Freezer Meals!

With Baby Nemo fast approaching his due date (t-minus 4 days people!!) I knew I needed to somehow prepare for the chaos that I know will be post-baby. I wanted to prepare our home in a way that would allow us to have healthy, homemade meals as much as possible after Nemo is born, even when I don't feel like cooking. Trust me, I'll find any excuse to eat out, but 1) I know our budget won't allow for a take out free-for-all for long, and 2) I'm going to want to lose weight, not gain it. So how does one plan for healthy, homemade meals when you know your life is going to be flipped up side down??

One word: PINTEREST! Thank God for you, pinterest. If you haven't checked it out, you should, but one word of caution- it's addicting!

A few friends had pinned links to blogs that outlined the process of putting together freezer meals. Basically, you combine a bunch of ingredients in a gallon plastic bag, freeze it, pull it out of the freezer the night before, & slow cook it all day for an easy, pre-made meal. Sounds like a perfect solution for sleep deprived, hungry, distracted new parents! 

So I roped my friend Amanda in to come over for a few hours & help me. She had done freezer meals before for her family, & she even is now running freezer meal workshops through her Wildtree business, so I figured, who better to help a rookie? 

Here's how I did my first round of freezer meals, recipes, & suggestions on how to improve. Maybe next time you'll join me!

Step 1: Grocery List Prep
First I found all the recipes I wanted to use. I found 10 recipes that made a total of 18 meals.

Slow Cooked Beef Fajitas
Shredded Mexican Beef (I used a pork roast because it's cheaper)
Jambalaya
Teriyaki Chicken, Lazy Day Stew, Stephanie's Goulash, and Sausage & Peppers came from here
Chicken Cacciatore, Pepper Steak, and Taco Soup came from here

I then put together a very large grocery list, careful to check my pantry & freezer for ingredients I already had.

Step 2: Grocery Store
I would plan to go to the store the day before you plan to put all your meals together. It's a big trip & you'll probably buy a lot of meat, so be prepared for a big bill!

Step 3: Label Bags & Put in Meat
*Do this step the day you get home from the store.

The first thing you'll want to do is label your bags with directions for cooking day, while the bags are empty & easy to write on. :-)

Add the meat to each bag. The reason I would do this the night before is, 1) The meat from the store will be thawed. You don't want to defrost frozen meat to put it in your bags, then freeze it again. Yikes! 2) The day of preparation, you won't have to work with raw meat, spices, veggies & canned food all together. Get the raw meat outta there, just do it the night before! Store all those bags on their own shelf in the fridge overnight.

MEAT!!!

Step 4: Set Up Your Stations
Get out your ingredients & set them into groups:
~Bags with recipes
~Spices with measuring spoons
~Veggies with a big cutting board & chef's knife
~Canned food w/ can opener

My stations weren't as organized as I would like, but next time they will be!

See my hot chocolate on the stove? Who can make it through freezer cooking without hot chocolate??

Step 5: Fill Bags!
I didn't do it this way, but next time I would take a bag & recipe & walk around & fill up with ingredients at each station. After each bag is full, seal & mix up, then it goes directly in the freezer. Thankfully Amanda chopped most of the veggies, which was a HUGE help. If you can get together with a friend to do this, most recipes make 2 bags- split the cost & you each go home with one! Having a friend to help chop saved a lot of time!

Some completed meals!

The meals take up the entire bottom shelf of our standing freezer!

Step 6: Thank those who helped you!!!
Thanks to Amanda & her precious son, Jonathan, for their help on Freezer Meal Day!

 

I plan to continue to do freezer meals even after Nemo is born. I think I'll get more efficient over time & there are so many recipes out there! How nice it will be to have meals ready to go with basically no effort when you need it! Have any of you done freezer meals? Any additional suggestions or recipes you love? Do share!