Freezer Meals for New Moms

Freezer Meals for New Moms – Get freezer meal ideas and preparation tips so you can create a great stockpile of freezer meals for after a baby!

We are just a few short weeks (or days) from our little one arriving and one thing I’ve done to help my future self out is prepare freezer meals for after our baby is born.

Thankfully we have a small chest freezer and a good size freezer portion of our regular refrigerator so we have room to stockpile some freezer food for life after baby.

 

Freezer Meals for New Moms:

Here are some ideas to get you started on WHAT to prepare for after the baby is born and a sneak peak into my freezer.

• Lasagna
• Healthy Cavatini
• Healthy Meatballs (for adding to spaghetti or making into Swedish meatballs)
• Chili
• Taco Soup
• Hawaiian Chicken Bowls 
• Ground beef/turkey for tacos using this homemade taco seasoning
• Hamburger or turkey burger patties (prep your own or look for sales on pre-pattied burgers)
• Chicken marinade
• Crockpot pulled pork
• Banana Applesauce muffins 
• Fluffy Greek Yogurt Pancakes 
• Coconut Chocolate Bites and Peanut Butter Balls 
• Frozen homemade pizza crusts 
• Buffalo Chicken Bowls

I haven’t finished prepping all of these items, (* denotes yet to be made) but I feel like we have a good stash built up for the coming weeks. Since it will be warm I’m hoping to possibly add in some more burgers/grilling food so that my husband, Nate can easily fire up the grill for dinner as much as possible.

Freezer Method:

But HOW do you get all the freezer meals together and ready while fighting end of pregnancy exhaustion?

It is not exactly easy to be on your feet prepping a lot of freezer meals while pregnant.

So there is no marathon freezer prep for me.

Instead, I have simply doubled or tripled batches of our favorite foods while I am making them for our current dinners. I pop the extra into freezer bags or containers and have slowly built up what we have in our freezer.

Also, my mom has brought me 3-4 freezer meals which is such a blessing! I was planning on doing a freezer meal swap with some ladies from my MOPS group, but we decided to postpone it due to everyone’s schedules.

And when people have asked me what I need or if there was anything they could do for us “bringing a freezer meal or meal after the baby would be wonderful” is generally my response.

Most people remember those early days with a newborn and are offering to help because they genuinely want to help. So allow them the blessing of blessing you!

Tips for Freezing Meals:

• Make things you know you already like. Probably not the best time for recipe testing-stick with what you know!
• Focus on diverse options that can be used for multiple dishes (like ground taco meat or meatballs).
• Prepping a few quick and healthy snacks is a great idea, especially if you will be nursing!
• I use Don’t Panic: Dinner’s In the Freezer for recipes and freezing tips and tricks. You can also check out my Freezer Cooking board on Pinterest for more recipes!
• Finally, don’t put a ton of pressure on yourself. While I have quite a few freezer meals ready to go, I have some that I have the ingredients for, but aren’t prepped yet, and still others that are in the “if I get to them great, if not oh well” category.  I’m not stressing over it. I’m sure we will have a few Panera and pizza runs in the first weeks with our new baby and that’s totally okay.

Having freezer meals on hand as a new mom is such a blessing!

It makes things easier knowing that in the stressful and tiring newborn days you can rely on some healthy favorite foods that can be ready with minimal prep!

Do you make freezer meals? What are some of your favorites?