As I get ready for baby #4 to grace us with her presence, I am starting the preparations. I don’t even have a nursery set up (like at all) but food, food I will have set up in plenty of time! I want to make sure that not only is my family well fed with delicious meals while I am out of commission, I want to make sure that I am not the one up in the kitchen cooking those meals. Can I get an amen?
I have found quite a few recipes not only for meals covering the entire day, but for sides, desserts and snacks. There are options for everyone, all of them being naturally grain-free. Some include dairy if you can handle that and a few have natural sugars. Overall, these are very healthy, whole food meals that will easily go from the freezer to your plate, or from your freezer to your crockpot to your plate.
I plan on taking a few days, spread out, to make many of these meals and fill up my deep freezer. Work now means rest later. First, we need to make sure we have the must-have resources for these meals. Check the list and have all of those items in-house before you start as they make all of this much easier.
Many of these meals can either be left big or, like with the breakfast casseroles, I cut them up into serving size pieces and freeze them in snack sized freezer bags for easy access. I freeze date balls and muffins 2 to a snack sized bag as well. Almost all of the meals can, and should, be frozen in gallon sized freezer bags to save space. The chicken pot pie recipe is geared to be made in foil containers, as others could be if you choose as well.
The snack list consists of no-cook items that our family loves and I plan on having available for all of us, especially when I won’t be up and at em. I listed some sauces and spices that are not necessary to have, but you might choose to make them to add to your meals. If you want to be super organized check out this Intro to Freezer Meals for personalized planning templates and more.
Have fun, make a plan, make a grocery list, get cooking and fill that freezer!
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Must-Have Resources and Needs:
Label maker (splurge) or a permanent marker
Crockpot
Crockpot liners
Gallon sized freezer bags for meals
Quart sized freezer bags for pancakes and waffles
Snack sized freezer bags for muffins, date balls, shredded chicken and shredded turkey
Foil baking dishes
Breakfast:
Meat and Veggie Mini Frittatas
Apple Cinnamon Streusel Muffins
Dinner:
Cilantro Lime Chicken (includes cheese)
Chicken Nuggets (included cheese)
Super Easy (non-frozen) Crockpot Meals:
Sides:
Please help me add to the sides list!
Desserts:
Coconut, PB&J and Banana Date Balls
Cherry Ripe Chocolate Truffles
More Prep Work:
Boil chicken. Shred. Freeze in 1 cup servings.
Bake Turkey. Shred. Freeze in 1 cup servings.
Make hamburger patties, either frozen or pre-cooked, and freeze individually.
Optional Sauces and Spices to Make:
Creole seasoning
Pesto (includes cheese)
No-Cook Snacks to Have In-House:
No filler Hot-Dogs
Salami
All- natural fruit strips
Larabars
Plantain chips
Sweet potato chips
Trail mix
Dried fruit
Fresh fruit
Fresh veggies
Coconut flakes
Almonds
Dates
Raisins
Apple sauce
Almond butter
Squeezeable fruits and veggies
Items to Have in the Pantry/Refrigerator:
Mustard
Canned Tuna
Canned Chicken
Frozen bagged single veggies (for sides)
Frozen bagged stir fry veggies (to add to a meat for a quick meal)
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Wow, what a great resource! Thanks for putting this together.