Monday, July 15, 2013

10 Make ahead Meals for When Baby Comes

Last week, Arianne and I spent the day together, cooking, baking and making some freezer meals. She is due on Wednesday with her first baby, and wanted to have her freezer stocked full of delicious, easy meals so she wont have to worry so much about it when her little girl decides to make her debut.

We decided to put the list of meals we made on here, (with links) just in case anyone else was interested in making any of them. Most of them are from this blog, but we tried a few new ones as well!


1. Chocolate Zucchini Banana Muffins - Make muffins, let cool and store in ziplock bags in freezer. Tastes just as good as when you make them fresh! Mine are gone already.

2. Pizza Dough - I didn't think this recipe could get any easier. It is the best no rise pizza dough and it is so quick to make! We made up a bunch and froze them into balls in the freezer. When you're craving a pizza, just pull from freezer, thaw (this will take a while, so plan ahead), and bake at 400 F for 15 minutes.

3. Simple Tomato Soup - Cook the onions in coconut oil. Add salt, curry powder, ground coriander, cumin and chili flakes. Once cooked, cool then place in freezable bag with tomatoes, coconut milk and water. When ready to eat, simply bring to a boil for 15 minutes and serve with rice.

4. Simple Shepherds Pie - Follow recipe and once finished, place in a freezer/oven proof container. When ready to eat, bake in 400 degree oven until boiling and browned on top.

5. Beet and Bean Burgers - Follow recipe and form into patties. Freeze with wax paper in between each patty. When ready to eat, cook with a little olive oil in a saucepan for a couple minutes on each side.

6. Creamy Crockpot Tomato Chicken Soup - Place everything in freezer bag (except coconut milk), and when ready to make, cook on low for 8 hours. Add the coconut milk, shred the chicken and return to pot until ready to eat. Serve over spinach and rice.

7. Vegan 'Meat' and Potatoes (Portobello Mushrooms) - This was really good! We actually ended up eating this for dinner that night because frankly, I didn't feel like cooking anything else that day ha ha. There are no potatoes, so not sure why they call it that, but it was delicious! I did end up leaving out the red onions (cause I forgot), and it turned out good anyways. My husband who hates mushrooms really enjoyed this meal. I will be making it again for sure. She has freezing instructions on her link.

8. Tomato Basil Hamburgers - You can make these hamburgers and freeze them with wax paper in between each burger. Thaw, cook on hot grill until desired doneness.

9. Savory Vegetable Beef Soup - Brown beef with onion and garlic. Once cooled, place in freezer bags  (this makes 2 recipes worth). Place in crock pot with 1.5 cups of water and 15 oz of beef broth. Cook on low for 8 hours.

10.Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili - Place all ingredients in freezable bag (except cilantro). Place in crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours then add in the fresh cilantro. We already ate this one and it was a little bland. Next time I will add in a few more spices.


We also made 10 loaves of bread, and let me tell you, we were exhausted at the end of the day! Now Arianne is ready to have her baby and I am ready for more easy, and delicious meals!

4 comments:

  1. I can't believe you made this all in one day! You must be superwomen! I don't think I could even do half of this in one day, my boys would go nuts! I'm amazed and impressed by you both!

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  2. You are one awesome sister to help out with prebaby preparedness. I am with Jordan...impressed by you both! ; )

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  3. WOW! this sounds amazing :) Good work ladies! You also made 10 loaves of bread...say what?! Do you have a particular recipe you use for bread?

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