Ideas for Frozen Meals

Hi M.,

Lasagna is always an easy one to freeze. My lasagna recipe is easy: Brown the beef, drain the fat, add in onions and salt and pepper, cook for 10 minutes. Add in spaghetti sauce and heat. Use the Barilla noodles that you don't need to boil. Layer your lasagna and shredded mozzarella, cover with foil (that's the key to great lasagna is to keep it covered with foil). Bake at 350 for about 50 minutes (during last 10 minutes remove foil to brown top of cheese). When I run out of ideas on what to cook for dinner, I usually turn to the Campbell's Soup website or Kraft Foods sites. They have easy recipes that only take a few ingredients are quick to prepare, and almost always turn out great.

Congrats on your new baby!!!

Best wishes,

MC

I don't have any recipies for you (I'm at work so no recipes here!) but may I suggest you don't do what I did! I made all sorts of things - all of which had tomatoes in them! I made mastacholli (? sp), goulash, & chili. I ended up not being able to eat any of them because I'm breastfeeding and my daughter is sensitive to tomatoes- it upsets her stomach for days! One thing I made that was wonderful was pasties. I just made a roast beef with potatoes and carrots and onions then the next day I cut it all up, wrapped it up in those ready-made pie crusts from the store (pillsbury I think..), baked them until they were just starting to brown on the outside and stuck them in the freezer. When we wanted one, we just thawed them out for a while in the fridge (overnight usually) then baked them again until they were warm. Get some jars or cans of gravy to have on hand to warm up and pour over them for a delicious dinner with little fuss.

Allrecipes.com is a great website to use for meal ideas.

Great question! And, you are right - you will not have time or energy, especially for the first couple of weeks. Yes, infants sleep, but that's when you need to sleep - or RELAX (especially if you are breastfeeding)! LOL!!!
Its so nice to be able to just pull something out of the freezer and have dinner done! I do this alot - "Investment Cooking". I buy about 10 lbs of ground round and make about 10 meals at once with it!!! What I do is make about 3 lbs of taco meat - cook and season and seperate into 3 freezer bags. Next time you want tacos, or nachos, or enchiladas, the meats already cooked and you just have to add your toppings : ) One thing I love to make with the taco meat is called Taco Pie.
Crescent rolls - roll into pie dish and bake on 350 for 20 min.
Add cooked / thawed meat & a bag of shredded cheese - back in oven until cheese is melted. Add toppings like lettuce, tomato, black olives, etc. whatever your family likes.

W/the other meat - I make spaghetti sauce (about 2 lb) and divide that into 4 bags(meals). When you want spaghetti - all you have to do is make your pasta (8 mins) and warm your sauce & throw in some garlic bread!
Chili is another thing that is always good re-heated. Use 2 lbs of meat and make about 3 meals out of that.

Since summer is here, I'd take the rest of the meat (3 lbs) and make up hamburger patties. Just wrap them individually in wax paper and seal in freezer bag. Then when you are hungry for burgers - send your hubby to the grill!! ; )
WOW - sorry for such a long response!!!!!
~L.

M.
This was the best idea, I did this for my second child
and things were much easier.
I made pasta with vegetables and taco meat with vegetables/
So I could eat with salad or warm torillas.
Alot of protein ..
Chicken cooked cut into strips frozen with your normal
sauces or spices. easy thaw and add to wrap or pasta salad
End possibilites
Good luck and good eats.

C.

I'm not sure which city you live in but I go to Dream Dinners or My Girlfriends Kitchen or Dinner Kitchen (Shelby Twp) and assemble meals for the freezer. I prefer Dinner Kitchen but they only have the one location. I work a couple of days a week and it's so nice to be able to pull something out of the freezer the day before. It's alot of fun so bring a girlfriend..

spaghetti sauce, chili, stews, and soups are the easiest thing to freeze and reheat. But I personally feel that is a hassle. If you are giving birth to a single child, you will have time to still cook basic dinners. Newborns and infants sleep a lot. Just buy jar sauces and boil noodles for qick dinners. Or throw stuff in the crockpot. Just from my own personal experience, freezing meals did not make it easier. Good luck, and have fun with your baby!!

LASANGA!!! Also enchiladas, chix or beef.

There are alot of things u can freeze
Pasta do not cook it fully and throw some sauce together and when your ready to cook, throw it in the oven.
Anything chicken!!

yes it is a good idea to have some quick and easy dinners on hand.. I would check out the frozen section at costco- or your local supermarket. you will not have much time to cook for the frist week- or two or three

There are some great freezer meals available at savingdinner.com

simple, easy & make-ahead on a budget!

Good luck!

I love frozen meals! I get to Supper Thyme USA at least every 4 weeks. You go there and make up to 12 meals in about 2 hours. What I love is that everything is all ready chopped up and you don't have to wash a single thing. Also, you don't have to buy $6 bottles of 2-3 seasonings or spices when you only need a small amount. There are only 2 locations in Michigan so you might check out Super Suppers they have a location in Berkley. There are about 9 companies that are all the same concept, check your area. They usually run about $200 for 12 meals or you can do 6 for about $100-$110. Maybe you can hint to your mom or his that it would be a great baby gift. I did it for my sister-in-law in Feb. when she had her 4th and they loved having the easy food prep.