Did you make a bunch of meals to freeze before giving birth? Did you just rely on Friends and Family to help with that in the early weeks? Just eat take out when you and DH were too tired?
Would you do anything differently with your next baby?
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We didn't stockpile, but did make sure to have a few dishes prepared in advance. And, we didn't expect it, but were pleasantly surprised by the amount of people that brought food over.
I made a huge pot of sauce in advance & froze small portions so we'd have a quick dinner option. We are a lot of take out, too.
For baby #2, I would like to prepare (or at least meal plan!!) meals in advance. It's important to me to have some consistency for our toddler.
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We didn't stockpile and no one brought us anything. We managed somehow, I can't really remember what we did, but cooking made me feel somewhat normal.
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I made a bunch of meals (no family in town) to stockpile and it was a life-saver.
I did some full-on meals like casseroles, enchiladas, soups as well as ingredients we use a lot like meatballs (that could be used on pasta, a sub, with an asian sauce over rice or ground beef with taco seasoning so we could have tacos/nachos/burritos depending on what we felt like). Also froze muffins and waffles for quick breakfasts that were really delicious and easy to make/eat.I think I would even make more for next time - and be more midful about taking things out of the freezer to thaw a day in advance
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I made some, but not as much as I should have. Nobody brought us anything which made me a little sad.
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We didn't stockpile and we only had one meal brought to us after baby 2 was born....KFC. DH cooked and we ate a lot of take out.
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Yes! Because only one person brought us food! And I overdid it....i STILL have tamales and frozen veggie patties in my freezer, 6+ months later
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I cooked a lot of food, and it worked out great! Friends and family brought us meals 3-4 days a week for 6 weeks, and after that we ate our freezer stockpile. Next time I will stash more in the freezer for when I go back to work - life is hectic right now!
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We did not stockpile and I SO wish we had since we didn't have any family around. Baby 2 is due in December, so I am definitely going to have at least 3-4 freezer meals ready to go, especially since we will have our toddler to feed too!
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@lindseykaye: @grizz: @blackbird: how much did you make?
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I'm stockpiling right now for DS1 because I know I won't be able to cook healthy meals when DS2 arrives. We ordered a lot of take out and only had one meal brought to us (subs). I plan on making a list of easy meals and maybe attempting more crock pot meals.
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We did stockpile (maybe 8-10 meals, can't really remember). I mostly did it because I was a week overdue and not working and bored out of my mind during those hot July days. It was great though! We didn't have too many people bring us food (maybe 3 meals?) so I wouldn't count on that, depending on your circle of friends.
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Yes I made 3 weeks worth of meals ( couldn't fit anymore in my freezer). We had about a week's worth delivered by friends and the first two weeks our moms came to visit. All in all they lasted about 6 weeks, which was awesome. Definitely going to do it again next time, and maybe even invest in a deep freezer depending on where we are living.
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No, I didn't have any, but considering all the takeout/fast food we ate, I really should have.
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No cause we don't have the freezer space. I wish I did cause we ate out a lot. Only a couple people brought us dinner in the first week.
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We didn't. Next time I want to stock pile at least 4-5 weeks worth of meals, if not more. We will probably invest in a small chest freezer as well.
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@citymouse: I have a small chest freezer, I think it's 5 cubic ft? I made 2 pans (that held 3-4 servings) each of:
red enchiladas
green enchiladas
pumpkin ricotta rigatoni
mushroom ziti
sweet potato shepherd's pie
Made quart-size bags of each (and froze flat):
Channa Masala (Indian curry chickpeas) x2
Black Bean soup x2
Chili x2
Ground beef taco meat x2
shredded chicken taco meat x2
Plain rice x4
mexican rice x4
I made homemade pizzas that we froze in 1/2 sheet pan sizes (fit in a gallon ziploc) - I think I made 8 of these?Also made and froze about 3 dozen meatballs, a big batch of waffles and a double batch of banana nut muffins. Shopped for and stockpiled frozen veggies, black bean patties, bagels (they freeze well), and shredded cheese.
I was eating from our freezer stash, in addition to cooking simple meals, well into returning from maternity leave. It was really wonderful to still have quick meals available once things got crazy again after going back to work.
ETA: I did this mostly by cooking a double/triple batch of each meal and freezing 1-2 portions/pans while making one for dinner for us that night. It was a gradual process with only 1 or 2 days of marathon style cooking.
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I just prepared meat and beans to use. I cooked a 10 lb bag of chicken (from Costco) in salsa with black beans and froze in meal-size portions to use in tacos, burritos, chili, spaghetti. I cooked 10 lbs of ground hamburger in chili seasoning (homemade because that would have been $$ to buy enough!) with kidney beans for tacos, burritos, chili, spaghetti. I made sure we had plenty of canned spaghetti sauce, tortillas in the freezer, lots of pasta.
Next time I will buy freezer-friendly veggies and pre-cut and freeze in meal-size portions. We didn't eat much fruit/veggies for the first couple months - I wasn't really going to the store and didn't have the energy/desire to put the baby down for long enough to cut and prep veggies. I'll also cut and freeze fruit in bags to throw in the blender. Something about cutting fruits and veggies was too much for me when I had a newborn!
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@lindseykaye: How did you do the homemade pizza? Sounds like a good option for us.
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@citymouse, oh man, lots of stuff. Like, lots. I posted somewhere. I made tamales, pans of enchiladas, chicken spaghetti (yuck, btw, don't believe the pioneer woman. blech), regular spaghetti sauce, meatballs, thai curry, rice, breakfast burritos, pizza dough...
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@looch: I made dough for the crust in my breadmaker and then shaped/rolled it out on a lightly oiled sheet pan and par-baked it. After it cooled, I topped each with sauce/cheese/veg/meat combos and froze uncovered. When that was good and frozen, I put them in gallon ziploc bags (made sure to shape the crust to fit the bags ahead of time.
Then I just pulled two out when we wanted pizza and baked on a sheet pan lined with non-stick foil. Added 5 min. or so to the bake time to allow cooking from frozen. Maybe 20 minutes total at 400F or so?
We made pepperoni, zucchini/bacon/onion, mushroom, and spinach/ricotta varities. Thinking about it now, I need to get back into my groove!! -
I made 14 freezer meals in the last few weeks before giving birth. Our friends also created a meal train for us and brought dinner 1-3 times a week for the first month. I still have 6 freezer meals left, and LO is 2 months old. They are super helpful during hectic days.
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@lindseykaye: okay, thanks! I wasn't thinking about parbaking, but it makes total sense.
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@lindseykaye: This is very helpful, and exactly what I was hoping to hear from a few people!! I am trolling CL these days hoping to find a deep freezer.
@blackbird: Okay, Ill try to find the thread. Good to know on that recipe. I normally like her recipes!!
@swurlygurl: Yeah, I was thinking of just making main dishes to freeze, and then buying a bunch of frozen bags of veggies to store. Prep work is the worst, even without a newborn!
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@looch: I've done it without and the crust got soggy - especially with more toppings loaded on top that give off any liquid like the spinach, mushrooms, zuchinni I love.
@citymouse: I trolled our CL for months but didn't find anything. Ended up buying a new one from Lowes for about $150 with free delivery. Not too bad comparing with the used prices (and condition) I was seeing in our area.
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I think we'll make a few dishes that are easy to freeze. I probably won';t go crazy since I'm not much of a cook to begin with. I have been trying out lots of quick easy meals though in prep - that use just a handful of ingredients and have a prep time of less than 5 minutes. DH doesn't cook at all, but he's been watching me make some meals so he knows what to do and can help out when the time comes.
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I did and it was great, we had family/friends the frist 2 or so week, but after that I was on my own. by having freezer meals and stuff prepped for crockpot meals I did very little cooking the first 6+ weeks! It was totally worth it, and I will be doing it again next round as well!
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We (I) made several lasagnas, trays of freezer meals, and gallon ziplock bags of dump and go crockpot meals. I also froze pre-portioned smoothie (just add milk/juice and blend) and muffins. People also brought food when they visited and we did some take out. I was REALLY glad we made the food we did and I probably would make more for baby 2.
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I made 3 different meals and froze in portions. If I had a do-over, I definitely would make meals ahead of time, but I would have chosen different options. I made Swedish meatballs (went with frozen Trader Joe's brown rice, so it was easy), meat lasagne, and stuffed shells. My LO spit up so much that I started questioning my dairy intake, and sadly 2 of the 3 options had lots of dairy in them. Also, I should have made things that I could either pick up and eat with one hand or could easily use one hand to eat with a fork. My DH had to cut the lasagne for me so I could eat while holding the baby with the other hand.
A couple friends also brought us some dishes that lasted several meals each, so that was great! Finally, my mom cooked for us and froze some things when she and my dad came to visit at the 2-wk mark.
We barely cooked anything except that and some other Trader Joe's frozen meals for the first month or so.
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I'm planning to do this. I've already got a few things in the freezer, but plan to do a lot more in the coming weeks. I just didn't want to make stuff too early and then have it all get freezer-burned (must. get. foodsaver...). I'm trying to find a variety of foods so if LO ends up having food sensitivities, I won't be stuck cooking despite the freezer stash! My projected list is:
Veggie lasagna (1)
Meat lasagna (1)
Butternut squash lasagna (1) (dairy-free)
Lentil-mushroom shepherd's pie with sweet potato crust (1) (gluten- and dairy-free)
Meatloaf, either in muffin tins or sliced before freezing (1 or 2)
Mushroom and wild rice soup (all soups packaged into individual servings)
Beef and barley soup
Chicken vegetable soup
Lentil soup
White chicken chili
Individual chicken pot pies (8)
Spinach, mushroom, and onion calzones (6-8)
Rickshaw dumplings (60)
Tofu-mushroom potstickers (60)
Pumpkin or butternut squash ravioli (60)
Bolognese sauce (8 bags of 2 portions each)
Meatballs (60)
Broccoli pesto sauce (3 bags of 2 portions each)
Slow cooker Mediterranean chicken (bag of ingredients) (3)
Slow cooker beef stew (bag of ingredients) (2)
Slow cooker butter chicken (bag of ingredients) (2)
Pot roast for slow cooker (1)
Stir-fry ingredient bags (2-3)
Egg and cheese muffins (12)
Breakfast burritos (12)
Blueberry muffins (24)
Zucchini bread or muffins (2-3 batches)
Chocolate chip banana bread (1-2 loaves)
Chocolate chip cookie dough balls (48)
Lactation cookie dough balls (60)I'm planning to make most of this myself, but might head to Trader Joes and raid the freezer section for some of it. They sell a stir-fry kit I really like, and things like frozen ravioli or perogies are super convenient and not that expensive compared to making them yourself.
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We didn’t really, and only one couple brought us meals and we were ok. Part of the reason we didn’t make ahead and freeze is that LO was born in summer and I don’t really like eating a lot of heavier, hot foods in summer and so much of what people typically freeze seem like “heavier” type meals. Also, both my husband and I love to cook, so even under the stress of a colicky newborn (or maybe *especially* because of the stress of a colicky newborn!) cooking was something we both looked forward to. It eased tension and stress personally, and also between us.
We did make up a couple big batches of pesto sauce and froze those, along with pizza dough. We also bought some Trader Joe's stuff and some lasagna from a local Italian joint. In the early days, we just made a lot of very quick-prep meals that were also easy clean-up: big salads, grilled fish and veggies, platters of sliced deli meats, cheeses, marinated mushrooms, etc.
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@pregnantbee: Thats something I am definitely thinking about. Especially since DH has a dairy (milk) sensitivity, and I am guessing soy as well. They say it can run in families right? We just started an elimination diet for him and it has RADICALLY changed his digestion. Today I have been researching dairy/soy free meals! I don't want to make 2 months worth of meals that we wont be able to eat!
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@PurplePeony: Great list!! I LOVE Trader Joe's Stir Fry Kit!!
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@citymouse: yes, they're delicious! I usually get the vegetarian tereyaki one and doctor it up with my own proteins and such. You can even cook up a couple chicken breasts or some beef, slice it, put it in a ziplock, and tape it to the TJs bag so it's all together when you're ready to heat things up. Or get frozen shrimp and portion some out the same way, since they take like 3 minutes to cook and you can do it along with the veggies.
I should also mention that I'm planning to use coconut oil instead of butter and almond or coconut milk instead of regular milk in most of the baked goods. It doesn't really change the taste and then even if LO is sensitive to dairy, I can still eat them!
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