Meals to freeze for after the baby's born?

[picklesauce]

Hello everyone!

I'm nearing the end of my pregnancy and have too much time on my hands was thinking about pre-making some meals to put in the freezer that I can just reheat in the microwave when the baby's here.

Does anyone have any ideas on things I could make to freeze?

True to form I am utterly clueless and have so far come up with just spaghetti bolognese, and even then I don't even know if you're meant to make and freeze the pasta too? Ahhh!!!

Sorry if this is a really stupid question and thanks in advance!

DM and DSis made the following for me: (I had veggie versions because I don't eat meat)

Shepherds Pie
Macaroni Cheese
Fish Pie
Lasagne
Moussaka
Casserole with dumplings
Goan vegetable curry

It is a brilliant idea. You can freeze cooked pasta but it's not as good defrosted and reheated. I think I'd just freeze the sauce and get fresh pasta that only takes 2 mins to cook.

You could buy a gargantuan amount of minced beef, onions, tomatoes and other veg and batch cook lasagne, shepherd's pie, chilli con carne (just the sauce - cook rice or use those frozen jacket potatoes on the day) in one go. Fish pie and macaroni cheese are good for batch cooking too.

All lovely comfort food, which can be eaten one handed with a spoon if you're breastfeeding! You can buy disposable foil or plastic trays for convenience.

Cross post!

I'll be doing chilli, curry, and stew and possibly home made fish cakes or burgers. And also getting in some fish fingers, oven pizzas etc.

I did this! It was the best thing I did

Curry
Stew
Bolognese
Goulash
Shepards Pie
Chilli

Another thing I stocked up on was microwaveable rice and pasta (just for easy pesto dinner)

Shepherds pie freezes well, lasagne, stew, curry and sauces/soups.

But I wish I had known about the COOK shops when I was pregnant, I have just started using them and it makes busy days easier. We have only had the duck curry and chicken lasagne so far but both were nice. I might use the low cal ones after Xmas as a way to diet but still cook calorie full meals for DP and kids

www.cookfood.net

I've done loads.

Soups
Curries
Chilli
Bolognese sauce
Pies
Casseroles/stews
Mashed potato

I've basically just made extra every time I've made any of these things for dinner, and frozen any leftovers in single portions. So there might be a time we all have something different, but who cares?

I've also made sure that everything I've cooked has contained tons of extra veg, so it won't be the end of the world if we just serve it with chips/mash/bread.

I'm going to stock up on part-baked baguettes next week. And maybe make one more Bolognese batch. Then that'll do, I think. I'm 36 weeks.

thanks everyone! wasn't expecting that much of a response at all and all the ideas are brilliant, so much more imaginative than i would ever have come up with, i really appreciate it!

now you're all going to think i am completely clueless, but are there any foolproof recipes you use for these dishes?! i am not very good in the kitchen !

didnt even think of the microwaveable rice or part baked baguettes, brilliant! theyoni i will have a look at that website, thank you!

the disposable trays idea is great too - perhaps paper plates and plastic cutlery i should be investing in also?

thank you, you're saving my sanity!

Pickle Good Food website has loads of great recipes and ideas, and every recipe will tell you if it's suitable for freezing.
I also recommend meals that you can eat one handed. I have found soup ideal when I'm home alone in the day as I can put it in a mug!

I made meatballs and froze in bags. And portions tomato sauce,

Sorry! Fat fingers posted too soon!!
Also I stocked up on ready made fresh pasta sauce pots as most can be frozen and fresh ravioli.
Fresh pesto can be frozen in ice cube trays which is brilliant. And I grated a huge block of cheddar and froze that so I knew there'd always be cheese in the house!

Bolognese & mac cheese, the latter being a bugger to have in the freezer if you have a bf-related-dairy-free-diet...

A loaf of bread freezes and you can toast straight from the freezer. I only figured that out a few months ago. I also buy uht long life milk for emergency tea if we run out.

We had fish pies (my dad made us about 12!) and shepherd pies and then bought lots of ready made lasagne to freeze. It was a total godsend and I was gutted when it all ran out!
Good luck.

Oh yes and more biscuits and cake than you could ever imagine eating. In the early days I needed a cup of tea and slice of cake every time I fed my dd.
It's dead handy to have a little thermos flask that you can fill with tea or hot ribena.

All good suggestions above - happy cooking!
We also do things like curry, pasta sauce, chilli, frozen pizzas. I remember eating lots of pizza, as bunging it in the oven was all we could be bothered doing. We still keep a supply of stuffed pasta and pesto for nights we can't be arsed cooking.

Generally anything that can be eaten one handed too (pasta counts if you only need a fork).

I also stocked freezer with a couple of one pint milk bottles, and bought extra toilet paper and washing powder to save panics.

Does everyone have industrial sized freezers!? I'm due number 2 in a few weeks and should really get some meals in the freezer but its crammed full with frozen peas, frozen chips, frozen veg etc etc. Where are you all finding the room for a couple of trays of lasagne, curry and fish pie!

Heidi we have a miniature fridge/freezer so asked my dad to store all my freezer meals. Figured I could just ask for a delivery every so often. He has a spare freezer so no bother to them - anyone you can ask?

Oh and on-topic I have already made 6 portions of bolognese, 8 ham/cheese/kale pancake snacks/breakfasts, celeriac soup,chicken pie and am planning:
Mini brownies with nuts in
Mild chicken curry
Fish pie
Various other stuff I can't remember!
Am also trying to make an extra portion or 2 just when cooking generally. Batch cooking is exhausting! I'm starting to struggle with all the standing up now.
Also got some micro rice from lidl - 30p a bag! Tho still seems a rip off but sure it will be handy. Got extra bin bags,washing powder,washing up liquid etc too. Tho we have 24hr newsagents 2 mins walk away so I'm sure I'm being OTT!!

Heidihole - lol, admittedly we had a bigger freezer last time around. We'll have to do some re-organising this time around, but I like quackojuliet's idea of borrowing space at someone else's. my folks are nearby so will have to ask.

Heidi what I did was use up all the frozen veg while making the stash of freezer food and bought slim trays that stack neatly from the pound shop. I also use soup bags to store stew as they save room. You can get them in lakeland but also in aldi now and again.