Freezer meal ideas for after baby

[Panda368]

I’m 39 weeks today with no2 and probs should have been a bit more organised but the first lot of prodromal contractions started last night so I can’t ignore this task anymore as I probs don’t have the extra 2 weeks I assumed I would..

Anyone got any good ideas for freezable meals I can get prepped with for that first week / 2 weeks with newborn I have some ideas but not feeling very inspired so recipe links would be great.

Current ideas:

• coconut dal
• big batch of tomato sauce for pasta to be mixed with whatever
• chicken - something?
• sausage stew?
• chorizo - also something? Any recipes appreciated…

I have a 3 year old who can do some spice but will also happily live on pancakes, hummus and plain rice.. 🙄 so if possible kid friendly

Cottage pie
Lasagne
Spag bol
Curry
They are all my go to batch cooking meals xx I don’t have recipes to hand as tend to make my own up x

chicken pie with puff pastry. In the metal takeaway tubs you can just pop in oven and be done with it.

I did: mince, bean chilli, chicken pie, lamb and aubergine curry, Chinese chilli beef, a fish curry thing, pulled pork, beef goulash, lamb tagine and then brought quite a few oven meals (oven chips, frozen fish, chicken kievs, frozen peas etc)

I’m pescetarian. I did:

Spinach and mushroom lasagne
Veggie cottage pie
Fish pie
Apple crumble (tinned custard)
Coconut and raspberry cake

Veggie sausages, frozen mash, peas and bistro veg gravy

DH’s job was to decide each morning what we were having that night and get it out of the freezer. He forgot most days so we lived on toast for the best part of a month.

Chilli con carne or veggie alternative. 3 year old could have a small portion with extra rice to dilute the spice.

Macaroni cheese.

As we are going into winter soup is comforting. Leek & potato soup freezes well.

I second the metal takeaway tubs. I regularly make things like shepherd's pie and lasagne. They cook from frozen in about 40 minutes for a one person portion and are basically the best thing ever.

I made a chicken pasta dish, lasagne, veg curry, cottage pie and chilli. About 3 of each(ish) I think in the end I had a fortnights worth of dinners.

This time I'll add fish pie and possibly chicken fajita mix. I know fajitas are quick and easy generally but I recently made a massive batch abs they just froze so well & made an easy dinner even easier so I will do it again.

I tried to make things that were either complete or only needed one other thing (such as rice or pasta or potatoes).

Like a previous poster DH also often forgot so having a good stock of tinned beans/frozen pizzas etc were essential for us.

Best of luck! :)

I'm vegetarian, was pescetarian at the time. Not massively exciting but I did:

Macaroni cheese
Fish Pie
Veggie chilli
Cauliflower and broccoli cheese/ veggie bake thing
Portions of tomato sauce for pasta or on pizza bases I also froze.
Veggie curry
Spinach and ricotta lasagne
A load of chocolate and peanut cookies!

Also do lots of flapjacks so you can get one out first thing for a nice healthy snack during the day.

If you have a slow cooker you could chop up/mix all the ingredients you would need and put them in large freezer bags so you could just take a bag out the freezer at night and pop it in the slow cooker in the morning. So things like chilli, chicken with veg, bolognese, fajitas, curry, stew etc would all freeze well

We also used lots of micro rice too. Super quick

It was a while ago but I did:
Jamie Oliver’s jools pregnant pasta sauce,
Spaghetti bolognese/lasagne,
chilli con carne,
Beef stew,
Chicken, ham and leek pie
Sweet potato and leek soup,
Spicy lentil Dahl
Apple crumble

I did them all in the individual foil containers and froze them, often you can cook them from frozen if you forget to get them out, just bung them in the oven for much longer than you think (cover with a loose bit of foil to stop the top catching)

Also things like frozen pizzas, frozen chips, and easy freezer food that you just chuck in the oven that you know you already like is so useful!
And don’t forget things for easy grab snacks for you and things for your breakfasts/lunches!

I often make the below and portion it up with the veg in microwave containers

Slow cooker batch cooks:
Chicken and chorizo stew with red wine
Chilli
Bolagnaise
Scouse (lamb stew)
Lamb and rosemary with red wine casserole
Curries
Beef bourginion
Chicken chasseur
Sausage casserole with red onion and red wine

Have a look at Scott baptie on Instagram he does quick 30 second videos. The Brazilian chicken can go in a slow cooker and it's really, really nice. It's one of my fave freezer meals.

In the oven:
Shepherds/cottage pie
Lasagne
Cannelloni

On the hot:
Chicken with mushrooms, Boursin mixed in, spinach and parmasan. Brown chicken and mushrooms, add chicken stock and cheeses, flour or whatever to thicken then spinach. This freezes really well.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/batch-cooking-recipes/amp

Here are my three fave Scott baptie recipes. All work well in the slow cooker and freeze well.

Apologies why they are blurry they are not on my phone but have uploaded a bit blurry but you can make them out

Paneer curry by Mary Berry - not spicy at all but delicious! Freezes well too

Nutella stuffed cookies (Jane's Patrisserie recipe) - the dough can be rolled into little balls, wrapped in foil and baked from frozen in the oven. Such a nice treat!