of rice. Now I feel like less of a lump while I sit on my ass today
This is probably a stupid question, but do you need to defrost your frozen meals before heating them up and eating? I never did freezer meals with my other kids, but I'm going to try and get at least a weeks worth of meals ready to go before hand. We have a deep freezer, upright, about the size of the average household fridge/freezer combo.. I am getting paranoid about it dying on us though... it was gifted to us by MIL, and it's almost 40 years old... no joke. She told us she purchased it new before DH was born, and he's 37...it's been a good freezer, no issues thus far.. I just don't know what the expected life is of a freezer that was made in the late 70s.
Any more recipes, ladies? Here's one of our favorite slow cooker meals: https://www.budgetbytes.com/2011/07/taco-chicken-bowls/ I plan on making the chicken ahead of time and freezing and waiting to make the rice while reheating the chicken.
I made these slow cooker carnitas a few weeks ago and they were super easy and delicious. DH also LOVED them! I prepared everything the night before so the meat got to marinate in the juices for a while before I plopped it all in the crockpot that morning. I ate it over Goya Spanish rice and DH made it into burritos.
@eazybreezy225 most you can do either. You just need to adjust cook time.
Yep. Just plan to cook the frozen ones longer. One guideline I've read says to cook the frozen ones covered for 50% of the cook time, then uncover and cook as the directions say for non-frozen.
Married May 2014 DD born August 2016 Baby #2 due December 2017
@eazybreezy225 also, if your meal has cooked pasta or rice in it, it helps to thaw a little. Even if you cook the pasta al dente, the noodles can get kinda soggy if you cook it fully frozen. Easiest thing to do is just to stick it in the fridge the night before when your cleaning up. Even if it doesn't fully defrost in the fridge, it will be enough to keep it from getting gross.
Has anyone made and froze breakfast burritos? I'm going to try those today or tomorrow and going to just put eggs, potatoes, steamed spinach and a little mozz cheese. (DH has UC so his diet is so restricted, but for some reason he is ok with low moisture skim mozz cheese, thank goodness!) my MIL suggested to put them in a steamer to reheat them...any advice on these?
Has anyone made and froze breakfast burritos? I'm going to try those today or tomorrow and going to just put eggs, potatoes, steamed spinach and a little mozz cheese. (DH has UC so his diet is so restricted, but for some reason he is ok with low moisture skim mozz cheese, thank goodness!) my MIL suggested to put them in a steamer to reheat them...any advice on these?
I made them once and I didn't care for them. The eggs ended up having a funky texture and that's one of my biggest issues with lots of foods. But DH ate them all with no complaints!! Lol
@ShyTonia I keep breakfast burritos in the freezer pretty much year round. Get the bigger tortillas because once you start rolling them it’s amazing how small they get. I usually do a tube of ground breakfast sausage, brown it, then add a pack of simply potato hashbrowns, brown that in the fat with the sausage and add a little Pam, then do 12 beaten eggs, and then add a can of drained Rotel. Salt and pepper to taste. Scoop about two ice cream scoops into a large tortilla, put a sprinkle of cheese and roll away. Wrap in aluminum foil and put in the freezer. Makes about 15-20 burritos. We heat for about 1-2 mins straight out of the freezer and they are very tasty. Eggs aren’t too rubbery (to me) and it’s a nice hearty breakfast or really any meal. Sometimes I heat one side at 1 min and flip it so the down side doesn’t get too soggy.
@brittyclem thank you sooo much for the directions, these sound amazing. Can't wait to get started. I got the smaller wraps at Costco today thinking they may work better, but totally was second guessing myself as I was putting them in the cart. Lol. I'll most likely get the bigger ones now, thanks! @splsmama2016 I'm going to do a trial run before i go crazy, thanks for the heads up!
@ShyTonia I have a really REALLY bad texture issue, so I have to be cautious. Lol. A crunchy bit in a sausage or burger is grounds for a gag and I'll spit out what's in my mouth and won't finish my meal. So these could work for you!!
SO informed me he bought a second chest freezer. I was like what for? He's like so you can buy food in bulk and store it. I looked at him and said and when the heck am I supposed to find time to make meals with you always work, building a house, the twin tornados and me working full time?! I love the idea of doing it, but I have absolutely no time to meal prep at all these days!
Ok so I did two different trial runs. And both were a success! For my breakfast burritos I did scrambled eggs, diced potatoes and mozz cheese. (Wanted to keep it simple to taste) rolled up in a large soft tortilla and froze a few days ago. Just had one now, I first popped it into the micro for 1:45 and it was ok , but I like alittle crunch so I threw it on the frying pan to brown each side a bit , and what a difference! Yummy in my tummy. Now I’ll spruce up the next batch with turkey sausage and spinach! (Maybe not so much diced potatoes)
i also made 5 mini lasagnas last night (portion sized tinfoil loaf pans to feed DH and I) for the cost of 20$ , not too bad right? i used one box lasagna noodle, 2 pound ground turkey, two cans tomatoe sauce, 1 can dice petite tomatoes, spinach, one bag 32 oz mozz cheese. Had one for dinner last night and it was delish, but haven’t tried one yet after it’s been frozen. To be continued.... DH has UC (ulcerative colitis) so most of my cooking has to be bland, dairy free(except mozz for some reason) etc.
I finally got a chance to make some things up for the freezer! Our stash so far is: Crockpot * 2x Chicken, veggies, & grains stew (4-6 servings) * 1x Beef pot roast with mushrooms (6-8 servings)
My plan was to have at least a few basics ready to go & frozen by mid October...I have yet to even clean out my freezer. Whomp Whomp. You ladies are making me feel the need to get my booty in gear. Goal for this week: Make 2 meals! (Aka 2 different options, hopefully I'll be able to get more than 2 servings out of each freezer meal. Most of my recipes are for 4-6 people, so my goal is to divide them up into 2 person servings. Although DH usually eats enough for 3...)
I finally made most of my stuff. 1 half pan meat lasagna, 1 half pan cheese lasagna roll ups, a batch of meat sauce, double batch tomato sauce, marinated and froze 2 flank steaks, 1 crock pot beef and veggie stew, froze a 2 pound roast (uncooked), made bean cheese and rice burritos (about 2 dozen), apple tarts, waffle sticks and mini pancakes for DD1. I need to refresh my batch of chicken corn dogs, and those I buy from Costco (something about Foster farms corn dogs...)
Question: does anyone here use the smaller 2qt crock pot? It's just me (vegetarian) and hubs (italian) so we never found the need for the regular sized pot. It's also cheap enough that if it didn't work out I wouldn't feel bad.
@babybison I bought that one recently for a big party I was throwing, to hold chocolate fondue. I think it would also work well for queso or meatballs for a party. That one works well! But most crockpot recipes are written for a 5 or 6 quart, and I don't make anything in the big crockpot that I can't freeze or that H and I won't eat for 3 days. Actually for most recipes we can eat for 3 days and have servings leftover to freeze lol.
Me: 36 | DH 35, Married 2007
TTC #1 June 2015 April 2016 - AMH, FSH, Progesterone normal June 2016 - HSG clear *TW* BFP - Aug16, demise confirmed Sep16, incomplete m/c, D&C Nov16 BFP 3/27/17, edd 12/7/17 DS - 12/9/17 TTC #2 December 2018 BFP 2/22/19, edd 11/4/19 DD - 11/1/19 My Chart
@babybison We have one and I use it to make dips and keep sauces (or gravy at thanksgiving) warm, it's very handy for smaller projects like that. Hope you love it!
@babybison I have a dual 3qt (might be 2qt actually) and I’ve used it to make 2 different kinds of chili at the same time. One no meat, the other with chicken. It worked good enough to get the job done.
guys i wanted to get started on meals since i have officially less than 4 weeks (side note: WTAF!)
but...
as previously mentioned, 1/4 cow takes up a fudge-ton of space. and we just received our latest order a month ago. my chest freezer AND my regular freezer are full to the gills.
Met: September 2005Married: October 2008 DS: 09/2014
@anewadventure I just had to re-organize our chest freezer. We still have deer and moose meat from DH's last hunting excursion, but we have LESS than when DD was born and I was still running out of room somehow! (How? DH had a ton of ice packs,water bottles, paint rollers, etc in there and he had not tried to pack things well at all. Also found a bag of breastmilk at the bottom that fell out at some point Luckily, just a few ounces, but I am annoyed because that is the 2nd one I've found that got wasted!) Can you use some of the cow in the casseroles? I am still trying to figure out why we don't have more space because so far I have made maybe half or 2/3 of what I made when DD was eminent and I'm running out of room! I need to re-organize our main freezer and see if that buys me any space.
Married May 2014 DD born August 2016 Baby #2 due December 2017
@splsmama2016 you’ve made and frozen your own pancakes before? I would love to do that with DHs waffles I make him. But never even thought to freeze them
@splsmama2016 Oh glad to hear the Kodiak ones freeze well. I love those and wanted to make some ahead. I've only done "regular" pancakes before, just reheating in the microwave, and they always turn out great. I also want to do a big batch of freezer French toast this time around. I've been on a major French toast kick lately!
I had a fairly productive freezer cooking weekend last weekend. I managed to get 3 baked zitis done, a batch of taco meat, and some plain cooked ground beef to add to whatever (can you tell I had a lot of beef to use up??). I neglected to plan for this weekend, so this might actually be French toast and breakfast burrito weekend since I have all of those items already.
Re: Freezer Meals/Crock-pot Meals/Eating after baby
https://www.lowes.com/pd/GE-10-6-cu-ft-Chest-Freezer-White-ENERGY-STAR/50318127
TTC #1 since 12/2015
BFP 4/4/17, EDD 12/4/17
I thought about it today and I've actually gotten a lot of stuff into the freezer thus far!
2x chicken pot pie casserole, 1x million dollar spaghetti, 3 different kinds of soups frozen in individual servings, 8 litres of turkey stock, chili, and I'll be making turkey soup later this week which I will freeze a bunch of.
I still definitely want to do a bunch of lactation cookies!
Me: 36 DH: 41
I never did freezer meals with my other kids, but I'm going to try and get at least a weeks worth of meals ready to go before hand.
We have a deep freezer, upright, about the size of the average household fridge/freezer combo.. I am getting paranoid about it dying on us though... it was gifted to us by MIL, and it's almost 40 years old... no joke. She told us she purchased it new before DH was born, and he's 37...it's been a good freezer, no issues thus far.. I just don't know what the expected life is of a freezer that was made in the late 70s.
Here's one of our favorite slow cooker meals: https://www.budgetbytes.com/2011/07/taco-chicken-bowls/
I plan on making the chicken ahead of time and freezing and waiting to make the rice while reheating the chicken.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/scottloitsch/carnitas?bffbtasty&ref=bffbtasty&utm_term=.ssW6oEbYA#.yyBROD91B
Married May 2014
DD born August 2016
Baby #2 due December 2017
@splsmama2016 I'm going to do a trial run before i go crazy, thanks for the heads up!
i also made 5 mini lasagnas last night (portion sized tinfoil loaf pans to feed DH and I) for the cost of 20$ , not too bad right?
i used one box lasagna noodle, 2 pound ground turkey, two cans tomatoe sauce, 1 can dice petite tomatoes, spinach, one bag 32 oz mozz cheese. Had one for dinner last night and it was delish, but haven’t tried one yet after it’s been frozen. To be continued....
DH has UC (ulcerative colitis) so most of my cooking has to be bland, dairy free(except mozz for some reason) etc.
Our stash so far is:
Crockpot
* 2x Chicken, veggies, & grains stew (4-6 servings)
* 1x Beef pot roast with mushrooms (6-8 servings)
Ready to reheat/bake:
* 2x 2-portion bags of penne bolognese
* 2qt chicken, veggie & grains stew
* 3x Lasagna w/ meat, mushrooms & spinach
We would be working our way through the 2qt stew before baby comes, except it's hard to score for GD.
ETA: We made three lasagnas for the freezer today. I'm feeling a bit better prepared now.
Edit: Well, I bought one.
April 2016 - AMH, FSH, Progesterone normal
June 2016 - HSG clear
*TW* BFP - Aug16, demise confirmed Sep16, incomplete m/c, D&C Nov16
BFP 3/27/17, edd 12/7/17
DS - 12/9/17
TTC #2 December 2018
BFP 2/22/19, edd 11/4/19
DD - 11/1/19
My Chart
TTC #1 since 12/2015
BFP 4/4/17, EDD 12/4/17
Married May 2014
DD born August 2016
Baby #2 due December 2017
but...
as previously mentioned, 1/4 cow takes up a fudge-ton of space. and we just received our latest order a month ago. my chest freezer AND my regular freezer are full to the gills.
Met: September 2005 Married: October 2008 DS: 09/2014
Married May 2014
DD born August 2016
Baby #2 due December 2017
I had a fairly productive freezer cooking weekend last weekend. I managed to get 3 baked zitis done, a batch of taco meat, and some plain cooked ground beef to add to whatever (can you tell I had a lot of beef to use up??). I neglected to plan for this weekend, so this might actually be French toast and breakfast burrito weekend since I have all of those items already.
Me: 36 DH: 41