Okay mama, I’m not trying to add to your list, but have you thought about meals for that postpartum period? You know, when you’ll be in survival mode and the mere thought of cooking a full meal exhausts you even more than you already are. If you haven’t, there’s still time! I’m going to share some freezer meals I stowed away, and I say freezer because with any luck, you’ll get some warm meals in those first few days from friends and family.
Before I get into actual recipes, I want to mention some things that are worth considering to make your life easier. I started an excel spreadsheet of our freezer meals which included the date it was made as well as what I’d need to have on hand (i.e., saltines for chili). This will help us prioritize eating the earlier made meals first. I think it’s also handy keeping inventory like this so you’ll know what you have on hand, and can mark it off as you go through it. You’ll also want to make sure you have freezer bags, so your meals will keep as long as possible. Bonus points if you have a vacuum sealer! And don’t forget to LABEL everything with a sharpie, including what it is, cooking instructions, and date.
Think about what time of year you’ll be in–my daughter’s due date is in November, so I prioritized soups. Even better were crockpot soups that hardly took away from my normal day to day. These were great because I spent maybe 5-10 minutes dumping things into a pot and just had to store it much later on.
Another easy solution would be to prep–but not cook–your meat. This could look like you seasoning and pattying out ground beef for burgers, cubing and marinating some steak for a stir fry, or seasoning and portioning out some chicken breast to have with a side of veggies. Pop these into the freezer and simply grab them one morning to thaw and they’ll be ready to cook by lunch or supper!
I would be remiss if I didn’t take the opportunity to point out another obvious and easy meal solution: prepackaged frozen dinners from the grocery store. There are SO many options! I personally will be grabbing a few frozen pizzas, a pan of lasagna, some frozen waffles, frozen pasta dishes, and several bags of steamable veggies because they’re an easy side.
Now let’s get to those recipes. Many of these I found online. Obviously it’s best to find meals that specify they are good to freeze, but some of these aren’t. But I have frozen enough leftover food throughout the years to know that if it’s properly sealed and eaten soon enough, it’ll do just fine.
Chili (link to seasoning mix)
Taco meat (link to seasoning mix)
Potato soup (link to instant mix I used)
This is where I’m starting, and I may add a few more meals. Depending on how hungry we are, this is around 20-30 meals for my husband and I. Prepping these does not have to be hard and your future self will thank you. Happy cooking!
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