I’m glad my husband actually can cook so I don’t have the full weight of feeding the family while I’m recovering and sleep deprived from nursing every 2 hours through the night. But he’ll be sleep deprived too and in charge of our 2 1/2 year old DD so I will try to stock up on frozen crockpot recipes, homemade pasta sauce and some soups!
It’s good to have a winter baby when it comes to meal prep because we’ll be more in the mood for casseroles, soups, stews, etc. In the summer it’s too hot to want to use the oven, and my appetite dips a bit too when it’s warm. I appreciate the links/recipes shared here! I’m still not sure how much I’ll prep because I just have the standard above the fridge freezer, and I’ll want to start a milk stash to return to work. I like the slow cooker meals in bags approach. Those sound like I can Tetris a bunch into my freezer.
@omnommer and @PensiveCrayon way to be organized and on the ball! I am so not there yet... not even close. Our freezer is full of junk anyway. I need to do a freezer clean out. No deep freezer though
Guys!!!! Omg what took me so long to try overnight oats!?! They are amazing! Thank you all for reminding me to try them! I am definitely making them all the time now.
@AdorkablePixie and @texas_t so yummy! 3/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats, 3/4 cup almond milk, dash of vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon pb2 powder, 1 teaspoon cocoa powder, 1 tablespoon nutella, 1 turn of salt. Mix together nutella, vanilla extract, salt, almond milk, and powders. Add to oats in Mason jar. Shake. Chill. Enjoy. I used a bit too much milk the first time, but I think as you make it you can adjust the amount of liquid.
Definitely not healthy, but omg tastes like heaven lol. I'm kidding myself by saying it's good for me because of fiber and protein...
I also enjoyed them with a bit of maple syrup and apple pecan butter instead of the chocolate goodness. I'm trying a "peanut butter cookie" variety for tomorrow. Just peanut butter and a bit of sugar added to the base of oats and almond milk.
@PensiveCrayon Ooooo I LOVE oat flour muffins! I usually make banana chocolate chip ones Although I subbed squash once for the bananas in my recipe and I prefer the squash!
@PensiveCrayon I’ve been craving a pumpkin muffin for days and haven’t found one. I finally bought canned pumpkin myself and figured I’d bake my own. I’m glad I saw your recipe here before I started! I’ll most likely make conventional ones (because the vegan ingredients in that recipe aren’t things I buy/keep around), but I might look for a recipe with oats in it now!
@tumbleweed-1 I also make a bomb olive oil pumpkin bread every year that might be more along those lines! You can’t taste the olive oil at all, and it ends up making the bread very moist.
Me: 31 | DH: 31
Together since 2003 | Married 2010 TTC #1 January 2016 BFP April 18 2016 | EDD December 29, 2016 Welcome baby A! January 9, 2017
TTC#2 March 2018 BFP March 30, 2018 | EDD December 12, 2018
@PensiveCrayon I need to google a recipe for this olive oil pumpkin break, it sounds delish!
So far I'm thinking that our freezer prep will be minimal. Our fridge/freezer are the side by side kind, and the freezer shelves *barely* fit in said freezer...so everything is stacked precariously until I buy shelves that fit - ugh. I think the plan will be to freeze recipe starters, and have Daily Harvest cups.
Mirepoix
Chopped bacon
Olive oil & herb cubes
No-bake lactation snacks
Fat bombs
^ All of the above can fit in my crappy freezer in bags, so that's good. I'm going to spoiler the Daily Harvest talk so that I'm not a total buzz marketer hint - it's favorable.
So I'm totally planning on getting another dozen cups in early December to have handy for PP snacking and meal assisting. I got us a dozen cups to try - smoothies, harvest bowls, and soups. I did sign up for a weekly subscription because that was the only frequency that offered 12 cups, so I signed up for that one and just cancelled the upcoming weekly deliveries. Easy.
I am a big fan of the variety, and search filters. I'm allergic to bananas, so I can easily filter them out of the options and be confident that I won't be allergic to our deliveries. Most of the cups are organic, so I quite like knowing that I'm paying for convenience and not chemical veggies.
DH and I haven't gone through all of the cups yet, so I can't really comment about all of the flavors I bought. But I can say that the Avocado + Cacao smoothie is the bomb diggity, and the Blueberry + Hemp is okay.
Tonight we both weren't too hungry so instead of making the planned dinner, we shared a harvest bowl and smoothie. Planned dinner: chicken, broccoli, carrots, snap peas, (spices) Actual dinner: buckwheat, organic butternut squash, shiitake mushrooms, crimini mushrooms, organic spinach, organic blueberries, organic spinach, organic kale, organic figs, walnuts, organic hemp protein powder, (lots of spices)
I might be wrong (because I'm not a nutritionist), but I think that our actual dinner had more vitamin density than the planned dinner simply because of the variety. The other day we had leftover chili for lunch followed by a smoothie and we were both super full later.
So my current plan is to get another 12 cups in early December, then pause the cups again until about March, when I'll get a dozen cups again - then cancel the subscription!
NTNP since Dec 2012 | TTC since Jan 2016 Dx: Unspecified IF BFP#1 Nov 2017 • Blighted Ovum + MMC • D&C at nine weeks BFP#2 Apr 2018 • It's a boy! • Born 13 Dec 2018
@echo-charlietango That seems like a good plan for your freezer situation! I can't recall if I've asked you: are you keto, or do you just like fat bombs? I looove fat bombs. My husband is keto at times when his addiction to processed carbs gets to be too much and he needs to get away from them for awhile. I'm fairly low carb compared to general America, but definitely not keto. I usually don't have bread, pasta, etc. Instead I'll have potatoes (including fries, lol), occasionally quinoa, and other starchy veggies and a wide variety of fruits. Of course, after birth neither of us will be quite so strict and a couple of my freezer meals will be pastas or other things.
@omnommer I just like laying off of the carbs once in a while. Kind of like high meat intake, high carb intake makes me feel slow and blah. I'd much rather leave room in my tum for things that make me feel awesome - like sweet potatoes and fruit. Mmm. *grabs a plum*
NTNP since Dec 2012 | TTC since Jan 2016 Dx: Unspecified IF BFP#1 Nov 2017 • Blighted Ovum + MMC • D&C at nine weeks BFP#2 Apr 2018 • It's a boy! • Born 13 Dec 2018
@echo-charlietango Cool! I agree with you on that. Fruit, fresh veggies, root veggies... all make me feel great. I definitely need a good amount of protein or else I get "hangry" but I sometimes need to reset and have good protein rather than fried chicken or other less healthy proteins, haha! I also get mood swings from overindulging on carbs and cold sores... so it's more a method of self-preservation to be lower-carb more often than not.
I am so impressed with the freezer meal planning! Our freezer is tiny and seems to be full just from normal life, so I’m not sure how much prep & freeze I’ll be doing, unless we get a freezer and put it in the basement.
These pumpkin muffins are heavy on the oats, so very lactation-friendly. I am planning to do another batch with some cranberries + chopped apples from our recent orchard trip.
made this tonight. gonna make another one or 2 for the freezer. I think it'll be awesome for after baby, warm, yummy, and nutrient dense. I substituted Parmesan for nutritional yeast.
@mommythlegend lol it was interesting. It wasn't too pumkin-y, which is fine with me. Honestly, I think it was more of a texture thing so I may leave it out next time and possible double the hummus. But i followed the recipe pretty welll and it worked out!
I am so impressed with the freezer meal planning! Our freezer is tiny and seems to be full just from normal life, so I’m not sure how much prep & freeze I’ll be doing, unless we get a freezer and put it in the basement.
These pumpkin muffins are heavy on the oats, so very lactation-friendly. I am planning to do another batch with some cranberries + chopped apples from our recent orchard trip.
Ditto on the tiny freezer (we have one of those french door fridge, and it's counter depth) so not sure if i'm going to be able to do any prep. I've been following this thread with jealousy - luckily my mom will be around in the beginning and she's an amazing chef so I'll get all the Korean food my heart desires.
We stock up anytime our grocery store has sales! The left is all chicken breasts, thighs, and pork chops, the right has ground beef and any oddities (a few steaks, the salmon we just bought, hot dogs, nuggets, and a thing of ground pork sausage DH bought forever ago). We have a deep freezer, but it needs cleaned badly. Maybe we'll try and do that in the next few weeks...DH does most of the cooking though, and our meals are typically pretty easy, so idk that we'll really prep much other than stocking up on ingredients to save money.
@CecilB93 We do the same thing when meat goes on sale. Last month, we got 80 lbs of chicken and 20 lbs of beef. I got asked like 4 times how many kids I had at home
@katy0990 holy crap!!! We're no where near that yet. Eventually we'd like to just buy a side of beef (maybe split with friends or ILs) and then just get chicken, pork, and fish from the store. Maybe eventually we'll do a side of pork too, I'm just not a huge pork chop fan, we mostly shred it with BBQ sauce lol
Casseroles... get the knorr pasta mixes like chicken n make two of them as normal. Have two med chicken breasts cooked and chopped Add chicken and a veggie like broccoli or peas whatever you want to the noodles. Add 1 cup of cheese and mix with chicken and noodles in a casserole dish. Top with bread crumbs n broil for one min...done. o made this the other night and its soooooo good. Plus you can pick Any flavor you want and any meat or veggie. Usually just use one pound of meat per bag maybe 3/4 of a pounder bag. .
Re: Freezer Meals Idea Thread
A friend of mine shared this website with me for freezer meals and I thought I’d share it here! It seems super helpful and organized!!
Me: 31
DH: 29, SA - Great
Married: June 12,2011
TTC #1: 1/2014
Diagnosis: Hypothalamic Amenorrhea
Treatment: Clomid: 50mg, 100mg, 150mg - not successful and not monitored
Menopur 75ml (upped to 112.5ml), Ovidrel, & IUI IUI #1 8/31/2015
9/15/2015: BFP HCG - 400, 9/17/2015: HCG - 827, 9/21/2015 - HCG 3,327!*Rainbow 8/2015*
*Expected Rainbows 12/2018*
*Loss of Twin 5/2018*
Definitely not healthy, but omg tastes like heaven lol. I'm kidding myself by saying it's good for me because of fiber and protein...
I also enjoyed them with a bit of maple syrup and apple pecan butter instead of the chocolate goodness. I'm trying a "peanut butter cookie" variety for tomorrow. Just peanut butter and a bit of sugar added to the base of oats and almond milk.
Me: 31
DH: 29, SA - Great
Married: June 12,2011
TTC #1: 1/2014
Diagnosis: Hypothalamic Amenorrhea
Treatment: Clomid: 50mg, 100mg, 150mg - not successful and not monitored
Menopur 75ml (upped to 112.5ml), Ovidrel, & IUI IUI #1 8/31/2015
9/15/2015: BFP HCG - 400, 9/17/2015: HCG - 827, 9/21/2015 - HCG 3,327!TTC #1 January 2016
BFP April 18 2016 | EDD December 29, 2016
Welcome baby A! January 9, 2017
TTC#2 March 2018
BFP March 30, 2018 | EDD December 12, 2018
TTC #1 January 2016
BFP April 18 2016 | EDD December 29, 2016
Welcome baby A! January 9, 2017
TTC#2 March 2018
BFP March 30, 2018 | EDD December 12, 2018
I’ll most likely make conventional ones (because the vegan ingredients in that recipe aren’t things I buy/keep around), but I might look for a recipe with oats in it now!
TTC #1 January 2016
BFP April 18 2016 | EDD December 29, 2016
Welcome baby A! January 9, 2017
TTC#2 March 2018
BFP March 30, 2018 | EDD December 12, 2018
So far I'm thinking that our freezer prep will be minimal. Our fridge/freezer are the side by side kind, and the freezer shelves *barely* fit in said freezer...so everything is stacked precariously until I buy shelves that fit - ugh.
I think the plan will be to freeze recipe starters, and have Daily Harvest cups.
- Mirepoix
- Chopped bacon
- Olive oil & herb cubes
- No-bake lactation snacks
- Fat bombs
^ All of the above can fit in my crappy freezer in bags, so that's good. I'm going to spoiler the Daily Harvest talk so that I'm not a total buzz marketerI am a big fan of the variety, and search filters. I'm allergic to bananas, so I can easily filter them out of the options and be confident that I won't be allergic to our deliveries. Most of the cups are organic, so I quite like knowing that I'm paying for convenience and not chemical veggies.
DH and I haven't gone through all of the cups yet, so I can't really comment about all of the flavors I bought. But I can say that the Avocado + Cacao smoothie is the bomb diggity, and the Blueberry + Hemp is okay.
Tonight we both weren't too hungry so instead of making the planned dinner, we shared a harvest bowl and smoothie.
Planned dinner: chicken, broccoli, carrots, snap peas, (spices)
Actual dinner: buckwheat, organic butternut squash, shiitake mushrooms, crimini mushrooms, organic spinach, organic blueberries, organic spinach, organic kale, organic figs, walnuts, organic hemp protein powder, (lots of spices)
I might be wrong (because I'm not a nutritionist), but I think that our actual dinner had more vitamin density than the planned dinner simply because of the variety. The other day we had leftover chili for lunch followed by a smoothie and we were both super full later.
So my current plan is to get another 12 cups in early December, then pause the cups again until about March, when I'll get a dozen cups again - then cancel the subscription!
If you want to give it a go - feel free to use my referral code and we each get three free cups
https://daily-harvest.com/r/RE-AHE84E2
Dx: Unspecified IF
BFP#1 Nov 2017 • Blighted Ovum + MMC • D&C at nine weeks
BFP#2 Apr 2018 • It's a boy! • Born 13 Dec 2018
Dx: Unspecified IF
BFP#1 Nov 2017 • Blighted Ovum + MMC • D&C at nine weeks
BFP#2 Apr 2018 • It's a boy! • Born 13 Dec 2018
TTC #1 January 2016
BFP April 18 2016 | EDD December 29, 2016
Welcome baby A! January 9, 2017
TTC#2 March 2018
BFP March 30, 2018 | EDD December 12, 2018
The high protein and tons of veggies plan keeps me healthy and allowed me to lose 50 lbs before I got pregnant.
These pumpkin muffins are heavy on the oats, so very lactation-friendly. I am planning to do another batch with some cranberries + chopped apples from our recent orchard trip.
https://brendid.com/no-flour-sugar-free-oil-free-dairy-free-healthy-pumpkin-muffins-recipe/
https://www.hummusapien.com/fall-vegetable-baked-spaghetti-with-pumpkin-tofu-ricotta/
*Rainbow 8/2015*
*Expected Rainbows 12/2018*
*Loss of Twin 5/2018*
We stock up anytime our grocery store has sales! The left is all chicken breasts, thighs, and pork chops, the right has ground beef and any oddities (a few steaks, the salmon we just bought, hot dogs, nuggets, and a thing of ground pork sausage DH bought forever ago). We have a deep freezer, but it needs cleaned badly. Maybe we'll try and do that in the next few weeks...DH does most of the cooking though, and our meals are typically pretty easy, so idk that we'll really prep much other than stocking up on ingredients to save money.
DS2 due 12/12/18
DS2 due 12/12/18