Help! Need help stocking pantry and ideas for easy meals/freezer meals

[highlandmum]

I need help! I hope this is the right forum to post this:-)

I am due w/ baby #3 Oct 7...and I desperately need to stock my pantry, get ideas for crockpot type meals, and make some freezer meals....but I never did this with my previous two (kind of relied on take out)

We are gluten free/dairy free

WHAT should I stock? What should I freeze? Easy crock pot type recipes?

I need help! I am clueless

[onthemove]

I make chili, spagetti sauce, twice baked potatoes, burritos, casseroles, samosas and soups for freezing this time of year... I have something on the go everyday. Making one thing a day to go in the freezer isn't so overwhelming.

Right now I am drying plums and freezing nectarines for smoothies or crisps. Tomorrow is corn chowder...this weekend sometime is drying green onions and carrot soup.

[deditus]

This blog has gf crockpot recipes. Just use your regular dairy subs.

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

I keep lots of beans on hand - dried, especially lentils since they cook fast, and canned. When I had a chest freezer I would cook big batches of beans and freeze in portions. I especially like to have chick peas on hand for hummus, pintos for Mexican dishes, black beans for Carribean dishes, black-eyed peas for Southern dishes, kidneys for chili.
Sardines, canned wild salmon, and chunk light tuna.
Sunbutter and almond butter.
Extra virgin coconut oil.
Raw local honey.
Wild rice, brown rice, and Jasmine rice.
Cream of buckwheat.
I mix up buckwheat pancake mix in batches and store in mason jars, then I just have to add wet ingredients.
Rice noodles/pasta, 100% buckwheat soba noodles (Eden brand makes one).
Coconut milk for smoothies, rice pudding, custards, curries.
Olives and roasted red peppers - can be thrown in hummus, or pasta or veg salads.
Since fall is approaching, you can get some big winter squashes and bake them up and freeze in portions.
Mini crustless quiches made in muffin tins freeze well - I use 2 cups cooked veggies (great place to throw leftovers - spinach, chard, summer squash, herbs, broccoli, bell pepper, cauliflower, onions, garlic, etc) and meat (bulk sausage, ham pieces, or bacon) to 6 beaten eggs. Divide among greased muffin tin and pour eggs over, bake 350 20-25 min.

[Pinoikoi]

Today we rolled probably 50 some lumpia. We cooked the meat and stir fried the veggies and got them rolled (which is the labor intensive part!) We froze about 18 and cooked the rest for tonight's dinner. SO good!

[SaraCate]

Seconding the soups and sauces...muffins for breakfasts...in addition, pancakes and waffles freeze well and can be popped in the toaster like the commercial ones. (French toast works the same way!)

Anything 'saucy', like wet curries, works well. The Vegetarian Slow-Cooker has a recipe that I bse my veggie curry on - 'No-Hurry Vegetable Curry.'

Another thought, if you eat meat, is to borwn ground beef/turkey and freeze to make casseroles, sloppy joes, or add to spag. sauces; make meatballs and freeze for Swedish meatballs, meatball subs, or pasta with meatballs; slice (into strips) or chunk chicken (bone in or boneless, though boneless is often worth the extra $$ in this case) for stir fries, etc. It's not a whole meal you can just pop in the oven or reheat, but a chunk of the prep work is done - and the worst of the dirty dishes out of the way in the case of browning ground meat.