Freezer meals

[SunSparkle]

Hi everyone

I'm starting to plan for after we've had the baby and what meals to make for the freezer so we have lots of quick and easy food for the first few months.

There's some obvious ones (beef stew, bolognese sauce, soups, chilli).

What are you planning on making or what did you wish you'd made or had made for you to put in the freezer?

Thanks!

I made lots of snacks which were easy to eat with one hand for when I was feeding the baby, sausage rolls, flapjacks (don't need to freeze these!), tortilla slices etc.

As well as bolognese, stews etc, I also made lasagne, shephards pie and curry. They were a life saver when our little one was young!

@avidteadrinker I did not even think of snacks. Sausage rolls and flapjacks are a great shout.

Adding lasagne, shepherds pie and curry to the list too.

Enchiladas freeze well. I just add the cheese on top before reheating.

I did a lamb and lentil stew. So good. I'd recommend. Also you may consider the occasional crumble

@LemonDrizzles crumble is a great shout. A good pudding when it's cold and damp and you're tired would feel amazing.

Thai green curry!

We did loads for the freezer but we also really enjoyed Cook meals with bags of spinach and veg. So easy!
If you’re breastfeeding make sure you have access to energy rich snacks. I ate a lot of fruit cake and bananas

Don't forget snacks! I exclusively breastfed ds and was very grateful for the individual slices of banana bread in my freezer.

I'm due on Monday and the freezer is well stocked! I made

Spag bol x 4
Chilli con carne x 4
Chicken korma / madras 1 of each
Chicken fajita mix
Chicken and mushroom pie mix
Shepherd’s pie
Mashed potato (to go with sausages)
Chicken stir fry
Thai green curry
Mac n cheese with bacon x 2

I filled the remaining freezer space with the following to make life easy!

Chicken breasts
Bacon
Ice cream
Veg (peas, broccoli, sweetcorn, cauliflower etc)
Garlic bread
Loaf of bread
Tortillas
Deli meats
Sausages
Prawns
Pastry
Naan
Chips
Ravioli

In the pantry also have jars of pasta sauce/soup/baked beans/nuts etc and planning on sending DH to the supermarket every couple of days to buy fresh fruit and salady bits

@Sairafina I am in awe of your prep and organisation. Brilliant list!

I feel like making some cakes for the freezer is also a great idea.

We did meals but I also just prepped veg so loads of frozen onion, loads of pasta sauce etc so when I could be bothered to cook it was really simple

This freezes awfully well:
food52.com/recipes/20091-nigella-lawson-s-dense-chocolate-loaf-cake

I made it in case of the sort of guests who expect Entertaining then ate it all myself
You can also freeze uncooked balls of biscuit dough and cook straight from frozen.

I poached loads of chicken breasts, sliced them and froze. It meant I could take them out - they defrost really quickly - heat through with a jar of sauce. We ate lots of chicken curry, sweet and sour with micro rice and noodle stir fries! Also froze marinated raw braising steak so it could defrost overnight and go into the slow cooker in the morning.

@BlenheimOrange that cake looks DIVINE!!! Do you think it would work with milk chocolate or do I need to venture out for dark?

sairafina no idea, you could always use milk and just add more chocolate? That couldn’t be bad right?
It does need a touch of salt I think.