Re: Meals to prepare and freeze

[Guest guest]

Good idea to plan ahead!

Before we ate primally, my freezer used to have a lot of pasta sauces in

it. Now as we are grain free, the freezer is still just as full (with

our half of cow) but there are definitely less meals prepared.

In our freezer now:

* Meatza crust (prebaked)

* Mozz cheese, shredded

* Chili

* Cabbage Rolls

* Beef Stew

* Mullingatawny Stew

* Tomato Soup (sometimes I add cream before I freeze it, sometimes I

don't - good either way)

* Broccoli Soup

* Chicken Soup

* Pear Soup

* Pureed and Shredded Squash to use for pancakes

Often in our freezer:

* Tomato sauce

* Quiche

* Meatballs

* Meatloaf

* Sausage and Kale Soup

* Coconut Curry

>

> Hi all,

> I am new to the group and fairly new to traditional foods. I am

expecting baby #4 in late April or early may. My midwife recommended

that I start to prepare and freeze meals for convenience sake for after

the baby arrives. Can you share suggestions regarding meals and foods

to prepare ahead of time? I don't want to fall back on processed foods

and eating out while I am unable to take the time needed to prepare

healthy meals for my family!

>

> Thanks!

>

[Guest guest]

I'm expecting baby #5 and need to do the same thing. I often employ my

crock pot to help. I keep some great roasts and whole chickens that either

I or my husband can pop right in. I usually roast 4 or so chickens ahead of

time and make a huge batch of bone broth. We'll eat two of the chickens

and I'll freeze the meat from the other two and make chicken pot pie,

enchiladas or other casserole and freeze it or just freeze the meat for

quick and easy lunches. I like to have both beef bone broth and chicken

bone broth handy or all ready made into soup. I love to add it to rice or

quinoa. We eat a lot of fresh and raw and having veggies on hand for the

juicer is great. I also make a nut butter balls to freeze. They're

healthy protein rich snacks perfect for nibbling on when nursing. I make a

great oatmeal/flax cookie that's good for milk production, contains no

refined sugars and is gluten free. I also like to have tamari soaked nuts

that have been dehydrated handy in the fridge. DH is now efficient in the

grocery store and has no problem picking up avocados, a great snack, and

other easy to deal with fruits and veggies. I've found that having a plan

with a list of foods you'd like along with all the directions really helps

whoever is going to be doing the food prep. Apples and raw cheese is just

as quick and easy as a packaged granola bar. In fact, home made granola

bars packed with dried fruit and stored in the freezer is another great

snack.

Congrats on #4

Feel free to email me if you'd like to swap recipes

Blurberrybuzz@...

[Guest guest]

Soups freeze really well. I was surprised to find out that even a cream

based soup like chicken wild rice, froze and thawed just fine.

Barb

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the tips! I need to get started before I run out of energy:)

>

> Hi all,

> I am new to the group and fairly new to traditional foods. I am expecting

baby #4 in late April or early may. My midwife recommended that I start to

prepare and freeze meals for convenience sake for after the baby arrives. Can

you share suggestions regarding meals and foods to prepare ahead of time? I

don't want to fall back on processed foods and eating out while I am unable to

take the time needed to prepare healthy meals for my family!

>

> Thanks!

>

[Guest guest]

thanks for the tips and I hope more is coming. I feel like I am constantly

cooking and I a getting tired. I have a family of 6 and I am trying to do

everything right, but sometimes I wind it with easy foods...like eggs for

dinner. I will make a big pot of soup/stew (thinking there will be left overs

for another meal) and it will be gone. I really need to start thinking in BIG

quantities and start freezing some of it.

My plan was to do the same thing (freezing some dinners) with baby # 4 and I

never did (always busy). And as we all know....if anything helps us most when

we have a new baby is for someone to bring a prepared dinner over. A little

sleep won't hurt either.

> >

> > Hi all,

> > I am new to the group and fairly new to traditional foods. I am expecting

baby #4 in late April or early may. My midwife recommended that I start to

prepare and freeze meals for convenience sake for after the baby arrives. Can

you share suggestions regarding meals and foods to prepare ahead of time? I

don't want to fall back on processed foods and eating out while I am unable to

take the time needed to prepare healthy meals for my family!

> >

> > Thanks!

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Hah! I'm with you! Always in the kitchen, cooking something. If it's not a

meal, it's dehydrating something or brewing kombucha or making yogurt or

crackers or hard boiled eggs or cheese crisps or straining the kefir or ... I'm

often sick of the kitchen before dinner prep even comes around, and my

creativity is gone. Young kids keep you hopping. But this is not a moping

post, I have a solution... I think.

First we have instituted " kitchen closed hours, " like right after dinner when

the kids ask for piece of bacon.

Second, I'm going to succumb to routine cooking. I did it last Spring and it

was actually quite nice to have all my meals planned out and a grocery list

planned out.

Step one:

Make a two week schedule of lunches and dinners. Plan to do it again in a

couple months as I'll get tired of the same meals.

I'll plan on cooking 4 nights a week, pulling freezer food out the other nights

(or making eggs ) I plan on giving the meal plan enough variety that we can

have chicken and pork once a week, a soup night and a egg bake night. Then I

can start tripling meal prep so that if we do eat over one night's worth, I

still have some to put away for two weeks down the road.

That's my idea, hopefully it was worth sharing.

>

> thanks for the tips and I hope more is coming. I feel like I am constantly

cooking and I a getting tired. I have a family of 6 and I am trying to do

everything right, but sometimes I wind it with easy foods...like eggs for

dinner. I will make a big pot of soup/stew (thinking there will be left overs

for another meal) and it will be gone. I really need to start thinking in BIG

quantities and start freezing some of it.

[Guest guest]

I haven't even got to start making kombucha or kefir yet. You sound even busier

than me. Thanks for all the ideas. I need to start tripling things and putting

some in the freezer. that is a good idea to make a lunch and dinner plan. Now,

I just have to DO it. I am going to look up some of your recipes as I feel like

I have lost my creativity. I zeroed in on the cheese crisps. I looked it up

and that will be a great snack for the kids or whatever. Now I don't feel so

crazy for liking the too done cheese on the side of the pan. I had no idea

people actually made them. I am making some tonight! YUM

> >

> > thanks for the tips and I hope more is coming. I feel like I am constantly

cooking and I a getting tired. I have a family of 6 and I am trying to do

everything right, but sometimes I wind it with easy foods...like eggs for

dinner. I will make a big pot of soup/stew (thinking there will be left overs

for another meal) and it will be gone. I really need to start thinking in BIG

quantities and start freezing some of it.

>

[Guest guest]

I feel like I am always in the kitchen too! I like the idea of kitchen closed

hours. Seems the second I sit down, someone is asking for something else. Meal

plans are a lifesaver. I have tried to plan out each meal and assign a day, but

can never stick to it. What seems to work for me is to make a list for the

potential meals for the week, do my shopping based on the list and then pick and

choose from the list each day or two depending on how much time or energy I

have. Doubling and tripling as I go Is definitely a great suggestion.

> > >

> > > thanks for the tips and I hope more is coming. I feel like I am

constantly cooking and I a getting tired. I have a family of 6 and I am trying

to do everything right, but sometimes I wind it with easy foods...like eggs for

dinner. I will make a big pot of soup/stew (thinking there will be left overs

for another meal) and it will be gone. I really need to start thinking in BIG

quantities and start freezing some of it.

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Here are my minimalist thoughts regarding postpartum prep.

- pick up a 4' chest freezer off craigslist

- start saving all your veggie peels and bones for broth. After each meal,

" Scrape " into bag and toss in freezer. (Broths will be incredibly nourishing

for you postpartum, so bang for effort TOTALLY worth it!) Make sure you have

enough canning jars and go to it! (crock pot might be the easiest but don't

forget to toss in the veggies though i usually skip or minimize the vinegar in

the WAP recipe).

- double up on your marinades (and freeze 1/2) mark on bag time to marinade,

recipe source, date, and accompaniments. I don't use many dry rubs these days,

but if you're making dry rubs, do the same.

- When you cook a loved dish, triple it. Freeze 1/3, dinner 1/3, leftovers 1/3.

Again, note side dishes, etc. on package for the " dummy " who's going to be

prepping from the freezer while you're out of commission and hasn't learned to

think about meal assembly.

- Other non-critical but what I enjoy

a) If you have an immersion blender, figure out how to make homemade olive oil

mayo (with Dijon and garlic). a) it's easy it's HEALTHY - which means, you

have an EASY go to - tuna salad, chicken (leftovers) salad, egg salad, etc.

Along these lines make sure you have a secure SOLID good egg source. My fall

back is seward coop jane's eggs but i prefer the vendors @ the farmer's market.

These aren't easy recipes postpartum, but if you have healthy mayo available, it

makes it easier for your care provider to come up with food solutions.

make a great salad dressing - stores LONG and if you do go out, bring it with

you in a little jar. Maybe also make a buttermilk based dressing for dips with

veggies, etc. for the kids!

c) try drinking nettle teas, raspberry leaf teas.... very nourishing and easier

than kombucha, kefir, etc (i'm only suggesting this because if you're not

currently doing fermented drinks, starting now is just going to blow your top).

d) making yogurt is super easy and another to-do i recommend you consider. (let

it sit for 20 hours in oven with light on if no pilot). However if you have a

bit of wiggle room in your budget, buy it. My favorite is Koala (??? blue

container) - plain). Add honey, fresh fruit, etc. Along these lines identify

some good cheeses you enjoy and can put on a grocery list when you're not

shopping... sometimes if you're nursing, you may not be able to drink milk.

e) regarding sweets... make sure you're using natural sweeteners - mollasses,

honey, maple syrup b grade. **possibly*** raw agave, but minimally. For

yogurt, we actually prefer it plain, but a good alternative would be a (real)

sugar free jam. Our current jam of the moment is organic apple butter with only

apples, cinnamon and apple cider used.

ALSO, if you're planning on nursing, keep in mind there could be food

sensitivities... which means, you might want to take that into consideration

when you're freezing your marinades & dinners! Garlic, ginger, tomatoes,

etc....!

This is what i do:

I've been going to my favorite recipe websites/bloggers, i use my electronic

calendar(outlook)and have a separate calendar JUST for meals, snacks, KITCHEN

tasks. I paste the ingredients in as well as the link to the recipe. This

allows me to duplicate (For example i just did a pork tenderloin cooked in

apples, and dried fruit) - we loved it, so i put it on the menu in the fall when

apples are in season.

Every dinner and " side " (such as mayonnaise, or yogurt, etc) is noted in my

calendar. I try to do just one major meal component. For example i might do a

slow cooked pork... then for the sides I do rice (Reheated) with steamed

veggies. OR, i'll do a broccoli cheese bacon casserol with broiled trout and

quinoi. I'm realistic and living in the kitchen doesn't work on a regular basis

for me. 1-2 times a week i live in the kitchen but when i've over committed i

just roll the " scheduled " item to another day/week - this happens a lot with my

desserts/ice creams or breads.

Each Sunday i roll through the recipes and build my shopping list. Some you

plan out, some are for the week, but that way the work amount is the same

whether it's for a future meal or today's meal.

Hope that makes sense?

Good luck!

[Guest guest]

I JUST found this website http://onceamonthmom.com/ last week. This one is

extremely organized. There are several different types of menus, vegetarian, gf

and df, whole foods, diet, and even a baby/toddler menu. There is a traditional

menu, but unfortunately I think that means traditional by today's standards.

Your best bet would be to look at the menus and adjust to your families needs.

The great thing about her site is she breaks everything down on a excel sheet

which you can download. She has made the excel document editable and you can

even adjust the number of people you want to cook for. There are even grocery

lists that go with each menu each month. I have not done a once a month cooking

day yet, but I am doing a little as I go each week. If I do cook one of the

menus for about a month worth of food in one day, I will let you know how it

went.

Sam

> > >

> > > Hi all,

> > > I am new to the group and fairly new to traditional foods. I am expecting

baby #4 in late April or early may. My midwife recommended that I start to

prepare and freeze meals for convenience sake for after the baby arrives. Can

you share suggestions regarding meals and foods to prepare ahead of time? I

don't want to fall back on processed foods and eating out while I am unable to

take the time needed to prepare healthy meals for my family!

> > >

> > > Thanks!

> > >

> >

>