One of the big things that I've read on Pinterest to do before baby was to prepare some freezer meals for after baby decides to come. To be totally honest, we've been using some of the meals I prepared already- I definitely think that it would be good to get an early start on these meals, the third trimester is tiring enough and it seems like the last thing that I want to do is cook a meal- yet it is still important to me that I get nutrients in for my baby, so "healthy" meals are a must!
After we got married and before I got pregnant, I was doing really good at meal planning and fixing dinner and trying to get a variety of foods, new and old, into our dinner rotation. Then, we got pregnant, morning sickness hit and it all went downhill from there. Cooking was no longer something I enjoyed, frankly, it made me nauseous most of the time with the smells and all of the standing. For the first 20 weeks of pregnancy, it seemed like all I wanted to eat was potatoes- especially the fried variety. T was in charge of most of the cooking, which meant we had freezer pizza quite often, or we went out to eat. Budgeting and couponing went out the window- it was more of a "let's try to survive this thing". Now that I'm in "nesting" mode though, I suddenly want to cook all of the foods- or at least do some prep work so that we have yummy food to eat after baby. Trying to find meal ideas that appeal to my particularly picky appetite, that can somewhat fit various exchanges, and still fill my husband up can be quite difficult- but we've found a few recipes that "work" for us and our situation.
For my first freezer meal prep, I fixed four different meals: Lemon-Pesto Chicken, Creamy Italian Chicken, Chicken Fajitas, and Asian Chicken Quesadillas. T cooked up a couple pounds of ground beef for us to freeze (so it would be easy to pull out, thaw, and make tacos/spaghetti sauce/whatever out of). A few notes from my prep:
- Sam's Club had an awesome deal on boneless, skinless chicken breasts- so we bought that there- everything else we gathered from Meijer or we already had around the apartment (I have a bit of an obsession with stocking up on Cream of Chicken soup...).
- The Asian Chicken Quesadillas were the only recipe that used cooked chicken- everything else was a "dump all the ingredients in a plastic bag, label, and freeze".
- I split each of the meals between three gallon sized ziplock bags (except for the Lemon-Pesto chicken...that one made four), which seems to have worked well for us- we usually have a serving left over (I'd say that each bag is equivalent to three or four servings, it seems as if the hubs eats for two).
- Label BEFORE putting stuff in baggies. I make sure to write what the recipe is, the date it was prepared, and instructions (I also have a file on my computer with info, since some of it does rub off).
- We ended up spending about $50 for 13 freezer meals.
And now for the recipes! To be totally honest, I'm not sure that the amount of chicken in these recipes is exactly what we used- we bought about 15 pounds of chicken total and didn't use it all. I didn't weigh things out, I just kind of looked at the amount of stuff in the bag and added chicken- hubs likes his meals meat-heavy. :) I'm including how much the original recipe recommends below, just for suggestion. Also, I'm giving our opinion on the meal!
Lemon-Pesto Chicken:
This one wasn't my favorite- I probably won't eat it again. But, hubs liked it. It just didn't have enough flavor for me.
Ingredients: 5 lbs chicken breasts (uncooked), 2 cups pesto, 1/2 cup lemon juice, will need 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese when you cook
Split between 4 bags, and mush everything together, "mush" everything together to get all of the spices incorporated into the chicken.
To prepare: Thaw overnight. Place in 9x13 dish, cover with foil, and cook for 25-30 min. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese on top of chicken and bake for 5-10 more min. Serve with rice or pasta.
Creamy Italian Chicken:
Yes, yes, YES! We BOTH loved this one! Served with rice, its a pretty good chicken and rice and was super easy due to it being a crockpot meal. We will definitely have this again. I've come across a version that was exactly the same except they used a ranch packet- we might try that next time!
Ingredients: 8 chicken breasts (uncooked), 16 oz cream cheese (softened), 2 cans cream of chicken soup, 2 Italian dressing packets (the dry mix kind)
Split between 3 bags, and mush everything together, "mush" everything together to get all of the spices incorporated into the chicken.
To prepare: Pour contents into crockpot and cook for 4-6 hours on low, or place in baking dish and cook at 350 for 30 min. Serve over rice.
Chicken Fajitas:
We've been making this for ages, so I knew we'd like it. Sometimes we add onions, sometimes we don't- it just depends what we have available. I thought we had half an onion that was still good, but it was growing something, so we didn't add it.
Ingredients: 4 chicken breasts (uncooked), 2 green peppers, 1 cup chicken broth, 1 taco seasoning packet, 1 fajita seasoning packet
Split between 3 bags, and mush everything together, "mush" everything together to get all of the spices incorporated into the chicken.
To prepare: Pour contents into crockpot and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours. Serve with tortillas.
Asian Chicken Quesadillas:
Another one of our old favorites! This recipe was one I learned to make in treatment and it's not a freezer meal, so I wasn't sure how it would convert- but I'm pleased to report that it freezes wonderfully! It's a great, healthy meal that meets lots of exchanges and has yummy veggies, too!
Ingredients: 2 lbs diced or shredded chicken (cooked), 3/4 cup shredded carrots, 3/4 cup snow peas, 3 cups shredded Colby Jack cheese, 1 cup Asian Sesame dressing (I always add extra- it makes it easier to mix).
Mix all of ingredients in a large bowl and split between 3-4 smaller ziplock bags (quart). I normally freeze all of these bags in a larger bag with the instructions and information.
To prepare: Thaw overnight. Place mixture into the center of tortilla. Fold and brush with oil. Bake for 10 min at 400.
