I am in full on nesting mode trying to do everything I can think of to prepare for baby Rose. Including but not limited to writing 15 plus blog post, prerecording content for
, and scheduling weekly emails until May. Because let's face it, my time will no longer be my own and I am mentally trying to prepare myself to care for someone else.
Realistically I can't steer two ships at once. Since I'm planning to breastfeed and cloth diaper I know I will have my hands full. So I am giving permission to put everything else on the back burner while we get to know and nurture our little nugget.
In addition to all my work, I am pretty much Suzy homemaker managing the household and taking a lot of pride in cooking for our family. But I've quickly realized that monthly meal planning and grocery shopping will probably not be happening once we get home from the hospital. So I've been doing a lot research trying to find great recipes that freeze well and that we will look forward to eating. I wanted to share my favorite make ahead freezer recipes.
Make Ahead Freezer Dinner Recipes
1- Meatloaf
I'm not going to lie I was pretty skeptical about freezing a meatloaf. But I had to remind myself it's not any different from freezing burger patties. For our meatloaf I keep it simple with ground turkey, an egg, bread crumbs, a green bell pepper, an onion, season salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, tomato sauce, and Worcester sauce.
2- Burgers
I love the convenience of pre-made burger in the freezer it's a no fuss and no brainer meal. I mix together ground turkey, spinach, onion, season salt, and pepper. Then using wax paper I shape each patty, stack them up, wrap the stack in plastic wrap, and stick them in a freezer bag.
3- Chicken, Rice, and Broccoli Casseroles
When researching freezer meals I noticed that casserole dishes were frequently mentioned. Although I don't typically make casseroles I did decide we would give this
recipe a try.
4- Chicken Pot Pie
As a kid I loved
chicken pot pie, but as an adult I almost never eat it anymore. I most surely have never imagined making it at home. But after reading over some recipes making a pot pie seem like a no brainer. You can even cheat like I plan to and use pre-made pie crust and pie crust roll (for the top of your pot pie).
5- Lasagna
Lasagna is definitely a frozen dinner classic, I use to love Stouffer Lasagna but since I don't eat beef it's been a no go. Last time I made lasagna I realized just how much I've outgrown my love of pasta. I'll be making our lasagna with zucchini as the noddles.
6- Chili
We love chili so this one was a must have. I'm planning on cooking my ground turkey and then combining all my ingredients and dumping them into a ziploc bag. Our chili recipe we use a can of tomato sauce, can of diced tomato, can of corn, can of kidney beans, can of black beans, garlic power, and onion powder.
7- Garlic Lemon Chicken
This will be another first for us but it seemed like a great
dump meal that could easily be served with rice and veggies.
8- Ham and Cheese Potato Bake
This will be another first for us but it included ingredient that we love. Although I do plan to switch the
ham out for turkey because we don't eat pork either.
9- Shrimp Fried Rice
I love to make fresh
shrimp fried rice and if you ask me it taste better than our local Chinese restaurant. Based on what I've seen and heard online fried rice makes for a great freezer meal.
10- Freezer Turkey and Cheese Sandwich
I figured if you can freeze a PB&J sandwich then why not turkey and cheese. We don't always eat sandwiches so anything I can do to extend the life of our cheese and turkey sounds great to me. More than likely we'll eat these as grilled sandwich and I'm looking forward to it!
11- Broccoli Cheddar Soup
I was a sucker for this
recipe as soon as I seen the picture. I plan to treat it like a dump meal and put it in the slow cooker before serving.
12- Cheeseburger Soup
We love our
cheeseburger soup but of course it's made with turkey and not beef. But it is still delicious to us. I'm looking forward to seeing how this recipe does as a dump/slower cooker meal. Finger crossed, I am nervous about the consistency not being right if I do this as a dump meal. So I very well may go ahead make the roue and add the cheese and milk just to ensure there are no issues later.
Breakfast
13- Waffle
If you follow me on
Instagram you know from my Instastory that we love to have
waffles for breakfast. I have been making and freezing waffles for a while now. We simply heat them in the toaster over and they are delicious. I typically make this with regular flour but I currently have a surplus of rice flour so who knows I may try making these gluten free, only time will tell.
14- Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
When I said I was Suzy homemaker I wasn't kidding, I love to bake, surprisingly. I have been obsessed with
banana bread for over a year now. Its inexpensive, quick, and keeps well in the freezer. This go round I will likely make them as muffin to ensure the keep for as long as possible because it can be hard at times to eat a whole loaf in a timely manner between the two of us.
15- Turkey, Egg, and Cheese Muffins
This will be our first time trying this
recipe but I wanted to make sure we have a protein rich breakfast option since I will be breastfeeding. I will say I'm excited about the variety of options you can make with just a few ingredients.
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