Thursday, April 01, 2010

Help!!! Reliable freezer recipes needed ASAP

The baby's on the way. I am at 33 weeks, so the urge to nest is starting to kick in. No, my house is not spotless (as if), but I'm planning for the practicalities, borrowing a bassinet in preparation for Bootsie's arrival (planning on setting up the pack and play with bassinet and changing table downstairs--this came later last time but was very helpful.) Since this time I have 2 kids sharing one room, Boots is going to need to be with us for a bit (I'm hoping she isn't as loud of a sleeper as Rowan was.) Rowan is getting used to sleeping in the double bed in her room and plans have been made to reset up the crib, banishing her toddler bed to the attic for a while. I'm on the hunt for a new dresser to move Rowan's clothes into (found one I like, but am waiting on a friend who may have one due to some estates in her family that are being cleared out).  I'm researching strollers, because we pretty much wore ours out, but since the baby will be little, for the first few months she'll be in the Bjorn for walks anyway, so it's not pressing. The carseat is in the attic and can be used again, and I have boatloads of clothes. I do have the tabs to sew on the cloth diapers, but other than that, it's all little stuff to do. Except for painting the upstairs bathroom and our bedroom. But those are pipe dreams. If I can get the bathroom done, that would satisfy me. (For now. Ahem! Honey? You reading this?)

However, I do want to begin stocking my freezer with ready-to-go meals. A friend recommended this book, but our library's copy is lost. (Though now that I see the price, I may just order it. Gotta wait a bit though, because we are in the process of switching banks to a local one rather than a big corporate bank and I currently do not have easy access to funds except cash. And knowing our local Barnes and Noble, they'll charge 3 times what Amazon does. And they're both big corporations, so I have to stick it to at least one of the men by going with the cheap one.)

SO! This is where you come in. Do you have some reliable recipes that you make ahead and freeze that you can send me? I have a big, upright freezer, so have plenty of room. I'm looking for things that are healthy and easy, and am trying to avoid huge amounts of either dairy or tomato because of Rowan's lactose issues and my memories of her screams when I ate anything acidic while breastfeeding during the first months (seriously, one fry dipped in ketchup meant hours of crying.) I won't avoid them entirely, but if I can have some good alternatives that I can trust in there, that would be great. I have done some internet searches, but would loves some "I make this and my family loves it" recommendations--proven recipes are always the best. Please send thaw/bake directions, too! If you have links, great, if you want to email them to me, just look on my site for the email link (I think it's still there) or if you know me on Facebook, send it there.

And I'll get cooking! At soon as the shooting pains in my butt from the sciatica stop, anyway.

7 comments:

Wendy said...

On the book, message me your address and call it my shower gift. We weren't connected when Rowan came along and if we were, I would have sent something.

Also, check out the crockpot lady's website. I make a lot of her soups/stews up and pre-portion some to go straight to the freezer.

BAKE! Make up some banana breads, beer breads, biscuits or whatever and freeze them. Even thawed, these will taste better than store bought or Pillsbury.

Cookies freeze well. I also freeze cupcakes, sans frosting. Then I frost them when they're thawed.

The Bold Soul said...

Go check your email in-box... Amazon.com gift card from the Stork should already be there. I'm no cook so can't offer one single useful recipe... but I'm Speedy Gonzales when it comes to ordering stuff online and sending it to people I love. Enjoy and let us know what great recipes you discover!

Vivi said...

Most of my recipes are heavy on the tomato, so I don't have any recipes for you, BUT I have a trick that may help you: Do you ever cook with chicken breast? I use it a lot, so whenever I see big packages of chicken breast on sale, I buy it, then dice it, cook it (or the other way if you prefer to bake them), and then freeze them in packs of whatever size you use them in (half pound, etc). That way you can just grab them out of the freezer and throw them in soup, or your crock pot (so jealous, WANT!!), and they defrost way faster than whole chicken breasts. xoxo

Carrie said...

some really helpful freezer cooking info:
http://moneysavingmom.com/2010/04/how-to-have-a-freezer-cooking-day-if-you-dont-have-a-deep-freezer.html

and her recipes:
http://moneysavingmom.com/2010/03/freezer-cooking-day-my-plan-and-come-link-up-yours-too-2.html

I'm more of a crock-pot girl, but I sometime put all my ingredient for a crock meal in a large freezer bag and pop it in the freezer. Like my Salsa chicken:

3 chicken breasts (or what ever chicken you have)
1 can of cream of something (usually low-fat cream of chicken, but whatever you have in the pantry works)
1 pack of taco seasoning
1 jar of salsa
1 medium onion sliced.

toss in crock-pot and cook on low 6 -8 hours. When you are ready to serve, shred chicken and stir in 1/2 cup of low fat sour cream.

I serve it as chicken taco's, but it's good over rice or noodles. I make quesadilla with the leftovers.

Anonymous said...

Hi! Was just blogspotting and came across your request for freezer meals! A relative of mine does these, her website is www.freezerdinner.com. check it out! Best of luck...

Diana said...

http://theycallmeoldfashioned.blogspot.com/

I have a blog and have posted numerous recipies that are great for the freezer! Hope any of them help! Happy nesting!
Diana

Lauren said...

Hi! I just lost a whole long comment about this, I think. Basically, at 8-9 mos pregnant last year I got "The Best Make Ahead Recipe" from the library. The muffins and coffee cake are great, chicken and rice casseroles also great, mac and cheese too rich. It has tons of recipes, way too much detail (it's from Cook's Illustrated) and alot of them can cook directly from frozen. I couldn't find your email but if you like I can send you some more recipes. I love to cook for people, so this sort of satisfies that for me! Anyway, have a great day!
laurenkb@aol.com

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