Make Ahead Meals - Boiling Springs,SC

Updated on February 17, 2010
A.B. asks from Simpsonville, SC
9 answers

Hey ladies!

I need some help fast. I am due in 3 weeks with my 2nd child and want to make meals that I can freeze for when baby gets here and I don't feel like cooking. I have tried to research it on the internet but am not getting very far with it right now. Do any of you know of websites or cook books that would help me in my quest to find some freezer friendly recipes? Thanks so much for your help:)

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C.P.

answers from Albuquerque on

There's a website (blog) I LOVE called "Once A Month Mom" and she sets up these AMAZING "Once a Month Cooking" menus! I haven't been able to do any of them yet, but I'm trying to convince my mom or aunt to join me. Anyways, she lays out the shopping list, recipes, schedule for 1-2 days of cooking, labels and directions for cooking the food, and pointers for increasing/decreasing recipes, etc. The general idea is that 1-2 people can get together, spend 1-2 days cooking and have meals (weekend breakfasts, weekend lunches, and M-F dinners) for a family of 4 (or 2 familes, if you double or split) for a whole month!

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S.B.

answers from Dallas on

I do this all the time! Before our daughter was born I made a bunch of extra stuff up ahead of time and put it in our deep freeze. It was a sanity and life saver! I didn't have to really cook for abojut two months after my daughter was born. And now I always have a few things in the freezer for those nights I just don't want to cook!

For me I planned menus about a month or so before I was due that could be frozen. Then I doubled or even tripled the recipes. I had one for dinner that night and put the rest away. This way I didn't have to stay holed up in the kitchen forever.

Getting things packaged right is key to freezing things for longer periods of time. I have a vacuum sealer, but for many of the items I freeze, the sealer won't work. It's not good for larger items or liquids. And you can freeze something like a soup and then vacuum seal it, I don't recommend it...I have had bad outcomes. Before freezing anything, make sure it it is completely cool, this helps prevent ice crystals from forming.

Many soups freeze well. I made up a chicken cheese corn chowder (which is REALLY easy to make), chicken noodle and spinach sausage. Chili also does well in the freezer. I put them in ziplock bags. I placed the bags in 2 qt juice pitchers and fill them with the soup. I put the pitchers in the freezer and when they were frozen solid, I removed the bags from the pitchers and stored them in the freezer. Putting them in the pitcher helped me with portions and they stored well in my deep freeze.

Baked ziti and lasagna, both do well in the freezer. The recipes I have make large batches, so I split them and got two meals out of each one.(http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baked-Ziti-I/Detail.aspx) (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Worlds-Best-Lasagna/Detail.a... I store these in disposable pans.I wrap in saran wrap (really wrap...all the way around) and then put tin foil over the top. The night I cook it, I reuse the tinfoil...putting tinfoil over the top will help it heat through without browning the cheese. And often I do wash the toss away pan to reuse for another time (but not when things are insane and definitely not with a new baby in the house!)

Pot pies freeze well. I find these are easy to make in large batches. I make these a dozen or so at a time. They are my "go to" food when I don't feel like cooking.

I bought a variety of frozen veggies at Sam's to have on hand as side dishes. I also bought some frozen blackened Salmon from Sam's as well. It is surprisingly good for a packaged food.

I have my husband grill up a variety of meats when he has time. Then I vacuum sealed them and froze them, but a ziplock bag will have worked. They are definitely better fresh, but with this much chaos, who notices the difference really? These are easy to microwave or reheat on the stove top or oven. I have noticed that pouring a little broth over the meat helps them reheat better, they don't get overly dried out.

Lumpia and egg rolls can also be made ahead of time and frozen. It helps to wrap them in wax paper before putting them in baggies. Fried rice, which can be served as a side or main dish, does well too - although if I am going to add shrimp or chicken I do that the night we are going to eat it, I don't freeze it with meat. Red beans and rice does well, but make sure to add a little water when you go to reheat it. I store all of these in ziplock bags (vacuum bag have a tendency to rip the egg rolls and lumpia apart a little bit)

Meatballs for spaghetti and sandwiches can be frozen too. This is fun because my son likes to help make the meatballs. We make our own spaghetti sauce and I have that in our freezer as well. But canned sauce will definitely work!

I tried to freeze a spinach quiche, but it didn't do well in the freezer, it got a bit grainy.

I also make up dinner rolls, garlic bread and bread bowls and froze them. You just want to bake them for about half the time, let them cool completely and then freeze. They store well in ziplock bags. When it comes time to heat them up, you can throw them in the oven frozen and cook for the remaining time.

Hope this helps!

Let me know if you want specific recipes...I can email them to you.

2 moms found this helpful

R.G.

answers from Dallas on

Hi A.,
I too am due in three weeks with my second and when I asked my sister-in-law this same question she suggested I brown a bunch of ground meat and cook a bunch of chicken and freeze that in 1 lb. increments. Once you have that thawed out almost any crockpot recipe can be quickly thrown together. She also suggested I get "Fix-It and Forget-It 5-Ingredient Favorites" by Phyllis Pellman Good, which I ordered from Amazon. I haven't tried any recipes in there yet though.
I also love allrecipes.com. I just found a recipe on there for boiling chicken which I will be using to cook and freeze chicken this weekend. A tip I got from reading the reviews is to let the chicken cool while still in the broth and then freeze the meat with a little bit of the broth in the bag to keep it moist.
I hope this helps. Good luck!

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K.B.

answers from St. Louis on

After my son was born my best friend brought me 13 meals all frozen.
#1 bake a turkey--shredded turkey w/ gravy for sandwiches,sub.-- turkey for chicken in recipes and/or Chicken Helper,
#2 definately ground some hamburger for Sloppy joes, Spaghetti, Tacos, Hash Brown Cass.,
#3 make a big batch of meatloaf- split into foil containers bake at least half the baking time --cool --freeze
#4 Soups- make your favorite and freeze in smaller container for lunches--better for you and less salt, White Chili is on of my favorites and Chicken Tortillla.
#5-make good use of your crockpot from now until you deliver -- double everything.
Hope this helps and CONGRATULATIONS

1 mom found this helpful
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B.C.

answers from Joplin on

Lasagna freezes Very well. If you line your pan with foil then make as you usually do, freeze you can pop it out when it is frozen and have your pan back. This is especially helpful to me because I only own one 13x9 size pan so having it sit in my freezer would drive me crazy = ) I have had good luck freezing ham and bean soups, I just pour them into a large gallon sized freezer bag. Muffins freeze well. Foods that are quick and easy to prepare on the fly are bag salads, the pre-made pizza crusts make a much nicer pizza than frozen pizza fare and you just have to open a can of sauce throw toppings of your choice and cover with mozzerella cheese ( much healthier than the frozen pizzas too!) I also will occassionally make a quick Tuna Helper by making a box of deluxe mac n cheese and stirring in an undiluted can of cream of mushroom soup and a can of drained tuna...no hassle of trying to thaw a meat, just popping open a can, I do put this in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes and put bread crumbs and dot with butter on top. I have not had the greatest luck with freezing noodles or potatos, but pretty much anything else can be frozen ( stuffing freezes well)
Sorry this was so random, didn't really organize my thoughts well. Hope some of this helps!
GL with your new addition = )
B.

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J.F.

answers from Minneapolis on

I am due at the end of April and am also trying to get ready! One of the options I'm going to look at again is the meal prep kitchens that you go to and put your meals together with the ingredients they provide. I've done this in the past and it takes about 2 hours to prep nearly 8 -10 meals for a family of 4-6. So, with a small family (like yours) those meals last twice as long. I just split the meals into two when I prepare them at the kitchen.

Just thought I'd share that with you! Congrats on baby #2. :)

1 mom found this helpful
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K.N.

answers from Boston on

have to tried all recipes.com. i believe you can freeze almost anything but not sure.

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R.T.

answers from Orlando on

You can freeze just about anything so it depends on your faily's preferences for what they like to eat. Crock pot recipes are great because it's easy for you to throw it in the crock, then at the end of the day you can take it out, let it cool, and freeze it. And depending on the size of your family and how much they eat, you may be able to put something in the crock pot in the morning, eat it for dinner, then freeze the leftovers for a second meal. You can google crock pot recipes and find tons

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M.K.

answers from Houston on

I use once a month cooking - its a book, they do have a website with a sample 2 week menu, if you are interested i will look it up.
http://books.google.com/books?id=iFRxJf_n9GcC&printse..., this link is the some of the book.

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