[cinamon]

I just thought it would be a great idea to compile ideas for meals and foods we can make while in mid or later pregnancy so that we can fill our freezers for after the baby is born. I didn't do this with my first and what a HUGE blessing it could have been if only I had the idea beforehand (I didn't even think of it until a really nice lady at Church gave me a 3 days worth of meals to put in my freezer when she came to visit me and the babe after she was born). We started a little on a nother thread, but I thought it deserves a thread on its own and it would be great for those who are expecting to have some healthy meal ideas they can start filling their freezer up with (including me :) , although I'll probably only start making everything in a couple more months, but I'd love the ideas). Might be a good thread to pin so that we can refer to it when we need to.

Anyway, so here are my ideas of meals that we can cook, freeze and have ready made food for us and our family after baby is born for a calmer babymoon. If anyone needs recipes feel free to ask.

Sheperd's Pie
Burritos
Pizzas
Soups
Muffins
Cookies (the soft kind freezes well)
Chili over rice (pre-cook the rice and freeze too)
Chicken Pot pies
Tourtieres (this is a ground meat type of pie, it's French Canadian)
Dinner Rolls (partially baked so you just have to bak for 10 minnutes and have oven fresh rolls with soups)
Bread (if you make your own)

[Sombra]

Made a big Shepherds Pie for Shabbat tomorrow, and 6 individual sized ones for the freezer. I bought that Press N Seal Freezer for this job.. haven't put them away yet.. needed a sit down break.

[cinamon]

Great ideas! Thanks. I just thought of another one:

Pancakes, make in advance and then put in toaster from the freezer and have a delicious breakfast. Just remember to Separate pancakes with a small piece of wax paper so that you can separate them while frozen.

Any other ideas?

[Sombra]

The press N seal works well.. but VERY expensive, would only use it for special freezing.. like meals in the freezer.

When you're making Meals for the Freezer, don't forget to make some individual sizes as well as family sizes.. sometimes it'll just be YOU who needs a food boost.

[fwlady]

Let's see:

Baked Enchiladas is real yummy

Southwest Casserole (any casserole I guess)
recipe for that: in the dish layer:
taco meat
can or frozen corn
can of beans any kind
diced tomatoes
grated cheese
Jiffy cornbread mix for topping
bake at 350 til bread is done

Soups of any kind that are homemade
tuna casserole of course
beef stroganoff
Just freeze any leftovers; in small containers, to anything bigger, make sure you mark it, and even put how many servings
Meatballs

Chicken and brocolli bake
recipe: put 2 cups water, 1 cup rice
add brocolli cuts
slice cheese or Velveeta on top of that
put boneless, skinless chicken breast uncooked or precooked chicken
add 1-2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
Bake at 325 if uncooked chicken for 90-120 minutes; mostly covered, then uncovered for last 30 minutes
Bake at 350 if cooked chicken until rice is done, usually 50-60 minutes
stuffedshells, pasta or raviolis, with sauce and cheese on top
lasagna of course

Can't think of others right now, but I am sure I will come up with something later. LOL Kymberli

This post has been edited by Sombra: 20 August 2005 - 04:44 PM

[purebirthmamma]

Here's one:

"Fake" Lasagna

2lbs ground beef (This is what we made for dinner tonight, except with ground turkey b/c it's cheaper, and it'll be leftovers for a couple days, not necessarily for freezing, but could double/triple for freezing :) )
2pckgs cream cheese
1 bin of cottage cheese (forget the size...standard amt in any grocery store)
Noodles (take your pick, we tried a new one tonight that looks like mini-lasagna noodles, we've also used reg lasagna, rigatoni, shells and elbows)
Tomato sauce (we used 2 tonight, along with about half a large fresh tomato)
Tomato paste (1 little can tonight)
Assorted veggies (used green/orange bell peppers, onions, and the tomato)
Spice/season to taste.

Note: For you Brewer Dieters, we added 3 eggs (could have added at least one more w/o tasting it) to the browning meat for added protein.


Directions:

Early in the day, take out the cream cheese to soften

boil noodles
Brown meat, drain. add veggies and tomato stuff (sauce/paste) (season as you go along to your taste!), let simmer
Strain/rinse noodles, leave in strainer/colander
In noodle pan (minimize dishes, hehe), put cream cheese and cottage cheese, mix together over low heat.

Get a casserole dish (we have a huge one), line with noodles. Spoon meat sauce on top, cheese mixture, and more noodles (experiment with order, MIL puts noodles/meat/noodles/cheese/noodles), and sprinkle the top with mozzarella cheese.
Put in the oven for 10-15 mins at about 325, 350 (doesn't matter so much the time, it's just melting the cheese on top, really), and when cheese is melted/browned slightly, serve!

We've done this by halving the recipe and made some to have fewer leftovers, but this amount will easily last us, usually, 4 or 5 days, eating a bit every day.

Raechel

[Bananna]

I bag spagetti sauce and put it in slow cooker and throw in noodles. ym
I chop up extra vegetables and put them in the freezer boxes and bags for quick use.
Chopped scallions
mushroom
peppers
fresh spinach rinsed and bagged loosely
fresh greens chopped and bagged loosely.

mashed potates I'll do but not boiled potatoes.


Then I will just put a roast browned on all sides in the crock, some chopped vegetables to fill the rest and washed new potatoes cover squirt some braggs liquid aminos over it, fresh crushed pepper and garlic a tablespoon sugar and 1 cup red wine. water to fill most up and cook all day on low.

I like to freeze balls of bread dough ( iff I ever get a chance)

put on pan and thaw and back for bread fresh with meals. Make sure to freeze separate before bagging.

bananna

[Sombra]

LargeFamilyLogistics.com suggests browning your ground beef as soon as you buy it, and then freeze it browned.. so you can take it out and use it quicker..

[Cara]

We got a good deal on an upright freezer, $100 off because there was a dent in the door :) I like to freeze:

Like Sombra just said, pre-cooked meat for tacos, sloppy joes (just add a can of tom soup!), and shepard's pie. I use 1/2 ground turkey, 1/2 ground beef.

Frozen rolls, I triple a batch, form all of them, freeze on a cookie sheet, pop off and then put in a ziplock.

Homemade pizza dough, in quart ziplocks or actually roll them into the pizza shape and freeze with plastic wrap between. I can make 3 pizzas worth of dough at a time in my kitchenaid mixer. More if I'm feeling ambitious and want to knead by hand and use a large bowl for the rising.

Cookie dough, either roll into a log for slice and bake or drop onto a cookie sheet and freeze using the same process as the rolls.

Pan burritos, make bean, rice, meat, and sometimes cheese burritos, and freeze on a cookie sheet, transfering to a ziplock when they're solid (so they don't all stick together). Bake in a pan with 1:1 enchalada sauce to water to almost cover, sprinkle with cheese.

Pre-formed burgers. I add to my burger meat (1:1 ground beef/turkey) egg, real or powder garlic, chopped onion, bread crumbs, italian seasoning.

Breakfast sandwiches: Bagles, scrambled eggs, chedder cheese, and sausage rounds or bacon. Like McDonalds, but without the icky preservatives. Thawed overnight and heated in the toaster oven at 400* for 20 mins.

Cinnimon rolls.

I do this because I hate cleaning up after cooking, and it cuts down on the daily pots and pans by a lot! :)

[living2befree]

I'll have to get the recipe for Hunza bread, but this stuff is supposed to be AWESOME and the way it's cooked, it's so thick that it suppresses your appetite for up to 5 hours. It's really healthy too. I don't have the recipe right here, but I'll post it soon.

Sarah

[sunflower]

Shipwreck:

Peel 2 large onions over bottom of a greased 2 quart casserole. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Peel and slice 2 medium potatoes over onions. Salt and pepper potatoes. Pat 1lb browned ground beef over potatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sprinkle on 1/2 cup long grain rice, and then 1 cup chooped celery or carrots, or even green peas works well too... Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Mix 1 10oz can condensed tomato soup with one soup can of boiling water. Pour over top. Bake, covered, in 350F oven for two hours.

I like this one because it is fairly inexpensive, everyone loves it, and it is easy to quadruple (which we have to do here). It is also ok to freeze and then reheat, but if I remember correctly you might have to add a wee bit of water while reheating. But it is yummy!!!

[kimmykatz]

Hi, my name is Kimmy and I'm new to the post! I must say there is literally too much wonderful information on here. I'm excited about those that share the same interests. I've been overweight for the majority of my life and pretty unhealthy to say the least, but once I had a child I realized I don't want her to grow up eating processed junk and dead foods. It's been EXTREMELY hard for me, but I've slowly been moving to more natural eating. I'm actually feeling better now since my husband Jason and I decided to give up certain foods. My next quest is to get off of dairy. I've read how bad it is for the human body and it literally makes me sick thinking about what's in it, of course organic natural dairy is a little different, but I've found it might just help to avoid it period. I get bad stomach aches if I drink milk or eat ice cream and I hate the way I feel afterwards. Do they make any soy chocolate chips or soy chocolate bars that are worth a darn? I really can't say I love soy products like others do? I don't think I could ever give up chocolate, hehehe

kimmykatz, on Jan 3 2006, 10:10 AM, said:

Hi, my name is Kimmy and I'm new to the post! I must say there is literally too much wonderful information on here. I'm excited about those that share the same interests. I've been overweight for the majority of my life and pretty unhealthy to say the least, but once I had a child I realized I don't want her to grow up eating processed junk and dead foods. It's been EXTREMELY hard for me, but I've slowly been moving to more natural eating. I'm actually feeling better now since my husband Jason and I decided to give up certain foods. My next quest is to get off of dairy. I've read how bad it is for the human body and it literally makes me sick thinking about what's in it, of course organic natural dairy is a little different, but I've found it might just help to avoid it period. I get bad stomach aches if I drink milk or eat ice cream and I hate the way I feel afterwards. Do they make any soy chocolate chips or soy chocolate bars that are worth a darn? I really can't say I love soy products like others do? I don't think I could ever give up chocolate, hehehe

I have one of those freezer vacuum thingy's that sucks all the air out of the food. It stores it so much longer than just freezing it normally.

[L.A.mama]

What a great thread and excellent decision in pinning it! I will want to come back asap to look this over more and hopefully give some thought to contributing a recipe/idea or two.

This post has been edited by L.A.mama: 10 June 2006 - 12:52 AM