So, I'm pregnant. If you didn't know, my sister is pregnant too. She's due in about 1 week with her little boy (!!!), and I'm due in about 7 weeks with my sweet baby.
We both have been meaning to build a freezer stash for post baby, but it hasn't happened. So, last week we decided to just have a cooking day and split every meal to go in our separate freezers. We're both huge pregnant (I'm slightly OCD), we had a nearly 2 year old "helper", and we wanted it to go as smoothly as possibly so we did some serious planning.
The planning actually made for easier blogging, so I'm sharing it with you!
We used the 12 recipes below and ended with:
Every recipe we split into at least two meals. We're both families who really need 3 servings per meal. The bigger meals will give us each leftovers. By making smaller sizes it will help with weight loss and portion control.
- 5 meals to serve 4-6,
- 3 meals to serve 2-3,
- 4 soups and chilies to serve 4,
- and 4 dozen muffins for breakfast or snacks EACH.
Every recipe we split into at least two meals. We're both families who really need 3 servings per meal. The bigger meals will give us each leftovers. By making smaller sizes it will help with weight loss and portion control.
There are, literally, bajillions of recipes out there to choose from.
Our deciding factors were:
Side note: If you click on the original location it will take you to the original blog or website where we found it so you have it if you would like.
We formatted every recipe for consistency in format and freezability. (Yes that's a word; today.)
At the bottom of the list there is a link to a PDF with every recipe combined and a link to a PDF shopping list.
Also, there are suggestions at the bottom if you don't want to do one massive cooking day.
Here are our 12 recipes:
Our deciding factors were:
- How easy is the meal to prepare and split?
- When we'll be needing the recipe? (fall = soups and stews)
- We wanted extremely quick and easy preparation on the day we eat it.
- What do our families like to eat?
Side note: If you click on the original location it will take you to the original blog or website where we found it so you have it if you would like.
We formatted every recipe for consistency in format and freezability. (Yes that's a word; today.)
At the bottom of the list there is a link to a PDF with every recipe combined and a link to a PDF shopping list.
Also, there are suggestions at the bottom if you don't want to do one massive cooking day.
Here are our 12 recipes:
- Layered Enchilada Casserole originally from Joyful Momma's Kitchen
- Quesadilla Casserole originally from Joyful Momma's Kitchen
- Easy Freezer Chili
- Chicken Spaghetti
- Easy Poppyseed Chicken
- Chicken Alfredo Lasagna
- Mama's Chicken Enchiladas
- Chicken and Chorizo Stew adapted from Rachael Ray
- Chicken and Wild Rice originally from Joyful Momma's Kitchen
- Easy Crock Pot Stew
- Mama's Bran Muffins
- Mama's Excellent Banana Muffins
- Click HERE for a PDF document that has all the recipes on one page. AND (the best part if you ask me)
- Click HERE for a PDF document that has one combined grocery list for all 12 recipes. Its divided by section of the grocery store, and also labeled for the meal it corresponds to on the recipe list.
FYI:
If you have a family bigger than 2-3, feel free to make the meals as one. I've listed alternate pan sizes within each recipe. You can freeze the bigger meals or make them for dinner tonight!
If a recipe sounds good, use it! If you blog about one of my originals, please link back to my blog. Thank you!
If you are a family of 2-3 and don't want to do a big shopping day, feel free to make a recipe and freeze half slowly building your stash.
This blog was HUGE, I am tired from cooking all day and being pregnant. Please forgive grammar errors. I tried to make it as user friendly as possibly. Let me know if links don't work or if you have any questions. Thanks!
- We shopped on Monday, readied the chicken that night, and cooked on Tuesday. All the groceries cost less than $200 total (that's less than $100 per person AND we got nearly 2 weeks of meals out of it).
- For the beef recipes we cooked 3 lbs beef and 3 lbs turkey together, drained all fat and used 2 cups of the mixture for every pound required. Please don't tell our husbands we used turkey too.
- We used 3 rotissaries for the 4 cooked chicken meals. We take off the skin and all fat and shred it before we used or refrigerated. Feel free to boil, or roast your own chicken.
- We use fat free or extremely low fat options of everything possible (sour cream, cream of chicken soups). Feel free to make your own if you're super woman.
- We started by making the muffin batters so we could cook muffins as we worked, and so they'd be cook when we were finished.
- **SUGGESTION! We made a list that included what meals we made with instructions for cooking to keep on the fridge so we knew what we should get at the grocery that week. That was something we wished for last time.
If you have a family bigger than 2-3, feel free to make the meals as one. I've listed alternate pan sizes within each recipe. You can freeze the bigger meals or make them for dinner tonight!
If a recipe sounds good, use it! If you blog about one of my originals, please link back to my blog. Thank you!
If you are a family of 2-3 and don't want to do a big shopping day, feel free to make a recipe and freeze half slowly building your stash.
This blog was HUGE, I am tired from cooking all day and being pregnant. Please forgive grammar errors. I tried to make it as user friendly as possibly. Let me know if links don't work or if you have any questions. Thanks!
