Meals When Baby Comes

I have done meal planning - not for the same reason, but meal planning nonetheless.

If you are good on the computer, you might look at this website. I used this monthly meal planner: http://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/meal-planner.html

For freezers meals, I like to make big batches of stew, chili, and soup and freeze in quart containers. I also like to put chicken breasts with marinade in the freezer in a big ziplock, so all I have to do is put them in the fridge, and they marinate as they thaw. Then bake at dinner time. I also make double-batches of meatloaf and freeze half (uncooked).

3 month meal plan? I can barely plan 3 DAYS worth of meals!

Here is one meal that is super easy though - chicken breast, cut-up potatoes, and fresh green beans arranged in rows in a 9 x 13 pan. Cover with 1 packet zesty Italian dressing mix and 1 stick melted butter, then bake in the oven for 1 hour at 350 degrees. That's it!

Since you say you and your husband share the cooking, why doesn't he just take it on for the first few weeks and then you go back to your regular routine of sharing? I did nothing special when DS was born - we just cooked as usual.

I agree with some others that this seems to be a huge undertaking.

For ME, attempting to plan (and then execute said plan) for three months would be more stressful than just planning a few days at a time.

If you know what kinds of meals are easy for you, and keep your house stocked, there should be no need to plan ahead. I only do "big" shopping once a month (with milk, fruits, veggies, etc, each week) and we only plan a day ahead..."What do we want for dinner tomorrow?"

I'm not huge on frozen meals, either, because I just prefer freshly cooked foods. I have a HUGE list of meals that can be prepared in about half an hour active, or five-ten minutes active and then an hour bake time. If you are interested, PM me and I'll give you some suggestions, but none of them are vegetarian, sorry.

One thing we do make in huge batches and freeze is homemade chili (absolutely from scratch) and homemade baked beans, also completely from scratch. Possibly a bit time consuming with the bean sorting and soaking, etc, and long cook time, but SO worth it because they come out well from the freezer.

I would never attempt this! Lol
To be honest, I don't like many meals that have been frozen.
I do like to freeze homemade soups, chili, sauce & meatballs, the occasional meatloaf. That's about it.
I would try googling some ideas for other things that freeze well.
Personally, I'm not a fan of frozen casseroles, etc. and who knows what you'll feel like eating?
Your husband will be there to help and shop.
I'd probably prep some veggies and freeze those for use in the crockpot.
Good luck!

As a stay at home mom I was fortunate not to have to plan out meals beyond the first week or so, but I DID have a few frozen things on hand, like lasagna, a few casseroles and some soups, stews that I made ahead of time, just in case I was "down" longer than expected.
Beyond that I just made sure the fridge and pantry were stocked with all the basics, pasta, potatoes, tomato sauce, onions, garlic, frozen veges, meat and fish, etc. so it was easy to put together a simple meal most nights. If I discovered I needed something at the last minute I would ask my husband to pick it up on his way home.
And your husband is taking a week, or two, off? That is huge! My husband never took more than two days off. Granted my deliveries were pretty healthy, but still. He can handle ALL the cooking while he's home, right? And he can do the grocery shopping too which will be a BIG help!

I commend you and your planning abilities. I find that we are lucky to have the week figured out much less 12 .. Also having freezer space for that many meals.

With that said. I work full time and we use the crok pot a lot. We also have to eat in most of the time now with my son being gluten free, it is just easier.

I make Meat loafs 3 at a time and freeze the other two. (unless I am just preparing then I freeze all).

We use breakfast as a quick meal. Burgers, slopy joes, chillie, things you can cook ahead and freeze nicely.

We freeze the meals before cooking. so we know a day a head pull out and put in crock pot or cook.

I also found with meal planning more than a week out, I don;t feel like X ..

Maybe it would be helpful to get some "dinners" written down and put in a bucket or hat and pull out and cook that for the day?

Good luck and congratulations

I'm also surprised by the lack of suggestions. I don't do this to the scale that you're suggesting - 3 months seems like a LOT of planning, but to even have a few emergency items ready to go when you don't have time to cook nightly seems like a great idea.
Things we've done are: lasagna, chicken tetrazzini (add some cauliflower & broccoli to make it healthier), pasta sauce, chicken noodle soup, minestrone, spanikopita (add some hummus and a greek salad and grilled chicken to round it out), turkey meatballs, ground beef for tacos, pastasauce. You said you're vegetarian so I don't have a ton of ideas for a 3month plan, but one thing I'd suggest is doing a 1/week afternoon of cooking. On Sunday, cook a bunch of pasta, rice, meat, soups, and have them ready in the fridge to assemble into a meal. On your one cooking day, chop all of your veggies, so you can throw veggies, pasta into a big pan & reheat in 15 minutes, and you're done. Add in a scoop of pesto, or italian dressing, or balsamic, or ginger, and you have a good unique meal quickly!
Also, check out Trader Joes balsamic vinegar chicken. It freezes well, and then just microwaves into perfectly tender roasted balsamic chicken. Pair with some steamed veggies, and some bread, and it's a great meal.

I *tried* to do freezer cooking but it seemed to be a lot of work. I still am going to do some, because it is super easy to just pull it out and stick it in the oven or crock pot.

I found the easiest schedule for us was when I was bowling on Thursday nights. I haven't in a few years and we have stuck with the schedule. I cook Mon, Tues, Wed and have enough leftovers for us to eat on Thursday (just heat and eat). Then every Friday has been Family Movie Night so we always have salad and pizza. Then on Saturday and Sunday we just wing it since the kids are at our ex's every other weekend.

I also will brown like 6 pounds of hamburger with onions at a time and then put it in quart size zip baggies and freeze. Use it for pastas, tacos, sloppy joes, soups, enchiladas, etc. So that is one step that is already done. Same thing for chicken: put a ton of boneless, skinless chicken in the crock in water to cook all day or night. Then just take it out and chop it up and put it in a baggies and freeze. Use for the same things above.

I understand you not wanting to make it "too" easy for hubby while he's home. Maybe have him do an easy freezer meal one day, and then cook the next? Or just make it easy for the 12 weeks so everyone is happy. I hope you find something that works for you! Congrats and good luck!

Are you on Pinterest? There are a ton of ideas/sites there that can assist in the planning.

http://www.annies-eats.com/2011/03/28/stocking-the-freeze...

http://joelens.blogspot.com/2010/05/freezer-meals-menu.html

http://onceamonthmom.com/vegetarian-december-2012-menu/

Good luck.

My husband loves easy to fix sandwich type, also something quick that our teenager have cooked up. :)
I found this helpfull:
http://www.bumblebee.com/

I made some lasagnas and froze them before and they were good. Made sure to write the oven temp and time on the tin foil. What about making a veggie pizza and freezing it? Burgers are good too, meat for the family and veggie ones for you or even mini meatloaves.

I made a bunch of breakfast burritos and froze those- scrambled eggs, cheese, black beans, wrapped up in a paper towel then foil. Freeze, then you can pull them out take off the foil, throw the paper towel wrapped burrito in the micro for 1-2 minutes, just add salsa! These were great for DH to feed my two boys when I was out of town! The boys and I are vegetarian, DH is not.
I would also look at a few Moosewood recipes and prep all of the ingredients in pre-done packets. For example, all of the ingredients for couscous "paella." This dish cooks really quickly, chopping all of the ingredients and tracking them down are the only hard part! If you have all the fresh ingredients frozen together and the dry ingredients pre-measured and in a labelled tupperware, it will take less than 10 minutes to throw together!
Also check out the cookbook "Desperation dinners." I have easily modified a lot of those recipes to be vegetarian and the book has a TON of time-saving tips.
Happy baby :)