Freezer Meals for After the Baby

Baby eats the same thing every night, but the rest of the family doesn't have to.

The first weeks after bringing a new baby home are precious, magical and exhausting. Between middle of the night feedings and visitors who want to admire the new arrival, there's little time or energy for cooking. But it doesn't have to be takeout and sandwiches every night. You can start setting aside the building blocks for healthy meals weeks or even months ahead; so that when the baby arrives, family meals can be quick and painless. Does this Spark an idea?

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Double Recipes, Then Freeze the Extra
- The easiest way to make meals ahead is simply to double up quantities when making your usual meals, and set aside half to freeze and store. This works especially well for casseroles, pastas, and one-pot meals, such as chili.
  
  To make it even easier to prepare later, line a casserole dish or microwave-safe dish with plastic wrap, layer the ingredients just as you would if you were about to put the dish in the oven, and then close the plastic wrap over the top and freeze. Later you can pull the dish out and lift the plastic-wrapped food out in a solid piece. Wrap the food tightly in more plastic wrap, then in aluminum foil, and label and date it, before returning it to the freezer. Later you can simply unwrap it, set it into the same dish and heat it through.
Gather and Group Ingredients for Meals
- Not every meal can be made ahead, but some can be put together quickly, as long as everything you need is available. For a stir-fry or a chicken and sauce meant to be served over rice, you can measure everything out ahead and have it ready to go when the time comes.
  
  Slice up meats and pre-cook them, then put the prepped meat into a small zip-top freezer bag. Blend the sauce ingredients and pour them into a small freezer-safe snap-top container. If frozen vegetables are used, measure them out into a zip-top bag. Measure out rice, pasta, anything else that can be prepped ahead into their own bags and then group all the ingredients into a gallon size zip-top bag, label it, and freeze it all together. If there are ingredients which are better not frozen, such as dry pasta or canned goods, gather them together and tape or tie them into a labeled grocery bag, so that they can be pulled together when the time comes to make the meal.
Make Up and Freeze Extra Proteins
- No matter how many meals you freeze ahead, there will be a night when you find yourself needing to cook an unplanned meal. When that night comes, having proteins already prepped and ready to defrost can be a lifesaver.
  
  Brown and drain a large family pack of ground meat and then portion it into several small zip-top bags. Oven-roast chicken breasts, slice them up, and freeze them two or three to a bag. Grate cheese and freeze a cup at a time in freezer bags. Keep the seasoning on meats to a minimum; so that later, you can use them in a wide-variety of meals.
Prepare Single Portions of Hearty Soups
- Make big batches of your favorite hearty soup or stew and freeze in one- or two-cup portions in resealable plastic containers. You can remove the containers once fully frozen and pop the frozen soup out, then wrap the serving in plastic wrap and store several portions in a large, labeled zip-top storage bag.
Plan Ahead Side Dishes
- The difference between food and a meal is sometimes all in the accompaniments. Having the main dish frozen ahead is good, but the meal will be much more satisfying if there is more on the plate than just the main attraction.
  
  Stock your pantry with baking mix for quick biscuits, cornbread mixes and other low-fuss starch options. Make-up a few flavors of compound butters, portion and freeze individually to add some character to frozen vegetables. Tuck away a few boxes of instant pudding and flavored gelatin for easy desserts. A little planning goes a long way in keeping the family satisfied, without taking too much time away from its newest, loudest member of your clan.