Good meals to cook pre-birth and freeze for post-birth dinners

[mayaknew]

When da was born we ate a lot of take aways for the firsts few weeks and I really felt horrible and definitely do not want to do that this time .

What are good meals to cook and freeze ? I'm no good when it comes to this type of thing

Lasagne
Homemade soup/stew

Anything like cottage/shepherd's pie, moussaka, lasagne, curries, bolognese sauce (so you just have to boil the pasta), etc.

Stews, cottage pie, spaghetti bolognese etc - anything you can eat one-handed!

I plan on stews, bolognese, curries, chilli all homemade but also buying homemade pies from our local butcher and freezing some of them for a change from pasta. Also homemade soup with lots of veg and chicken for some protein.

DH made us massive batches of bolognese, tagine and veggie chilli - all with plenty of veg and served with different easy to cook carbs. They're serving us well (though we may be overdosing on tomatoes).

I'll be batch cooking bolognese sauce withb loads of veg in it, shepherds pie, chicken in mushroom sauce, stew, mash, lamb dansak, chicken pie, ratatouille, chicken chasseure. All reheatable things so I just have to boil pasta or rice. I'll make sure everything has extra veg in to so I don't even need to boil or chop that!

We are planning on making a lot of chunky veg and tomato sauce mix to freeze. We can then add beans and turn into a hotpot, have with rice or pasta or a sweet potato or add quorn mince into a spag bog

While you're cooking whatever in the oven. Bung a load of spuds in the bottom of the oven and once they're cooked, cool them and freeze them. 4 mins in the micro from frozen lovely proper jackets to go with stews, chillis, vast quantities of cheese etc!

I'm sure there will be lots of frugal ideas here. (I do what shiteforbrains does with mince).

HOWEVER - if you know any generous people who want to buy you birth presents, but you don't need loads of baby gubbins because you've already got DS - then this is awesome:

www.cookfood.net/menu/ranges/family-meals/family-meal-pack/

Someone bought me it as a get-well-soon-gift after an operation and when I wasn't feeling 100% and it was amazing to have a few fall-back meals. The cost is atrocious if you think about it - but a delicious ready meal for 4 (especially when people pop in) is sooo handy - it's worth it.

Bookmarking!

I might be being thick but, do you cook lasagnes/stews etc, freeze and then re-cook like it is with ready meals or no?

i second cook meals - we lived on them after I gave birth!!

Assuming you have one, why wouldn't your partner cook meals after the baby is born? I never get this pre-birth batch cooking obsession. Seems a tedious way to spend the last few days of freedom especially when you're heavily pregnant.

One dish dinners ie fish/shepherds/cottage pie, chicken pie topped with mash, casseroles with potatoes in (or make an d freeze giant Yorkshire puds to serve it in), filling soups like lentil and carrot/french onion, lasagne, etc etc. All can be prepped and frozen individually in takeaway foil dishes and defrosted or cooled from frozen. No need to cook extra veg or pots. That's what I do for dh if I'm away for any length of time. I just write what it is on the lid and how long to cook it for from frozen or defrosted. Just remove the paper lid and it can go straight in the oven. Simples.

Cooked not cooled!

And it needn't take ages to sort. I've cooked two weeks worth of individual meals like the above in one evening.

In the weeks leading up to birth I would just bulk cook whatever I was cooking so it didn't take extra time or energy really.

I made chilli, bolonaise, cottage pie, roast chicken, chicken curry, stew, sausafe casserole etc etc just easy stuff really.

I was all chuffed with myself being so organised then 2 days after my section DH sheepishly appeared at the hospital with the admission that he'd left the freezer open and everything had defrosted whilst they were staying at my Mums.

I could've cried!! :o

Oh no shitebag, that's awful...I WOULD have cried!!

This might be a stupid question, but cooking isn't my forte....when you make something from scratch (i.e. with no instructions), how do you know how long to cook it for when the time comes to use it? Do you just microwave it until it's hot? Also, how long do meals like the above keep in the freezer?

TondelayoSchwarzkopf as lovely as my husband is, if I left him to do all the cooking post birth I'd live off pesto pasta and chips. He really struggles to plan a meal, which is the bit I find most tedious, so I'd end up planning and buying and then instructing him, or eat pasta and pesto for week on end- so I may as well batch cook then he can just reheat it all.

I also find batch cooking quite therapeutic and it makes my food shop much cheaper!

cazzabazz so if I make a spag bol - I initially cook it without instructions (I use mince, onions, carrot, celery, mushrooms, peppers, tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, fry the mince until it's brown all the way through and they the other bits until they taste right!). I do this with all food, I very rarely use tins/ packets/ jar sauces or recipes.

I leave it to cool, freeze or fridge it (if I'll have it later that week) and when it comes to reheating I just pop it in the microwave until it is piping hot all the way through - 3/4 mins is enough if it's defrosted usually, just stir half way through. It'll need longer if it's frozen obviously.

Something such as shepherds pie or chicken pie I prefer to reheat in the oven - again I just cook it until piping hot in the middle, about 30mins or 45 if it's frozen. Sometimes I freeze the mash and shepherds pie filling separately, reheat both in the oven, put it all together and then grill it to get the crispy topping.

Sorry, with the shepherds pie it should say reheat each bit in the microwave (because it's quicker)

Oh and if you have a proper freezer (not the little one at the top of the fridge) most food keeps officially for 3 months, but I'll easily keep some of mine for 6 months. I just assess it when it comes out!

I freeze loads of stuff -I regularly buy meat in the whoops section of the supermarket and then freeze it until I need it.

Don't forget jars of pesto for your cupboard. Can go with pasta or gnocchi (buy vacuum pack gnocchi that keeps in the cupboard). Nice and easy and a bit lighter than some freezer meals you might make ahead. :)

I'm planning to cook up large dishes of stuff like lasagne, chilli, bolognese, stew, most of what's been mentioned, take out our portions to eat that night and then freeze the rest in meal-sized plastic tubs. I always fully cook meals before freezing, pull out the night before (or early morning in the summer) to defrost, then bung in the oven (or microwave if you have one). As long as you make sure it's piping hot all the way through, it's good to eat. As pp's have said, 3 months is the norm for keeping frozen stuff, but I probably have stuff buried in the bottom of the freezer that's been there longer and it's perfectly fine.

Also, if you're that way inclined, cakes and cookies freeze well and can just be left out overnight to defrost before they're ready to eat. Things like banana bread and fruit loaf are great for freezing, or make a couple of victoria sandwiches and freeze them un-iced, just bung some icing or jam in once they've defrosted. Cookies can be frozen in big ziploc bags and you can just take a handful out at a time.