Baby Prep: Freezer Meals

If you've never been pregnant before, you might think that the nesting instinct is imagined or exaggerated.

It's not.

For me, it's always one of the strongest urges. I'm already a very organized person, and it just kicks into overdrive when I'm pregnant.

I've been excited to fill my freezer with easy meals ever since I got it, and when September began, I got started. By the time baby arrives, I should have close to three weeks worth of meals frozen for my family.

It's easier than it sounds. I'm not spending marathon sessions cooking every week--I'm simply doubling and tripling the things I make for dinner and freezing the extras. I do make a batch of rolls once a week or so, just to freeze, but since I have a bread machine (from DI!) it's not much work.

So what is on my freezer meals list?

Sweet and tangy shredded chicken and sweet rice

Baked chicken-bacon alfredo and rolls

Pepperoni calzones

BBQ pork sandwiches and garlic mashed potatoes

Creamy chicken taquitos and lime cilantro rice

Creamy spinach artichoke chicken bundles and rice

Asian BBQ grilled chicken and lime cilantro rice

Egg rolls

Taco soup

Oatmeal-banana waffles

Cheesy ham, broccoli, and rice and rolls

Do you have any good freezer meals?

My Freezer: Organization

I have been begging Jason for a freezer ever since we moved into our house, and I finally got one for my birthday in May! Woohoo! I love having a freezer. Now when there is a killer deal on bread or meat, I can stock up without sacrificing the space for something else. I'm also excited to fill it with yummy freezer meals this fall so that I won't have to cook much after the baby is born.

My biggest reservation in picking a freezer was being sure I could keep it organized. A freezer isn't money-saving or convenient if you "lose" food in it and end up throwing it out months later when it's too far gone. That's one of the reasons that I chose an upright freezer--it has three shelves and a large pull out wire basket, plus six shelves in the door. I've dedicated all the shelves to a different category, so I always know where to look if I need some meat for dinner or bread for breakfast.

Finally, one of my best ideas yet: the freezer whiteboard.

I wrote the categories and drew the lines in permanent Sharpie so I won't have to continually rewrite them. The number of months in parenthesis next to each category is how long items in that category can be frozen. I use a regular whiteboard marker to fill in what is in the freezer, along with date, in the appropriate category, and when I take that item out, I erase it. This way I can always see at a glance what things have been in the freezer longest and need to be used soon.

Just a side note about the side dishes category: I really should have written "Miscellaneous" here, because I don't freeze a lot of side dishes, but I do freeze cheese, rice, raw vegetable scraps, ginger, chicken stock, and things like that that don't fit anywhere else. So no, I don't serve "cheese" to my family as a side dish.