30 Freezer Meals

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Preparing for postpartum seems like such a whirlwind. I had heard of that infamous “second trimester energy” and really wanted to take advantage of it. The problem with that was, I didn’t feel like I was ready to prepare. With it being a pregnancy after loss, I felt fear for the majority of the time. I was nervous to do a lot of things because I didn’t want to end up in a situation where we lost another baby and I was stuck with all this stuff. Thinking that it was one of the less risky things to do, I decided to get a list together and start making 30 postpartum freezer meals.

Preparation

There are so many different ways to go about this whole task! Honestly, you’ll have to figure out what works best for you. There are a lot of women that choose one or two days and make a whole boatload of meals over just that small period. For me, that felt really overwhelming. I can’t imagine making a shopping list to make sure I had everything. Being someone that cooks from scratch makes this feel a little harder to me. To put it simply, there is just more effort required to cook from scratch. Even just using a can of cream of mushroom soup vs. making it yourself. 

For that reason, I decided to try to make two pans of dinner during the week. One for us to eat and one for us to put in the freezer. This actually works really well because I just took recipes that made a 9×13 pan and split them in half. It honestly worked really, really well! It felt like I wasn’t putting in much more effort and getting an extra meal out of it. Plus, it allowed me to gradually build up and shop as needed. I’m always one to push for cleaning out pantries too and this was a pretty good help for that too. 

The easiest way was to make them in an 8×8 pan and a round tin pan. Then I put the tin one in the freezer, which then just moved to the oven when we were ready to eat it. Super simple!

Goals

My ultimate goal was to have 30 freezer meals on hand. This didn’t include any breakfast or lunch ideas that I wanted either. My husband plans on staying home for a couple weeks with us which is such a blessing. However, it means we will need to have some extra food on hand for that since it’s not something we normally do. I guess what I’m saying is that we have 30 meals for dinner. I also put up some extra on top of that to make sure we have some easy lunches for a bit. I’ll include those at the end too so you can see some of those ideas.

30 Freezer Meals

1. Chicken Broccoli Casserole
2. Chicken Enchiladas
3. Chicken Fajitas (with tortillas)
4. Chicken for Wraps (with bacon and wraps)
5. Chicken Fried Rice
6. Chicken Alfredo
7. White Chicken Chili
8. Salsa Chicken Bake
9. Chicken Noodle Soup
10. Chicken Pot Pie
11. Chicken Rice Casserole
12. Jalapeno Popper Chicken Casserole
13. Lasagna
14. Chili
15. Taco Bake
16. Sloppy Joes (with buns)
17. Baked Spaghetti
18. Shepherds Pie
19. Meatballs (with sub buns)
20. Stuffed Peppers (or stuffed pepper casserole)
21. Meatloaf
22. Smoked Sausage with onions and peppers
23. BBQ Pulled Pork
24. Tuna Patties
25. Salmon Patties
26. Sardine Patties
27. Mac N Cheese
28. Ham & Potato Casserole
29. Stuffed Jalapenos
30. Pizza

Other Items I Prepared

1. Breakfast Sandwiches
2. Breakfast Burritos
3. Pancakes
4. French Toast
5. Cinnamon Rolls
6. Desserts (apple crisp, bread, muffins, cookie dough)
7. Potatoes (also stocked up on easy meat to go with this) 

In Summary: 30 Freezer Meals

Looking at this list and thinking about making it all at once still seems very overwhelming to me. Chunking it off one by one is super easy and efficient way for us to eat dinner, and, in turn, fill the freezer at the same time. One thing to note, you’ll need a lot of freezer space! I also think it’s important to make sure you are also stocking up on complimentary items (tortillas, wraps, buns, etc). You don’t want to have to run to the store for just that one item. They are super simple to freeze- just throw them in! I wouldn’t stock up on them too early as you’ll want to use them within a few months of freezing. 

That honestly goes for the entire list too, don’t start too early. AKA don’t start in your first trimester. I started in the late part of my second trimester, knowing we have risk factors that will probably cause us to deliver early. 

How did you prepare for your first baby? Was prepping for your first different from any subsequent pregnancies? Let us know in the comments!