Meals to freeze ready for first days/weeks with newborn

[2labs]

Dh and I are having our first baby in August, so I'm after some nice quick recipes for us that freeze well so I can make lots in the coming weeks and have them ready for when we can't even summon the effort to dress ourselves... any ideas?

I did this - it was a life saver. Nothing nicer than a homecooked meal (without the effort!) at the end of a long hard day. If you are breastfeeding you'll probably want to avoid spicy foods or anything with lots of garlic (babies don't like the tastes in the milk!). How about:

*Lamb tagine with dried apricots (apricots are very high in iron - 3 apricots a day gives you 100% of your iron needs you know!)

• Braised beef with root vegetables
• cook a joint of gammon and freeze it sliced in one or two person meal-sized portions - no heating up even needed - just serve with a jacket potato, salad, pasta etc
• chicken in white sauce with vegetables - leek and mushroom is nice
• soups - tomato and lentil, chicken and vegetable, leek and potato etc etc
• make some cakes to whip out and serve to visitors who come for baby viewings - banana loafs, carrot cake, muffins etc all freeze very well if double wrapped in clingfilm

hmmm..........will keep thinking!

As well as the usefulness of having a stocked freezer ready for the baby, there is something so homely and satisfying about filling the freezer - this was my "nesting"! One day my husband came home to find I had made 13 loaves of bread for the freezer all in one day!! (pregnancy does odd things to you doesn't it!)

Good luck with it all

Chilli con carne
Shepherds pie
Curries
Bolognese sauce

I also freeze prepared servings of root vegeteble mash,although more of a wintery thing.

Lasagne

Chilli

Fish pie

Various pasta sauces so all you have to do is boil up the pasta when you need it.

Cauliflower cheese.

Chunky soups, lentil soup -serve with the part-baked ciabatta/rolls that take 10mins in the oven

A very good idea. We did this with no2, and took some frozen meals (the sort that didn't need reheating) in the labour bag as well, so that I would have some decent food in hospital.

Stews and dishes with sauces work well, but boiled potatoes go rubbery, and the more delicate veg (like broccoli) go to pieces. Mashed veg are fine.

Custard pies work well, and don't need reheating. Likewise quiche.

Buy the foil take-away style tubs with card lids (unless you will be reheating in a microwave) and then you don't even need to do any washing-up.

I did a load of stews, bolognese, chilli con carne etc.

Unfortunately, by the time we'd got onto the third portion of the same stew we were bored to tears .

If you can get dp to go to the shops, or order online, I'd try and eat loads of salads, cold meats, cheeses, fruit, etc esp as the weather will hopefully be hot when the baby arrives.

I do like the idea of freezing cakes for visitors though.

Thanks v much for all the ideas; hadn't thought of things like gammon, quiches and cakes, good plan.

Phew, glad I read your OP, I thought you meant meals to feed to the newborn

And if they can be things you can eat with one hand, so much the better, as you may not always be able to time it so that you can have both hands free.