Help me fill my freezer for after baby?

[Johns_Gal]

I need some help here. I am about to start filling my freezer with meals for us for after our Boy arrives, but I have never frozen a homemade meal in my life. I am thinking of several kinds of stews/soups, but I don't know what freezes well and what turns to mush.

So... I make a beef stew we both like. Will it all freeze okay together? Potatoes, carrots, peas and meat? And bean soups, do they freeze okay or do the beans go mushy? Can I grill some chicken breasts and toss them in the freezer for eventual use on top of salad? Ooh, and if I make a few cobblers, do I freeze them with the dough unbaked or bake, freeze, then thaw and heat? :think

*sigh* I am so lost. Somebody teach me how to do this. I seriously have no idea what I am doing and don't want to wind up eating mushy, freezer burned food. Thank you!

[gentlemommy]

Before my dd was born, I made a huge, huge batch of chili (here's the recipe I used if you're interested http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Its-Chili-by-George/Detail.aspx) and just froze it in gallon size ziploc bags. It was yummy and so nice to have a ready-made meal with a newborn. :yes Ah, I miss those days. :happytears So special. :heart (sorry, getting sentimental.) I don't really know the answers to your specific questions but I want to know too. I'm pretty sure the beef stew and bean soups would freeze really well. Not sure about the other things.

[HummusDip]

Enchiladas freeze great. So does lasagne. If you like breads, like pumpkin, banana and zuchinni, they freeze well too.

Crunchy Cheese-aroni does as well.

1lb ground meat
2 cups elbow mac
2 cups cheese (calls for colby but i use med cheddar)
1 can tomato soup-i know this calls for the condensed, but i buy the organic boxes of soup which isn't condensed and it works great
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 med green pepper (diced)
1/4 cup chopped pimento
1 can french fried onions

cook macaroni, drain
brown meat, drain
add mac to meat and add soups, pepper and pimento
place 1/2 mixture into greated 2qt casserole dish
sprinkle with 1/2 cheese and some onions (as many as you like)
add remaining mix and top with cheese
bake at 350 for 25-30 mins
sprinkle with more onions and bake 5 more mins

I also have a chicken pot pie (but it's in a 9x13 baking dish) casserole and a french toast casserole recipes that freeze really well. I'll have to dig them up and post them, if that's something you'd like. Just let me know!

[gentlemommy]

When you freeze something in a 9x13 dish, like a pyrex dish, how do you cover it to protect it from freezerburn? Do you have a cover for it? Just use foil?

[CrunchySeaSalt]

My friend made really simple lasagna and it was awesome!

Chicken noodle soup (homemade)

Chicken casserole

ALL of these were my faves,

[HummusDip]

When you freeze something in a 9x13 dish, like a pyrex dish, how do you cover it to protect it from freezerburn? Do you have a cover for it? Just use foil?


Well my pyrex dishes have plastic covers that I've used. Otherwise I'll go get a disposable container to use, those always come with lids. It's not ideal (plastic-wise). But when you're PP, you need quick and easy food that the hubby can heat up for you. :)

[Johns_Gal]

Thanks! These sound good. Thank goodness we have a deep freeze, I would like to put up a good month's worth of dinners/breads and such.

[knitlove]

The rule of thumb my mom tough me is "If you can buy it frozen you can freeze it" So go wander through the frozen food section of the grocery, pull things out and look at the reheating directions you can then go home and make your own.

I love making and freezing lasagna. I will line my pan with foil then plastic wrap (being careful not to crumple the corners too much) build my lasagna, then stick the hole thing in the freezer. Once it is mostly solid I will pull it out of the pan wrap the hole thing in foil label it and stick the lasagna back in the freezer. I still have my pan to use and when I want to coon it I pull it out unwrap it plop in the pan and bake it. I do the same thing for cobbler.

[jenny_islander]

We have a tiny freezer, so instead we bought a ham on sale and sandwich fixings for the first days postpartum. The ham keeps well. Frozen sliced bread can go straight into the toaster as well, so it never goes moldy. And even a plain sandwich feels like a real meal on warm toast. Plus they are easy to eat with one hand while Baby is having dinner too. Sometimes, John bought a box of whole-wheat crackers and fixed me a plate of cheese'n'crackers'n'ham'n'fruit just for a change.

Also consider pre-made frozen dinners. No, seriously. They certainly aren't the best things in the world, but when your main concerns are, "Is it hot, does it contain a protein and something green, and do I have to do dishes afterward?" they can be very good indeed. Buy a few whenever they go on sale at a price that is competitive with your homemade dinners (I once scored some spicy chicken with pineapple and sweet peppers for 88 cents a box!) and save them for the days when you are absolutely fried. Cheaper and healthier than stopping at the drive-through.

[MamaJayne]

You could double up what you're cooking for your regular dinners and freeze half of it, well-wrapped, if you wanted to get a freezer stash going with minimal effort.

Also, yahoo groups has some great freezer cooking groups. Go there (groups.yahoo.com) and check out frozen assets and friendly freezer. The people on these groups know everything about what can be frozen, how to reheat it, the best way to cook it (or not) before freezing, etc. It's all in the group archives, so you don't even have to ask them, just go looking. :)

[2sunshines]

meat loaf is a good freezable meal. :yes

[MamaJayne]

Oh, and as far as freezing, I've frozen components needed to throw together a quick meal and put it all together in a big ziplock so it's ready to go (for example, a small bag of taco meat, seasoned and cooked, a small bag of shredded cheese, a small bag with ten tortillas, etc., then added it all to a large ziplock). I've also lined a pyrex dish with plastic wrap, leaving goodly amount sticking out on the sides. I freeze a dish in the pyrex and after it's frozen, I take it out by pulling up the plastic wrap on the sides. I wrap it fully in plastic wrap and put it in a ziplock freezer bag. Then when I want to thaw it, I take the plastic wrap off and plunk it back in the pyrex pan, since it's that shape.

If you have a round crockpot, ice cream buckets are great to freeze crock pot components in because it will fit perfectly in the crockpot. So say you got all of the ingredients together for a crockpot lasagna, assembled them in an ice cream bucket, and stuck it in the freezer. Then you could, the morning that you want to eat the lasagna, take the bucket out, loosen it up by letting it sit in some cold water for a while, then slide it out and into your crock pot. Let your crockpot do the rest, and you have easy dinner.