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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask where on earth to start with meal prepping for when the baby comes?!

26 replies

Baby2nov2019 · 20/08/2019 08:16

Hi All! Due our second baby November 2nd and I really want to make and freeze as many meals as possible but I have no idea where to start Confused!
I’m not a bad cook and happy to try anything but I’m a bit worried about things like lasagna (do I need to use fresh pasta? Or make it more saucy so it doesn’t dry out?). Any pointers gratefully received xx

OP posts:
Snowflake9 · 20/08/2019 08:26

Hi there!

I am 39+1 with my first and Friday spent the day batch cooking ready for the freezer.

Here is what I made :

Salmon, lemon and chille fishcakes (enough for 3 dinners)

Chille con carne (enough for 2 dinners)

Bolognese (enough for 3 dinners)

Lasagne (enough for 2 dinners) I used the dry sheets. They moistened with the meat and white sauce whilst cooling down before going into the freezer.

I also spiralised courgette as I prefer this over pasta.

I chopped and froze some peppers and onions too.
I also bought a few chuck in the oven type things like fish fillets, pizzas (can't be healthy all the time!) And chicken quarter pounders.

AshGirl · 20/08/2019 08:31

Hiya, I do a lot of batch cooking and you will find lots of tips on MN as well.

What do you like to eat? I think the easiest things to batch cook are casseroles, curries and chillis but you can do lots of other things as well.

Do you want to have the equivalent of a ready meal? I have started making up chilli and rice and freezing them in individual portions (rice on the bottom, chilli (or whatever) on the top. Those freeze and re-heat really well.

Do you like soup? That is obviously a very easy one to make a big batch and freeze in portions. Be careful with things like minestrone as the pasta can go a bit bleurgh so it's best to slightly undercook it and then freeze.

Good luck!

Badassmama · 20/08/2019 08:53

I did a loooad of batch cooking before my baby was due- I found it easiest to cook things with a similar base on the same day and very economical I.e;
Bolognaise, chilli, mousaka and lasagne on the same day- used a mix of beef and turkey mince to keep costs down and did one massive pot of bechamel for the latter two. I pre cooked the lasange and split into individual portions but I put the mousaka into loaf tins and froze ready to bake from frozen as the aubourgine is better this way.
In total I got 38 portions out of the above 4 meals.
I also cooked whole roast chicken a few times as you can eat some fresh same day, then cut up and portion off the rest ready to Chuck in pasta/fajitas or use for sandwiches etc. ;)

notacooldad · 20/08/2019 08:56

Have a look at the Blogger ' the Batch lady' shes a bit of a whizz at this!
She is in fb and I guess insta as well.

JoJoSM2 · 20/08/2019 09:01

If batch cooking seems a bit much, you could just get ready meals. Or things to stick in the oven (e.g. Fish fingers and potato wedges). That's the approach we took.

herculepoirot2 · 20/08/2019 09:05

I wouldn’t. Your baby is going to be eating solids like this for at least six months, and probably will be 9-12 months old before a full lasagne will interest them.

herculepoirot2 · 20/08/2019 09:06

I would get some sleep!

troppibambini · 20/08/2019 09:08

@herculepoirot2 I think they are for her to eat not the babyGrin

Toneitdown · 20/08/2019 09:09

I'm 40 weeks today. I bought a massive chest freezer and DH and I have completely filled it with about 3 months worth of meals. People have told me I went overboard but I feel this at least puts me in a good position to advise on the subject lol.

I was told that dried lasagna sheets were no good for freezing, but when I've done it in the past they have turned out fine - you're right about making it more saucy. Seems to do the trick. Remember that some of these "rules" you hear are more about getting absolute maximum quality. If you're happy with the fact that it wont be as perfect as fresh but will still be very nice then you can ignore a lot of these rules and save yourself a huge amount of time and money.

Also i would say go big! Go really big! If you're bothering to make a curry, for example, then make it bloody massive and get 6-8 dinners out of it. It's barely extra effort at all when you're making one anyway and it's cheaper to buy ingredients in bulk. Before you know it your freezer will be packed and you've only cooked a few meals.

Also have a think about the level of prep you are prepared to do after baby comes. Do you want something that you literally shove straight in the oven or microwave and is then ready to eat? Or are you happy to throw a few bits together or do some small amount of prep work on the day? We opted for a mix of both because it's our first baby so we weren't sure how we'd feel.

Also make sure you let stuff cool down before you freeze it, and box/wrap it up well. You really don't want freezer burn ruining all the lovely food you've prepared.

We cooked;
Several different kinds of curry
A meat and a veggie chilli
Several different kinds of Risotto
Bolognese
Pasta bakes
Lasagnas
Cauliflower and macaroni cheese bake
Several different kinds of Paella
Meat balls in sauce
Cottage pies

These are all complete meals that go straight into the oven or microwave and are then ready to plate up (a couple of them don't have much veg in them so would require a side salad but we're happy to buy bagged salad as and when we need it)

We also bought lots of filled pasta, frozen pizzas, chicken breasts, sausages, and I made a giant pan of mash and portioned some out. Yes, you can successfully freeze mash just as long as you make it nice and creamy - so use full fat milk and plenty of butter. American recipes are good for this. These are for if we're fed up of all the microwave food we've made and actually have the energy to quickly boil, fry or grill something. We also precooked pots of fragrant rice and have frozen this, so they can be microwaved along with the meals we have prepared.

We also stocked up on loads of bread so we'd always have toast and sandwiches to fall back on (along with cheese, tinned fish and jars of spread to go with it. All keeps beautifully when stored properly). I find it's defrosted by the time you've finished putting your sandwich filling on but if your house is cold you may have to let the sandwich sit for 5 mins before you eat it. You could always warm it in the toaster for 20 secs if you were worried about this.

I've also prepared breakfasty type wraps. They are hash brown, bacon, egg, peppers and tomatoes. I cooked up all the fillings, let them cool and then assembled it all into tortilla wraps. Clingfilm them up tightly, wrap them in foil and then you can freeze them. They will microwave best if you make sure they aren't too wet - I used a slotted spoon to add the tomato so it would drain the excess juice to avoid them getting soggy.

I will probably keep thinking of other stuff that I made that I forgot to mention, but hopefully this gives you a good starting point.

Oh yes, one more thing - label everything! If you've got a big stockpile of food and you've had 2 hours sleep in the last week then you won't remember what stuff is. Saves you pissing about rooting through the freezer and opening things to sniff them. Nobody wants pasta with chilli or curry with mashed potatoes Grin (or maybe that wouldn't be so bad..?)

Badassmama · 20/08/2019 09:13

Omg I WISH I’d thought of doing some breakfast stuff

Toneitdown · 20/08/2019 09:15

Oh and we stocked up on frozen veggies too to go with the meals we prepped that don't have much veg in. Cook them in the microwave to make it easier.

Toneitdown · 20/08/2019 09:20

Oooh and obvs stock up on cereal (if you eat it) long life milk, and dried pasta and rice and jars of sauce.

Fridakahlofan · 20/08/2019 09:20

I honestly didn't use any of the stuff I meal prepped. You have to be at home so much that cooking and popping to shops is actually a nice activity to have to keep you occupied. Just adding this in case you run out of time - don't panic!

herculepoirot2 · 20/08/2019 09:25

troppibambini

Phew!

stucknoue · 20/08/2019 09:28

Generally when freezing meals just cook as you normally would. A top tip though is so have some pots of herbs when baby arrives so you can add to your preprepared dishes, you can not tell usually. Just avoid foods like green vegetables (other than peas) as they do mush eg broccoli. Another trick is to buy meats that can be cooked from frozen like lamb shanks (Aldi is a good bet), frozen mash and peas. Makes life a bit easier.

Thoughtlessinengland · 20/08/2019 09:32

Did this first time then realised (1) that energy could have been devoted to just resting or relaxing (2) fancied different foods and different times anyway when time came around (3) groceries can be delivered online and for first month or so heavily ordered mix of ready meals, frozen yummy stuff and pizzas etc which meant more choice day to day on what I fancied then and there rather than “I must have the 7th portion of fish cakes this Wednesday”.

Second baby due this time and making the conscious choice to not batch cook and freeze in advance.

MrsKittyFane1 · 20/08/2019 09:40

I wouldn’t. Your baby is going to be eating solids like this for at least six months, and probably will be 9-12 months old before a full lasagne will interest them.

GrinGrinGrinGrinGrin
Haha haha !!
GrinGrinGrinGrinGrin

CalamityJune · 20/08/2019 09:44

Please don't make yourself anxious about this. It's a new baby, not a nuclear incident. The shops will still be there AND they deliver to your door if you don't fancy going out. Personally, I was dying to get out of the house for half an hour, and DH enjoyed the cooking. After a couple of weeks, it was nice to push the pram to the shop for some groceries and to get some fresh air.

By all means, do a few favourites if you want to but life really does go on.

The suggestion of stocking up on UHT milk is completely overboard, unless you live very rurally imo.

Fcukthisshit · 20/08/2019 09:45

Get yourself a big slow cooker then do a different meal each day in there, box up and freeze. I did Bolognese, chilli, curry and a couple of casseroles but there’s loads of stuff you can do and very little cooking faff - chuck it all in first thing then it’s cooked in 6 - 8 hours.

SunflowerSunshine · 20/08/2019 09:52

Following this thread. I’m not due to have a baby but I need to start batch cooking as between getting DD from nursery and getting home from work we have no time for fresh food.

Stealing all of toneitdown advice. Smile

When I was pregnant we did freeze stuff and it was just the usual lasagne, cottage pie and stew but DD was a summer baby during a heatwave so we ended up doing bbq’s most days. Then we got given about a tonne of chocolate which took me weeks to get though.

For a November baby you could just do lots of slow cooking stuff too rather than freeze. Chuck some stuff in there in the morning. Morocann lamb stew is my personal fave. 😋

Ricekrispie22 · 20/08/2019 09:59

For sauces, tagine, curries, bolognese and chilli, I use Tupperware boxes and for fishcakes I use freezer bags.
For meals like fish pie, lasagne and shepherd’s pie I buy a load of foil freezer trays.
I put a sticky label on the front with the date it was made, what it actually is, and reheating instructions.

Toneitdown · 20/08/2019 10:02

@CalamityJune

You're probably right. I didn't actually explain my situation but it may well be very different to OPs - I live in rural Australia. Like, REALLY rural lol. It's actually a big thing for me to drive to the supermarket, it's far away, and they are only open 9-5 and do not deliver to anywhere near my house. Also when it's wet season they get supply issues because there is only one road in and out of our area, so if it's impassable then the shops empty very quickly.

We have floods and cyclones so getting trapped in my house for a few days at a time is a very real possibility and does happen a few times every year.

I didn't bother explaining this because OP was just asking for batch cooking tips, which I have plenty of. So sorry if I've panicked you OP! If you live in the UK and aren't rural then you probably don't need to do as much prep work as I did lol. I was just letting you know what we've done to prepare.

CalamityJune · 20/08/2019 10:08

That makes sense! I have family who live rurally in the UK (not that rural though!) so I do understand that you need to plan ahead especially in the winter.

IsobelRae23 · 20/08/2019 10:12

For what it’s worth, the first meal I cooked was- steak, chips, peas, onion rings, mushrooms and onions, and pepper sauce- when ds was 7 hours old, as soon as we got home from hospital.

But I actually loved cooking each evening, as it gave me 40 minutes away, from holding my breast feeding beast (he didn’t stop!).

Then lunch time we would have a sandwich, a wrap or a salad, which took next to no time to prepare.

I did use a ‘cheat’ breakfast, which were the sachets of porridge. I found them a god send, although I haven’t eaten them since!

IsobelRae23 · 20/08/2019 10:14

@CalamityJune Agree!!!!😂