How can one period of time seem so long and so short at the same time?! I am so ready to not be pregnant anymore, to not get leg cramps, not have heartburn, not feel like a whale, not waddle while I walk. I am so ready to be able to climb all the way up the stairs without having an asthama attack, but I am also so not prepared to have a baby in this house! One of the main things I am going to do to make life a little less hectic when our little man is born is to start preparing freezer food.
This is one of the biggest suggestions I have seen and heard from women who have already had babies. New moms (and dads) need to eat in order to have enough energy to care for a baby. Also, did you know you actually need to consume more extra calories while breastfeeding than while pregnant! So, in order to keep from overspending on premade or frozen food at the grocery store, or filling up on fast food after baby comes, I want to have some good, healthy, non-processed and quick to make food ready to go in the freezer.
Anyone who is on Pinterest has definitely seen quite a few crazy looking freezer meal articles up there, like "50 Freezer Meals in 20 Minutes for $30"... Okay, I may be over exagerating a bit but while the articles sound awesome, many seem just a little unrealistic or like too much to take on at once (especially while pregnant). Also, I really like using fresh fruits and vegetables in my dinners so frozen meals you can just dump in the crockpot don't really appeal to me. So, instead of doing a huge freezer meal session and having full meals made up for after baby comes, I plan to focus more on freezing small batches of my favourite breakfast, lunch and snack food over the next month and then just including a few dinner items which I can incorporate into a quick meal.
After tons of research and consideration, I picked out a few simple foods that freeze really well and I think will fit my family's needs best.
Fruit Muffins
Waffles or Pancakes
Breakfast Sandwhiches or Breakfast Burritos
Banana Loafs
Cookies
Homemade Granola Bars
Lunch Burritos
Freezer Pizzas
Meatballs
Chili
I love the idea of having breakfast all ready to go because it makes mornings so much easier. With these things prepared, my husband can grab a quick bite before work and I can eat something right after I wake up.
Muffins, granola bars, loafs and cookies are also great snacks that can be thrown straight from the freezer and into my husbands lunch box, helping him resist the temptation to buy lunch at McDonalds or somewhere else! I also really love homemade granola bars because I don't really like eating protein other than at dinner and this is a good way to sneak it in.
I chose meatballs and chili because there are sooo many different things that you can do with them. I can thaw out some freezer meatballs or a freezer bag of chili and easily use them to make different dinners depending on my mood.
I will update more once I actually get cooking. I plan to share which foods I actually end up making, how I plan to use them and recipes that I used along with other feedback.
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