We are officially UNDER FIVE WEEKS till Baby Raegan arrives! I have definitely started to feel all the emotions and anxiety…I’ve been through it all once before, but not with a needy toddler. It all seems like a whole new adventure and whole new world becoming a mama of two.
Even just through pregnancy I have been significantly more tired with less energy and motivation to cook… I can’t even IMAGINE where I’ll even begin to muster up the energy or motivation to cook when baby is actually here. So this time around I plan on being more prepared so we aren’t eating out a ton or eating unhealthy for weeks after baby is born!
This week my mom came over and we spent 3 hours prepping 10 freezer meals. I want to repeat that… it ONLY TOOK US 3 HOURS (that includes clean up- AND I forgot to defrost meat ahead of time). These freezer meals will make enough for one night PLUS leftovers… so anywhere from 2-3 meals per freezer bag…that’s 20-30 MEALS…. in 3 HOURS. Totally worth it if you ask me. So today I’m going to share all the recipes we made along with tips and tricks along the way to make this a super speedy process and help you feel even more prepared for when your little one arrives.
Step 1- Print your recipes, compile a grocery list.
I purchased all necessary meat ahead of time at Costco in bulk- you’ll need LOTS of chicken. Then for my grocery list I made sure to organize the list to make shopping as easy as possible. For example I started with produce, I wrote down all the necessary produce from each recipe on my list, then moved on to grains, then canned goods, etc. This will make shopping much less overwhelming.
Step 2- Label your gallon size bags, or make extra copies to tape to the tops of tin pans.
When you pull out one of these bags in 2 months, you’re going to want to know what to do with it! Some are as easy as “cook in a crockpot on low for 6-8 hours” whereas a couple have certain temperatures in the oven they need to cook at, or even a couple ingredients that need to be added when it’s time to cook. I labeled bags for meals that would go in a bag, then had extra copies to tape to the meals that went into tin foil pans.
Step 3- DEFROST MEAT BEFORE PREP DAY.
I’m putting this in bold because it’s something I forgot to do! This definitely slowed our process down significantly. The night before you plan to prep meals, read through each recipe and see which meals need to have cooked meat and thaw these overnight (I’ll note which recipes these are below). For the meals that didn’t require cooked meat, you just want to make sure the meat is slightly thawed if it needs to be separated from a package or other meat, you can do this before prepping with some hot water.
Step 4- Start with foods that need to cook
A couple recipes require cooked noodles or cooked meat- obviously you want to get these going first. While these are cooking, start prepping other ingredients for these meals or the other meals. Everything is pretty smooth sailing from here. It is definitely easier to get this done with someone helping you (two is even better). Delegate tasks or assign a full meal for someone to put together while you put another together and it will get done in no time!
Now for the recipes used… I will link the websites I got each recipe from below, so you can feel free to browse and find other recipes you might like better! I picked recipes that looked like they were easiest to prep, over half of them just required some chopping and then throwing a bunch of ingredients in a bag together. They were all very easy recipes and looked really delicious!
Let’s start with the easiest meals that require ZERO cooking ahead of time:
- This Slow Cooker Black Bean and Corn Chicken actually filled TWO gallon size bags and will be excellent for salads, burritos, tacos, or wraps. Mommy’s Fabulous Finds has many many more freezer recipes you can find on her page!
- Crock-Pot Chicken Noodle Soup was another incredibly easy recipe- I did purchase the egg noodles already and will store them in my pantry until we decide to make this meal
- Crockpot Chicken Philly Cheese Steaks were another great find-just some vegetable chopping and you’re good to go! I purchased the provolone cheese slices and taped them to the outside of the freezer bag- all we will need for this recipe are some rolls to serve the sandwiches on when it comes time to make it. I found this recipe in the mother-load of all freezer meal sites… The Family Freezer
- Freezer-to-Crockpot Chicken Fajitas were also incredibly simple and always an excellent, healthy meal choice. I found this recipe on The Humbled Homemaker
Next up are the recipes that were still incredibly easy to make…but just required a little more prep….simple things like boiling noodles, browning meat or baking chicken! These three will also need tin pans for storage, the size pan needed is included in each recipe!
- Let’s start with this 20-minute Tuscan Pasta. This one takes probably the most prep of all the recipes- but makes A TON and looks delicious. You’ll boil the noodles, cook the chicken and make the sauce ahead of time. 3 very easy steps!
- Baked Ziti Freezer Meal was also very simple and made a ton of pasta- this one just requires the meat to be browned and noodles cooked ahead of time. I substituted ground beef for ground turkey to make it a little more healthy. I found this recipe on Passion for Savings.
- Lastly was this Chicken Parmesan Casserole from Thriving Home Blog. This was the easiest of the three, all it needed was some cooked chicken, everything else was very easy and quick to throw together! Sorry I forgot to get a picture of this one!
These are the 7 recipes we made- 3 of which made 2 pans or bags or meals, making a total of 10 meals. Here’s a few more recipes I had printed but decided to hold off on making, mostly because I feel like we had plenty already!
These should be PLENTY to get you ready for baby and will only take a couple hours one day this week to prep. I did not do this for baby number 1 and really wish I had! You don’t really understand how tired you’ll be till you’re in it… and it’s too late to food prep!
From my kitchen to yours…enjoy!
