Meals For After Baby!

 One of my favorite parts of having a baby is meal prepping before baby and then resting and holding the baby afterwards while eating the food I've prepped! I have pretty much all my meals ready in the freezer and I thought I'd share what I've prepared. 

Dinners 

Spaghetti 

I do a lot of spaghetti. It's easy to make a lot, makes great leftovers, and I can make a variety of meat to go with it. I made chicken parmesan, ground turkey meatballs, and some plain sauce with ground hamburger in it. 

I freeze the sauce flat in a gallon freezer bag, then once it's frozen, I can stack it to fit well in the freezer. I also freeze the meatballs in freezer bags; I form them and then put them in the freezer for a couple hours before putting them in the bags unbaked (baking them beforehand makes them more dry when heated up), so that they don't stick together. I put the chicken parmesan in disposable cake pans. I also double wrapped the top of the pan with tinfoil this time. 

To warm up, I pull out the sauce out the night before to thaw out and then warm up in a sauce pan. I will cook both the meatballs and chicken parmesan in the oven to cook while the sauce is heating. I make the noodles when we heat up the sauce. 

Beef Stroganoff 

This is another pasta recipe where I make the sauce/meat, freeze it flat in freezer bags, and then make the noodles when I heat up the sauce for dinner. 

Hamburgers 

I simply bought some hamburger patties ready to cook when we want to eat them. I don't cook them beforehand because cooking them is fairly easy and cooking them beforehand dries them out more. I also made three batches of homemade hamburger buns (I use my bread recipe and then form them into buns instead of a loaf).  To eat, I let sit out overnight and then defrost in the microwave on a paper towel for twenty seconds and they taste like they just came out of the oven. 

Sloppy Joes 

These are not my absolute favorite, but the whole family likes them and it's super easy to make (and freezes well). I made one batch and then froze in two separate bags (so we wouldn't have a lot of leftovers, since they aren't my favorite), laying flat. I also made homemade buns for these as well. To eat, I simply heat up and defrost the buns. 

Marinated chicken 

I like to have some carb free options afterward, since I crave flour and carb heavy meals while pregnant and then we get sick of them afterwards if I do too many. A great option is marinated chicken paired with a vegetable. I have some different marinades I like. I have one generic one for chicken breasts and a honey soy chicken thigh marinade. I also do a lemon chicken marinade and a cilantro chicken breast one. 

I simply stick the marinade in a bag with the chicken and let it freeze flat. Then the chicken marinates while it is defrosting overnight. I also cut the chicken up into chicken tender size pieces before freezing, so that it is really easy to cook. 

Bacon wrapped chicken strips 

Another low carb meal we love is bacon wrapped chicken tenders. I wrap and brown the chicken/bacon and then stick it in a cake pan in the freezer. I don't bake it until we're ready to defrost and eat it. 

Taco Soup 

I've found some soups freeze really well while others turn out mushy. Taco soup is one that works really well, though sometimes it dries out a little, but we just add tomato sauce/chicken broth when it does. It's also really easy to put together. I freeze it flat in gallon freezer bags and simply heat it up when it's time to eat. 

Chicken and Mushroom Soup

Another soup I love to freeze is this one. It is really simple to make, but I love the flavor of the broth. Ben likes to add rice and vegetables like broccoli, so that it isn't as plain. Again, I freeze it flat in gallon freezer bags and simply heat it up when we want to eat it. 

Chicken Pot Pie 

I made the filling for two chicken pot pies (one batch makes two pies), so I divided it between two freezer bags, laying flat. I didn't make the pie crust. I will simply put the pie crust together and then fill it with this filling when it's time. I don't like the way the texture of the pie crust changes after freezing it. 

Chicken and Broccoli Cheese Bake 

This is a new recipe I used from Pinterest, so I'm hoping we like it! It was a simple recipe to put together. I divided it into two smaller cake pans and will simply bake it until warm when it's time to eat. I used frozen broccoli so that I didn't have to worry about it getting mushy. 

Chicken and Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese 

This is one of our favorite meals, that we got from the 21 Day Fix. I made the sauce and again used frozen broccoli. I will simply warm up the sauce while we make the noodles when it's time to eat. 

Chicken Alfredo Casserole 

This is a recipe that my cousin found and made before having her baby and I decided to make it for my freezer as well. I don't often make meals that freeze noodles, but I cooked the noodles al dente and they bake in the oven (similar to lasagna). I made a big batch and divided it into two smaller disposable cake pans. 

Lasagna 

This is the meal that I've made before Parker and before Rylee. I love lasagna, but we don't eat it often and because of the noodles, it's one I don't eat while pregnant. It also freezes really well. I put the lasagna all together but don't bake it before freezing it (again, baking it twice dries it out more). I pull it out the night before and then bake it when we want to eat. 

Chicken Enchiladas 

Ben and I are not huge enchilada people, but I have a white sauce recipe that we both like. I actually made all the pieces separately and then after I defrost it all, I'll put them together in the oven. I have the sauce/chicken in bags, frozen flat, cheese grated and frozen bags, and homemade tortilla shells frozen individually and then put in the bag together to make them easier to defrost. 

Bean dip 

This bean dip is healthy, easy to make, everyone likes it (except Rylee), and it freezes really well. I put it all together in a cake pan and then bake it until the cheese is melted after defrosting it. 

Meatloaf 

Almost everyone in the family loves meatloaf as well (Ashtyn is the exception, as she doesn't like ketchup) and freezes really well. I simply form the meatloaf into disposable bread pans and put it in the freezer uncooked. Then I let it thaw, cover with the topping (ketchup and honey) and bake it before dinner. I find this keeps the meatloaf really moist even after being in the freezer. 

Sweet and Sour Chicken 

This is another favorite meal that we don't eat often because of how much work it is to fry up the chicken. To freeze this, I bread the chicken and freeze that in a cake pan. In a separate bag, I freeze the sauce (I always make extra sauce, especially when freezing it). I simply defrost them and then put the sauce on the chicken right before baking, so it doesn't get soggy while defrosting. 

Lunches 

I like to have plenty of dinners prepared, but I also like to have some easy-to-grab things for lunches. We usually do less lunches, but they are my favorite things to eat.

Chicken nuggets

This is everyone's favorite thing that I make, so I always make plenty. It's also nice to make a big batch to make it worth the mess of frying. I freeze them on a cake pan for a couple of hours so they don't stick together in the bag. That way, if I want to pull some out just for me, I can, or we can pull out enough for the whole family to have some for lunch. They heat up best in the oven. I also make a big batch of honey mustard to keep in the fridge as well, which keeps really well for a long time since it's mostly mayo, honey, and mustard. 

Chicken quesadillas 

This is something that mostly I just eat. I cook chicken in taco seasoning and then shred it. I also make homemade tortilla shells. Then I put the cheese and chicken on the tortilla, wrap it in plastic wrap, and stick them all in a bag together. I don't heat it up to melt the cheese until I eat it. 

Chicken taquitos 

I found this recipe after Ashtyn was born and I love being able to grab one or two for lunch. I make the tortilla shells, make the filling, and then bake them. Then I wrap them in plastic wrap so they don't stick together and put them all in a bag. It's really easy to heat them up one or two at a time. 

Beef taquitos 

This is the first year I tried beef taquitos, but the recipe turned out really yummy! I use corn shells and wrap them two at a time in plastic wrap, since they are smaller than the ones with wheat flour shells. I heat them up on a paper towel. 

Bean burritos 

This is another recipe that I found this year. Ben really likes it, which made me happy! I mostly made them for Ben, since I don't know how much I will eat them. I'm happy though because I like having burritos around, but I know these are going to have much better ingredients than buying some from the store and Ben says they taste way better as well. 

Frozen pizza 

I didn't make a lot of pizza, because I am trying to make sure I have plenty of protein around, but I did make a few individual pizzas. What I do is make the pizza dough in my bread machine, then form the pizza and freeze it unbaked on the pan. Then I can pull the pizzas off the pan and stick in bags without them freezing together. I then can bake like normal from frozen and you can't even tell they were frozen. This will be a good lunch to pair with some leftover marinated chicken. 

Breakfast 

I don't do a ton for breakfasts, since we like to have eggs when we can with breakfast, but it is nice to have some special breakfast items (especially after those long nights with a newborn!). 

Bacon and Sausage 

I cook a big batch of both bacon and sausage beforehand and freeze them on a pan for a couple of hours so they don't stick together in the freezer bag. That way, we can pull out just one or two pieces and heat it up on a paper towel with our eggs in the morning. I did this with Rylee and remember loving it as an option. 

Waffles 

This is the one thing I have done before every single baby and I love it. We have a waffle maker that cooks waffles in squares, which are perfect for toasting. I made a big batch for dinner (I had my pregnancy diet approved waffles) one night and froze the rest. We now have lots of waffles that we can toast with our eggs if we want, or we can do breakfast for dinner if we want! I really love the waffles, because they're easy to pull out and eat while holding a baby and so yummy!

Banana Bread/Zucchini Bread 

I made a big batch of each banana bread and zucchini bread (for my family to eat and to share with neighbors) and froze an extra couple of loafs. I can pull out a loaf the night before I'm wanting a little something extra for breakfast the next day. With the kids, the loaves don't last long. 

Pumpkin muffins 

This is my favorite muffin! I made a nice big batch and froze in some different bags, so I can pull out one bag at a time and enjoy them a few different times over the first few weeks of having baby. 

Dinner rolls 

I made two batches of dinner rolls, though I let my family eat some of the rolls each time (they are hard to resist right out of the oven). These don't have to be a breakfast item (I could pull them out to pair them with something for dinner), but they are really yummy. We like to defrost them for 20 seconds in the microwave on a paper towel and then they taste just like they came out of the oven. 

Treats 

There are also a few treats I like to make to have around for after the baby comes! The best thing ever is snuggling together on the couch, holding the sleeping baby, and eating treats together. 

Chocolate chip cookies 

I love chocolate chip cookies and they freeze so well. I made some with white chocolate chips and some with butterscotch chips (both with regular chocolate chips as well) this time. 

Ice cream sandwiches 

I love making homemade ice cream sandwiches. I have a recipe for some rich and moist chocolate cookies. I use these and put our homemade ice cream between two, wrapping the sandwich in plastic wrap before putting it in the freezer. 

Cinnamon Rolls 

I haven't made these yet, but I'm planning on making a batch of cinnamon rolls for the freezer. I will need to make the cream cheese frosting (Ben thinks cinnamon rolls are only worth eating with frosting) when we pull them out of the freezer, but that is pretty simple to do. 

Brownies 

The last treat I'm going to make is brownies. I love brownies, especially with vanilla ice cream! I also have a really good recipe that I like more than even box brownies (that's the golden standard for me). I am planning on making one pan of brownies and then freezing it into smaller portions, so we can pull out a little as we want some. 

So that is what I have in the freezer for after the baby! I love being prepared and when I'm nesting while pregnant, meal planning is always really fun to me. I also love the break it gives me after having the baby and getting to eat all the yummy food (and share it, both with my family and with visitors!).