Easy Meals Postpartum

One of my favorite go-to meals is stir fry... Just get a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies, some meat (chicken is my preference) and a jar of stir-fry sauce. Sauté the veggies and meat until done, dump on some sauce, and cook a few more minutes. Then I just serve it over some rice or noodles. You have veggies and protien- good enough for a quick dinner!

Congratulations on the new arrival!

Is there any way you could make a big pot of homemade chicken stock? You could buy some chicken (or turkey) backs and wings (many grocery store meat departments can sell you some or order some). Roast the bones at about 400 degrees until they're a beautiful dark mahogany color and throw them and any drippings into a large pot of water (the bigger, the better). Simmer for several hours and then strain. Freeze in gallon size zip top bags and you'll have the base for many easy soups. Throw some sauteed vegetables in for an easy vegetable soup, or some deli or rotisserie chicken and noodles, or some pasta and vegetables, or Mexican seasonings and beans and rice.

Another easy meal is kielbasa (the kind you just have to heat up, not cook) and applesauce. Chop the kielbasa into bite size slices and throw in a crock pot with a healthy applesauce (chunky is good), or with fresh apple slices. Just heat (or cook until the fresh apples are tender) and eat. You can sprinkle with a little cinnamon if you like.

If you can pre-pack some baked potatoes toppings, that would be easy. Broccoli, cooked bacon, shredded cheese, etc. All you'd need to do is throw the potatoes in to bake, and take out the toppings.

Well by #5 you should be a pro! Gees.. 5 kids!

Freeze homemade marinara, chili, soups, chicken pot pie, lasagna,

Buy and bake a large ham and freeze part of it then make soup with scrap and bone.

How old are the 4 boys? Enlist help!

Fish and fries
Soup and sandwich-google 30 minute minestrone.
Hamburgers and salad
Stir fry

Breakfast foods!

BLTs.

I never bought processed foods until kid 3. Now I have chicken nuggets and fish sticks in the freezer. With fries. Everyone is happy. All I have to do it turn on the oven and throw stuff in it. You do what you gotta do with LOs in the house. And I had tons of frozen meals, and I have only have 3!

Good luck!

Wow - you are either nesting big time, or you are figuring that you won't have friends & family stepping up to do this!

Okay - potatoes (sweet or Idaho or Yukon Gold, or a combination) plus some onions. Wash them ahead of time and let them dry thoroughly, then put them in a dark place and they will keep but be ready to prep. When you want to eat them, slice the potatoes in half the long way, then into wedges. No peeling. Quick peel the onions and slice into quarters. Throw the whole pile into a baking sheet, drizzle with a little olive or canola oil, and salt & pepper, toss gently. If the kids eat dill, you can throw some dried herbs on. Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes, roughly turning once - automatic oven "fries". If you have some fresh broccoli or cauliflower available at the time, you can add florets.

Chicken tenders - they defrost quickly - you can buy a family pack and separate them into enough for 1 meal, then freeze that way in flat ziploc bags. Make a low, flat bowl or pie plate with beaten egg and another with whole wheat bread crumbs (you can mix with half wheat germ if you like). season as you wish - S&P, parsley, etc. You can also mix some grated Parmesan in with the crumbs. Dump the defrosted tenders in the egg and smooth them around, then into the bread crumb mix, flip to coat both sides, and set them on a sprayed baking rack set into a cookie sheet. You don't have to be too neat - if there are extra crumbs, put them on top of the chicken. Bake 20 minutes or so at 350. The rack lets the heat circulate underneath so the chicken fingers cook faster and the crumbs stay on without getting soggy. If you line the baking sheet with foil, you lessen the clean up. Serve these with the potatoes above.

Same chicken tenders, marinated in soy sauce or teriyaki marinade for as long as you have. If you want to mix in some ground ginger, fine. Bake at 350 20 minutes. Serve with brown rice - if you start that ahead, by the time you take the chicken out of the marinade and put it on a baking sheet, it should all finish at the same time. I often replace some of the water in the rice with chicken broth or soy sauce to flavor it all the way through.

If you stock canned beans and tomato sauce/puree, and have some ground beef or ground turkey in the freezer, you can make quick chili or even enchiladas (spread the beans and cooked ground meat or even leftover chicken) down the center third of a large tortilla, add whatever you want to the middle such as chopped peppers and onion if you're in the mood to chop, or use frozen peppers, onions & corn. You don't have to defrost , just add a half a handful to each one. Fold up the 2 sides, lapping one slightly over the other, and "pin" with a toothpick. Put on a baking sheet, top with canned tomato puree and some shredded cheddar or any Mexican style cheese. Bake 350 about 20 minutes and the frozen stuff will heat through in that time. What I would do with 6 people is put 6 plates out on the counter and put a tortilla on each one. Then assembly line style, put a half palmful of each ingredient on each tortilla. When you put the enchiladas in to bake, just use those 6 plates at the table - they only held a clean tortilla so they're clean!

Pizza dough - throw everything on top and bake.

Get out a muffin tin (or 2) and put any little leftovers into each compartment (spray first with canola spray): onions, peppers, chicken, ham, chopped pepperoni, grated cheese, halved grape tomatoes, leftover veggies like spinach or broccoli, etc. Beat up some eggs with some milk, salt & pepper. Pour the egg mix into the muffin cups, bake until set and browned, then serve as little hand-held quiches (without crust). This also makes a good hand-held breakfast. The older kids can help putting stuff in the muffin cups so all you add is the eggs. Serve with English muffins or toast.

Sweet & sour meatballs - just use frozen regular meatballs (beef or turkey) but not the Italian or Swedish ones in the sauce. Mix half chili sauce (or ketchup or tomato sauce) and half currant jelly (or grape or apple). Whisk the 2 sauces together (microwave if you have to for the jelly to liquify a little), then dump it on the frozen meatballs and bake in a casserole, stirring once, for about 40 minutes. If you can defrost the meatballs beforehand or bake on a cooking sheet, they will cook faster than if they are crammed in together and touching. Serve over whole wheat noodles or regular noodles.

Carrots keep well in the fridge and can bake quickly in a casserole with a honey/ginger mix - you can use the baby carrots which require no peeling. For 1 pound of carrots, use 1/2 cup honey and 1/4 cup brown sugar, and 1/4 ground ginger if desired. Mix the honey and brown sugar (and ginger) - I put it in a pyrex measuring pitcher and microwave it briefly to heat and liquify the honey enough that it stirs okay, then I whisk it together. Pour it over the carrots in a baking dish and bake for 30 minutes at 350. They're sweet enough to please anyone. These can go with the Asian style chicken with soy sauce if you like.

Good luck - have a great delivery and a healthy baby!

EASY CROCKPOT POTATO SOUP

1 30oz. bag of frozen, shredded hash browns {I used Ore Ida}

3 14oz. cans of chicken broth

1 can of cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/4 tsp. ground pepper

1 pkg. cream cheese {don’t use fat free.  It WON’T melt!!!}
In a crockpot, combine everything EXCEPT for the cream cheese.  Cook for 6-8 hours on low heat.  About 1 hour before serving, add cream cheese and keep heated until thoroughly melted.  Serve with cheese, sour cream, bacon bits, green onions, or whatever else you think would be good!! I also throw in a bunch of ham cubes to make it more of a meal.

Baked spaghetti
3/4-1 lbs. gr beef or Italian sausage (I use sausage)
2 (16oz) spaghetti sauce
1 lbs spaghetti
12oz+ shredded cheese (I use Kraft Italian blend)

Brown beef/ sausage. Drain fat. Mix in spaghetti sauce. Simmer 10-15 minutes.
Cook spaghetti al dente; drain.
Mix spaghetti noodles in sauce and stir. Pour in 9x13 pan. Top with cheese and bake @ 350 for 20-30 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

We (5) get two meals out of this. Throw in a salad and garlic bread.

You can prep it one day and cook it another.

Congrats on #5!

These are the two super easy go-to meals that my family likes:

Tostada's: Keep premade hard shells in pantry with cans of refried beans. Heat beans in microwave, spread on shell, add shredded lettuce and cheese on top. I always have lettuce and cheese in the fridge and I don't serve anything else with these but you could of course.

Chili mac: Make 2 boxes of mac n cheese as directed on box, add 2 cans of chili, heat and eat. I serve with green beans and biscuits. My husband likes this as much as the kids. lol

Today is my hubby's bday and I had 5# of hamburger I bought on sale so I made all of into meatloaf. Last time I was at the dollar store I bought round aluminum pans with lids. There was enough meatloaf for the 5 of us tonight and then I put the rest into one of those containers for the freezer. You easily could do this with 10# of hamburger and put them in the freezer. Just thaw and heat.

Also you can put a ton of b/s chicken breasts/thighs in the crock pot with a couple packets of dry onion soup. Cook on low all day. Take out and chop and put in zip baggies and freeze. Use as needed for recipes like tacos, soups, bbq sandwiches,etc.

Do the same with browned hamburger, with or without onions.

Congrats and good luck!

Its fall/winter so I always love soups and they keep really well frozen or in the pot they cooked in saved for the next day. Sorry I cook on the fly and don't use recipes, but one of my favorites is African peanut soup (tastes better than it sounds and crazy hearty healthy). It was originally recommended to me on this site, and though I've modified the recipe I got from Cooking Light, its one of those winners you keep using forever because your family loved it.

my other quick makes that don't totally bog me down with standard American fair: cheese, processed white flower etc. etc.

veggie burgers with whole wheat buns and a side of fruit and or oven sweat potato fries (from a package)
variation: black bean burgers with avocado and corn chips

taco salad (vegetarian). pile lettuce/ cabbage, corn chips, corn, olives, tomato, onion, salsa, and canned pinto beans. Add cheese and sour cream if you do dairy.

What a struggle hu? Hope hubby cooks a few simple meals.

Frozen to keep in freezer:
--Lasagna (purchase Stoffers since it's close to your delivery date)
-Shepherd's pie (just google a recipe)
-Rotisserie chicken purchased at store w/pint of cole slaw in a pinch
-Easy beef stew (just google recipe), make then freeze
-quick meal? Thin breakfast steak cooked in shallow frying pan w/rice
-hamburgers (buy premade frozen patties. can cook on stovetop in pan)
-pizza frozen or delivered. serve w/pre-bagged salad.
-bbq several chicken breasts, bag serving portions, then freeze.
-lg cans of your family's fave soup serve w/baguette of bread
-have lots of lunchmeat on hand to make big sub sandwiches, sliced
cheese.
-buy pkgs of Jack Daniel's BBQ pulled pork, heat & serve on hamburger
buns. Add salad.
-chili dogs (cans of chili, hot dogs, buns, shredded cheese, diced onion)
-taco salad (cook ground beef or turkey w/taco seasoning, can freeze the
cooked meat for later) add to chopped iceberg lettuce w/diced onions,
tomatoes, shredded cheese, crushed Dorito chips, toss w/Thousand
Island dressing
-bbq chicken sandwiches. Cut chicken breasts in half, cook on stovetop
or bbq, add bbq sauce at end of cooking time to coat both sides. Can
freeze this meat to later defrost, warm & put btwn hamburger buns or
sub bread, add lettuce, tomato, sliced onion

First off congrats on the new addition!!
I loved my crock pot after I delivered. There are so many things you can make. I made a pot roast, just throw it in the crock pot in the morning and let it cook all day, plus you might have leftovers for lunches. I also cooked a ham once, seems like a lot, but then you can make ham sandwiches with leftovers. Something else that would work great is vegetable soup, plus its kind of healthy. What I do is get 2 cans of veggies that we like, peas, great beans, carrots, potatoes, corn and so on, drain off the liquid, and mix them in a big pot. Also 2 cans of tomatoes, but do not drain. Then I add enough chicken broth to cover all this, making it a soup and cook until boiling. To make it a little healthier I get low sodium or no salt added veggies. Good luck and congrats!!