Freezer Cooking Frenzy

I remember a lot about my first 3 months with Aidan as a newborn.  I remember he cried a lot, I remember he was up every hour all night long for MONTHS (literally a 2 hour stretch was a LONG stretch of sleep), and with him wanting to nurse around the clock I remember being SO hungry.  All. The.  Time.  But of course with a really fussy baby, cooking was practically impossible.  We survived, thankfully my mom came to visit a lot and every time she did she made a couple more things to restock my freezer, but we were in a tiny apartment and didn't have much freezer space. One of my goals when we moved to our town house was to get a chest freezer to be able to cook in bigger batches, shop at Costco etc, and we've loved it.  Since we do have this extra storage space, and I know how hard those first few months can be with a newborn, my goal is to completely stock this freezer with meals that are ready to thaw and pop in either the oven or crock pot before baby brother makes his appearance the week after Christmas.  One of my best friends did a TON of freezer cooking before her little guy was born a year ago and she told me it was by far the best thing she did to prepare for baby's arrival.  We'll have family in town for awhile, and while they are here I'll have them do the cooking (no way am I sharing my precious stock of freezer meals when there are able-bodied grandparents around who are capable of getting something together for dinner!!), and we'll have friends from church bring some meals, but eventually February will roll around and it'll be up to me to get dinner ready on a relatively regular basis--so my goal is to have that not involve much cooking for awhile!

I've done a few smaller-scale freezer cooking projects in the past, and I've learned a few things in the process.  One, make sure you write an inventory somewhere (mine is on a google doc, but a piece of paper on the fridge works great too!) with what exactly is in the freezer.  It's way too easy for things to get buried, and for food to go to waste because I simply forget it's in there.  So on a google doc I have how many of each item I have in the freezer and it's cooking/reheating instructions written right there so I don't have to go looking up recipes on line or try to remember which recipe for lasagna I froze etc.  When we eat a dish, I'll change the quantity we have left on my google doc.  Also, label EVERYTHING!  I have had a few times where I've frozen things in Tupperware thinking "oh it's see through, I'll totally remember what it is!" and that's resulted in some surprises when I thaw what I think is a bean soup and is actually re-fried black beans for burritos.  Once frozen, many items do look alike!

This is a compilation of the recipes I'm freezing this fall, some I have tried myself in the past and know for a fact they freeze well and re-heat while maintaining their flavor.  Others have been personally tried by close friends of mine (AKA, people whose cooking and eating tastes are similar to mine that I trust!) and they have vouched for the freeze-ability of these dishes.  I know it looks like a lot, but that's why I'm starting in October--my goal is to simply pick two meals a week that I was going to make anyway, and double or triple the recipes to add extra batches to the freezer.  So far for the past 3 weeks that's been totally do-able--I've found that if I'm making a lasagna, it's really easy to just make 3--using the same dishes, bowls, ingredients etc allows for batch cooking without really extra mess or time.  So, without further ado, here's what is already in our freezer (or meals that will be soon!)

One of the meals it hadn't occurred to me to freeze is breakfast foods.  I'm not a huge fan of breakfast in general, but while pregnant, and I remember while nursing, I am SO hungry in the morning.  A friend of mine who is nursing a baby right now had the same problem and tried these freezer-ready breakfast burritos and raved about them, so I made a batch.  SO delicious and absolutely worth the time it took to make a big batch!  They reheat without getting mushy, and can either be eaten one-handed while bouncing a baby or with a knife and fork and a layer of salsa over the top.   One batch made 18-24 burritos, and I've been eating these all month--I'll make another couple batches before baby to have a stock pile for bleary eyed mornings. 

Another breakfast food I've already made and have frozen are these cranberry lemon scones.  These actually aren't so much for me to eat post-baby, but they are for those mornings when it's my turn to bring something for MOPS breakfast or a staff meeting snack.  A couple weeks ago I was in charge of the "sweet treat" for MOPS and made a huge batch of these scones (although the stores aren't selling cranberries yet, so I made raspberry-lemon scones instead).  I baked about 16 of them for MOPS that morning, and the rest I formed into scones on a cookie sheet and froze them overnight.  In the morning I placed them in ziplocks and next time it's my turn to bring something all I have to do is bake the night before.  

A meal I have made a few times in the past for the freezer is this apple cider pulled pork.  It received rave reviews from my father in law last Thanksgiving weekend when I served it!  Find a pork shoulder on sale and cook this up.  Enjoy some that evening and then freeze the leftovers in smaller portions (one thing we've realized about pulled pork is it will go a long ways, since you don't use that much on each sandwich, so one batch will last awhile!).  When you want to serve it from the freezer, let it thaw overnight in your fridge and then just reheat.

One of my very very favorite freezer recipes and comfort food recipes are Annette's Enchiladas from Shauna Niequist's book Bread and Wine.  I have made these so many times, have frozen them, served them to numerous family members and taken them to several new mamas for the perfect comfort-food meal.  I will be making a few batches of them for my freezer between now and December because they are amazing. 

Last November I did a bunch of freezer cooking so that I'd have meals on hand, ready to serve over the busy holiday season when family came into town or people dropped by.  This Skillet Lasagna was delicious, froze great, and was a big hit when re-heated and served to some seminary friends of ours who dropped in for dinner while on their way home for Thanksgiving weekend.  It was awesome to be able to have company for dinner the night before Thanksgiving without having to do any cooking! (Unless you count throwing a salad together or heating up french bread to be cooking!)  You could use any kind of meat and any kind of ravioli that sounded good to your family in this one. 

This past year I decided the new thing I was going to learn how to do was make my own chicken broth and soup from a whole chicken.  Dealing with large pieces of meat is something I don't do, but I read enough on Pinterest that this could be done successfully in a crock pot and was super simple, so about a year ago I gave it a shot.  I'm hooked.   My crock pot gets a big workout for about 24 straight hours, but that's what I love about these recipes and this process--I can add stuff to it, walk away and amazing things happen while I'm gone! It's kind of a multi-step process, but here's what I tend to do.  First, buy a roaster chicken.  Day 1 is all about cooking the chicken, which I do in my crock pot instead of in the oven so it really doesn't need to be baby sat.  This is the recipe/method I use, all you have to do is rub the spice mixture over the outside of the bird, and stick it in the crock pot as instructed.  About 6 hours later it will be falling off the bone (don't throw those bones away!!).  That's it.  So easy.  I personally don't love just eating chicken, so my plan for the meat is to shred it and use it in the above enchiladas that I'll make later this week.  But of course you could just eat the chicken.  Or shred it and put it in freezer bags to have on hand down the line when you do want to throw together a quick meal that involves cooked/shredded chicken.  Or save it for the next day if you're going to turn your broth into soup. After all the meat is off the bones, I throw them back in my crock pot with these other ingredients to make the chicken broth overnight.  In the morning, I place a fine mesh strainer over a big pot, and strain my broth.  I toss all the stuff that lands in the strainer basket, keeping all the liquid.  That's it.  You have chicken broth!  You can either portion it out in smaller batches or you can add it back to your slow cooker and toss in fresh veggies and other ingredients for chicken noodle soup that will simmer all day, and will be a great dinner that evening.  You can find any recipe on line for chicken noodle soup, the ingredients are all pretty similar.  So far I have two Tupperware of soup in my freezer, and another roast chicken in the crock pot as I write this which will turn into broth later tonight.  We found last winter that when any one in our house was sick, this was the most comforting thing to consume so I plan on having a few mason jars of just frozen broth on hand to heat up if sore throats strike. 

Lasagna is always a classic freezer meal, but I rarely make them because in my experience they've been really labor intensive.  A friend of mine brought us a lasagna made with ground turkey while Charles was recovering and it was so delicious.  We all raved about it.  She shared her recipe and I made several, so I have 3 in my freezer as of now.  The secret to the simplicity?  Jarred sauce, and well seasoned ground turkey.  I think I also really liked this recipe because there isn't any ricotta (which I hate) or other creamy cheeses.  But you could always add some if you like them!  I don't have a link, so here's the recipe:  brown 1 pound of ground turkey with approx 2 tsp of garlic powder, about a tablespoon of onion powder, and some dashes of salt and pepper (I used way more pepper than salt but I try to avoid adding extra salt to things). Use any jar of marinara you like but the Classico brand "Traditional" sauce was SO SO good. Layer lasagna noodles (I used the ones you don't have to boil first, but they were still a tiny bit crunchy when I baked it, so next time I would boil them for a few minutes) with ground turkey, a layer of sauce, and a sprinkle of any kind of cheese you like. Repeat 2-3 more times. My 8x8 foil pans only let me do two layers so I had enough ingredients to make an extra dish. Cover and freeze.  To serve, thaw overnight and follow baking directions on your noodle box.  

Macaroni & Cheese.  My son's favorite food.  I made 4 pans of this recipe, and I'm not sure it has the best flavor, so I would add more seasoning next time, but it's good enough!  The best mac n cheese recipe I've found is this one with fresh rosemary and french fried onions on top, and I'm betting it would freeze great, so next time I might go that route instead!  Simply freeze in foil pans, then when you want to serve it thaw overnight and bake according to recipe directions.  

Chili.  There is nothing better on a winter evening when you're hungry than a crock pot full of chili with cornbread in the oven.  This kid-friendly turkey chili recipe is a huge hit with my kiddo and the kids of many many friends--they especially like all the toppings that are suggested!  It's not spicy at all so if you like heat and aren't cooking for little ones, you can always add more chili powder or some crushed red pepper flakes.  I'm planning on making at least two crock pots of this over the next couple months and then freezing them in smaller portions, enough for our family for a meal or two.  

The Pioneer Woman is one of my go-to recipe bloggers to follow, I don't know that I've ever made anything by her that I didn't like.  Her sour cream noodle bake is a huge hit in our house--kind of a cross between lasagna and homemade hamburger helper (that's what my husband calls it anyways)--it's a great comforting meal for a cool evening, and a great one to freeze.  It's so simple, I made 6 pans of this last night (two for other new moms who had babies this month and 4 for us) in about an hour.  I promise your kids will like this one!  I made it with extra lean ground turkey instead of beef, but the ground beef is delicious as well.  

One of my favorite snacks is actually a bean burrito, so before baby arrives I'm planning on making a big batch of these bean and cheese burritos to have on hand for grabbing when mid-afternoon hunger strikes.  

Two other breakfast foods I'm planning on making a ton of are these waffles (my kiddo loves waffles with peanut butter for his breakfast, so having them ready made and waiting for the toaster will be a huge help) and these Omelet Breakfast Bites--both of which have been tested by a friend who said her only regret was not making more of them before her kiddo arrived.