Thinking about Preparing freezer meals.... « Back to Group Discussions

[BroodyWoodsgal]

Something someone said on another thread reminded me that I wanted to ask you guys about this!

So, this time around, I want to have a freezer stocked with meals. Other people in the family are going to be helping with meals for the first week so that I don't have anything at all to do with cooking (last time I was on my feet cooking a meal less than 24 hours PP....NOT happening again) but I want to have another week or two...preferably two....worth of meals stocked in the freezer ahead of time.

For those of you who have done this before....is there such a thing as starting too soon? I don't want to start stocking my freezer too soon, because I don't want to make the food gross....but the sooner I start, the more I'll be able to get done and THAT is my true goal.

A list of things I want to throw together:

- Shepards Pie

- Lasagna

- Enchiladas

- Baked spaghetti

- Tuna Casserole

- Chicken soup with Lemon and rice

- Chicken soup with veggies

- Couple meals worth of Meat sauce for spaghetti

^ This is my list of things that freeze well and will be extremely easy for my DH to just throw into the oven and cook, or throw into a big pot and reheat. Not super food, as far as nutrients, etc....but I'll be eating our homemade yogurt, eggs, sprout salads, etc....so to me, it's worth the nutrient trade off just to not have to think about cooking for a couple of weeks.

So, my questions are:

1. All you women who freeze things long term a lot....how soon is too soon to start putting things in the freezer to prevent nasty freezer burn or whatever else...and do you have any tips for success with long term freezing?

2. What are some other ideas for things that can be baked in trays or can be made and frozen in freezer bags that are insanely easy to reheat for a DH who never cooks.

That is all! I am SO excited to try and get a jump on this...the peace of mind it will give me to have a weeks worth of food from other people, followed by a couple of weeks...maybe even three if I get a good jump on things....worth of food that I stock ahead of time is really important to me. I want to have a really, really low stress PP period this time. So my DH is taking two weeks of vacation from "birthday" until two weeks PP...and then I have the family members who I am closest to coming for a weeks after that in shifts to handle/help with child care for my other two. I even have my darling SIL staying for a few days over night after my DH goes back to work, to handle nighttime care with my DS (they are very close) so that I have another few days of focusing on my newborn without my DH going ragged from exhaustion.

I'm really proud of myself, because it's so hard for me to ask for help, that I've told everyone what I think I need this time around. My PP period was really sad and lonely last time and I didn't have enough support from my circle of females. I'm not repeating that mistake and I think the support I'm putting in place will make this transition very smooth for me, DH and for the kiddos. I'm just really proud. It's so hard for me to admit that I can't do it all...and just letting go of that and surrendering to the fact that I need help has taken so much stress off my mind!!!

[KristaDJ]

I did this last time and I did it in the last month before the baby was due (I usually birth a bit before my EDD). I wouldn't do it sooner than that because of freezer burn and the amount of space it takes up. I just did all my other nesting before hand and saved that for last.
I have to say that pasta doesn't do so hot in the freezer. It's edible but the texture gets kind of yucky; maybe it would help to make really al dente . Soup is awesome, of course.
I think this time I will just cook the meat ahead of time and leave everything else up to hubby. Putting potatoes in the oven to bake or starting some rice are things that I can direct him on easily and veggies are pretty simple too (especially if we do frozen). 
Yay you! For asking for help. I have always struggled with that too. <3 

[acordio]

I didn't do much with any of my kids but I am planning on it this time.  I actually will be getting together with a friend and do some freezer cooking in the next few weeks.  I think one should use the food within 6 months.

I don't know what your climate is like but we are in the midwest and have humid hot summers.   I am going to try and stick to thing that can either be thrown in the crockpot or stove top.    I am hoping to have at least a months worth of  dinners.   

As far as recipes I have not made it that far yet :)

[jocelyndale]

I don't like it when things are frozen for more than three months, even well wrapped.

What I find useful is having a variety of prepped ingredients available.  Since this is a summer baby and we have a CSA share, I'm not going to bother prepping full meals as we'll have tons of veggies coming our way.  I'll probably freeze a ton of broth and stock up on various meats when they're on sale.  Then I can, say, have a couple dinners' worth of chicken thighs or breasts ready for whatever dish we might want.  I usually freeze in 1-2lb groupings.  

I might go ahead and prep/freeze enchilada and taco meat later on.  That's easy enough to use.  I'll go ahead and preserve more lemons and I'll make sure to make some kraut from the greens that will soon be making an appearance in the garden.  Both of those make for fast and easy soups and side dishes.

If this were a winter baby, I'd blanch/parboil veggies and freeze those to have ready to toss into dishes.

[Nicole730]

I had heard of this before I had my last baby and decided to give it a try.  Last week I was cleaning out our chest freezer and I started finding all these soups and meals labeled Feb 2010.  The month DD was due.  Yeah, they all just got tossed.  If I freeze anything this time around, I'm going to make sure I have the meals charted out for certain days.  I do not want to waste anymore.

When you freeze the meal, put some saran wrap in the bottom and over the edges of the pan.  After the meal is frozen in the pan, you can take it out of the pan and wrap it up and not keep the pan in the freezer.

What about making some pizza crusts and sauces ahead of time?  You could even freeze the shredded cheese with it all.  Then top with whatever veggies are fresh from the garden.

I do think lasagna does okay in the freezer, but the mac'n'cheese was only so-so.  I've also enjoyed mashed potatoes that have been frozen.  Brown rice freezes and reheats well too, but maybe it wouldn't be that taxing to make that the day of either.

[acordio]

I talked to my friend that does the freezer cooking and she said her book recommends 3 months too.  So I will be waiting till the 3rd trimester now.

[BroodyWoodsgal]

Originally Posted by jocelyndale 

I don't like it when things are frozen for more than three months, even well wrapped.

What I find useful is having a variety of prepped ingredients available.  Since this is a summer baby and we have a CSA share, I'm not going to bother prepping full meals as we'll have tons of veggies coming our way.  I'll probably freeze a ton of broth and stock up on various meats when they're on sale.  Then I can, say, have a couple dinners' worth of chicken thighs or breasts ready for whatever dish we might want.  I usually freeze in 1-2lb groupings.  

I might go ahead and prep/freeze enchilada and taco meat later on.  That's easy enough to use.  I'll go ahead and preserve more lemons and I'll make sure to make some kraut from the greens that will soon be making an appearance in the garden.  Both of those make for fast and easy soups and side dishes.

If this were a winter baby, I'd blanch/parboil veggies and freeze those to have ready to toss into dishes.

You know I thought of this because we're also CSAers and are absolutely loaded up in veggies from spring til fall...but man, I want to do NOTHING PP this time and I feel like if I have frozen up meats and then a bunch of veggies, that my DH is not going to know how to use all the veggies and I'll be "forced" to get up and be cooking because I won't want things to go to waste.

I don't know. It makes me unhappy to think of eating a diet directly after I have a baby that is LESS awesome than my normal diet...when a good diet is what I REALLY need. But at the same time, I was doing WAY too much PP last time. I just want to do nothing. NOTHING. I want to snuggle my baby. Period. I think I have a better shot if all DH has to do is turn on the oven and throw in the casserole, you know?

We eat a huge salad nightly anyway...during the late fall and winter we eat sprout salads with our yummy raw vinegar and olive oil and during the spring and summer and early fall it's with leaf lettuce as well. That is a deeply engrained staple for us and easy enough to make that he can do it...so I know I'll have that and lots of raw veggies, etc. I just don't want to have to walk him through whole meals.

So I guess we can start in March, right? We should compile a list of good freezer meals! Oooooh, I'm so excited!

[sraplayas]

[kjourdan]

Does how long it can be in the freezer depend on the type of freezer?  You know, like how breastmilk can be frozen longer in a deep freeze than in your everyday freezer?

[KristaDJ]

You can keep cooked food in any freezer safely for a long time. The only issue here is going to be taste. 

[jocelyndale]

My DH won't let CSA veggies go to waste.  So I'm not worried about that.  He cooks pretty well and takes direction very well.  In June, it's mostly going to be lettuce, greens (spinach, kale, chard, etc), maybe some leeks, green beans, asparagus, radishes, and strawberries, anyhow.

[dkenagy]

i did freezer meals with my last baby (#5). I did it all on a Sunday afternoon when I was 37 weeks pregnant--I don't recommend that! But, I also wouldn't recommend freezing meals for more than 3 months. It was so convenient to just pull some casserole, soup, or meat dish from the freezer and let my husband heat it up. Since the baby was born in May and I live in the south, we were already well into "summer" and summer veggies were steady from the garden, so he could throw together a quick salad, or sautee some squash and zucchini, etc... this time I expect more of the same. I think I will do my freezer cooking over the last month (not all at once!). Church people will feed us for the first 2 weeks and I also have a lot of mom friends that will bring meals after that, so we won't really be dipping into our freezer stash till around 3 wks pp.

I'd be really interested to see a list of what all everyone is planning to freeze. I know it'll be late June/early July when I deliver, but I crave comfort foods in the immediate postpartum, so I know there'll be some casseroles (hashbrown casserole freezes great) and chicken soup (my fave--I freeze without the rice/noodles and add them to cook in the broth).

[mudhugger]

Not sure if this is up your alley, or your husband's, but you could do the pre-planning stuff now... I'm not this organized normally, but there's something about those pregnancy hormones that make lists and detailed diagrams really exciting.  :)  The first time around I used www.mealsmatter.org ... Are you familiar with that site?  They have a pretty good range of recipes, with a great search engine.  You choose your recipes, add it to your cookbook (basically a save-file, and you can have more than one), pop it into your meal planner, and it even will generate that week's shopping list.  It's not fool-proof, but I found it helpful-- especially for finding recipes I wouldn't have thought of. 

For freezing stuff, I find that sauces usually do really well...so rather than making the whole dish ahead of time I can make curries, or tomato-based sauces, or gumbo like things-- and freeze those.  That way, all you have to do is have your husband make up some rice or pasta and a salad.  That spiced things up a bit when we got sick of casseroles.  It also helped me to make a basic "inventory" list -- so my husband could look quickly through our fridge and pantry and know what needed to go on the shopping list for a quick store stop on the way home from work.

A huge suggestion:  Since you have a good support system this time, you may want to talk to someone about organizing you a food tree.  That was beyond awesome for us-- A friend organized the whole first three weeks of food-- all fresh, mostly organic-- as part of our shower gift.  We had a CSA share at the time and we told folks to come "shop" in our fridge for ingredients...it worked out so well.  So, letting someone know you might be interested in that now might be cool. 

And lastly, I'm realizing I'm a little bleary as it's 3am here and I've got horrible insomnia and acid...blech... So apologies in advance for ramblings or slightly off-topic and not necessarily asked for answers..someone should take this computer from me. 

[becoming]

Here are a lot of ideas:

http://joelens.blogspot.com/2007/01/freezer-friendlymake-ahead.html

She has recipes for everything.

I find that, even though some of our favorite healthy meals can't be frozen feasibly, it's definitely better to have meals in the freezer, no matter what they might be, than to eat take-out every night because you're not prepared after the baby is here! I'm going to at least make several pans of lasagna and chicken spaghetti so that, on nights when I absolutely can't cook even a simple meal, we'll have something and can avoid eating out.

[kjourdan]

maybe plan to do it at 35 weeks or so?  My daughter surprised us and arrived at 36.5 weeks and I had been planning on making meals at 37 weeks....

[rebirth]

I'm planning to begin around 24 weeks with soups/broths. I find food lasts longer and tastes fresher in a deep freeze (which I have) I am planning 6-8 weeks of dinners. We had 3-4 weeks worth last time and it was fab!


Doula mama to my nursing toddler Noah
Edited by rebirth - 1/30/12 at 12:22pm

[Monkey's Mum]

Originally Posted by becoming 

Here are a lot of ideas:
http://joelens.blogspot.com/2007/01/freezer-friendlymake-ahead.html
She has recipes for everything.
 

Wow! She has some great sounding recipes. Much more interesting than my standard stew, curry,  or spagetti sauce. I also loooooove her organized upright freezer. I wish I had one. We have a chest freezer and it is so hard to keep organized and remember what is in there. I had to take everything out and put it on the basement floor to get at some soup stock the other week. I didn't realize I'd left out some  fish until it was too late for human consumption. At least my cats were happy:)

[rebirth]

Here is the blog post I wrote about my meal planning for postpartum

http://homemadeswapper.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/postpartum-meal-planning-part-1/

I'm pretty excited, a lot of people are adding it to their pintrest boards


Doula mama to my nursing toddler Noah

[Nicole730]

Originally Posted by rebirth 

Here is the blog post I wrote about my meal planning for postpartum
http://homemadeswapper.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/postpartum-meal-planning-part-1/
I'm pretty excited, a lot of people are adding it to their pintrest boards
Doula mama to my nursing toddler Noah

Wow!!!! Quite impressive. I totally focused on the popsicles, ice cream, and cookies

[SandiMae]

Looking forward to filling our freezer as our due dates grow closer and our bellies grow bigger!