Drumroll PLEASE! After a few months and several requests, here is the lowdown on what the heck I cooked to fill the freezer ahead bringing home baby!
This process did not require a massive brainstorm. I kept a note on my phone and added to it when I thought of something to make. I also kept a list of store-bought items to stock up on, read along to find out what they were.
One of the most important things I can tell you, before we even get started, is that I recommend you use disposable tinfoil pans. I realize this makes a lot of waste, but trust me – convenience is key here. Plus, you can make it up to the environment in other ways – shorter showers (or none if you have a newborn HAHA), compost veggie scraps, reusable coffee cups etc. The less dishes you have to wash, the better.
And so, without further ado, here is what I stocked our freezer with!
MEALS
- Turkey and Spinach Stuffed Shells x 1 recipe *You may prefer to stuff manicotti or cannelloni or simply use the filling as sauce if you add some extra crushed tomatoes
- Shepherds Pie x 1 recipe filled two 9 inch circle pans
- Lasagne x 1 – Fancy Napkins recipe to be posted at a later date, sometime before Molly’s 18th birthday, hopefully
- Chicken and Ale Pie x 1 recipe in two store-bought frozen pie shells. I did not add the top pie shell until it was time to bake
- Tourtiere x 1 recipe filled two pie crusts – newsletter subscribers have this one already! If you want it, subscribe and it will head your way.
- Oh She Glows’ Tex Mex Casserole – available only in her original cookbook as far as I understand. If you’re really nice, I can email you a copy of the recipe
The Fancy Napkins Turkey Pesto Meatballs was an item I added but never got around to making. If your list is big enough, there’s room to leave things behind and still have a full freezer.
STOCKED UP
Here are a few items we like to keep stocked in the freezer:
- Bread – we both like to eat toast for breakfast, so we tend to do through a lot of bread
- Naan – naan is an unsung hero, in my opinion. Great for curry, of course but also yummy in place of pita bread with falafel. I also recommend dressing it up like a pizza and baking it.
- Tortilla shells – We don’t eat tacos that often so the freezer is the best place for these. You can also make quesadillas with these and don’t forget breakfast tacos!
- Muffins – we don’t always have muffins stocked in the freezer but pre-baby I made sure we had a couple dozen ready to go. I baked Sandi Knight’s Pumpkin Oatmeal as well as Carrot Zucchini from Co-Op Food Stores. *If you make the carrot zucchini, make sure you only use ONE teaspoon of baking soda! I learned this the hard way.
- Chocolate chip cookies
Other things I recommend include bagels, English muffins, frozen veggies, bacon, sausages, and ….. chicken fingers and fries! Or whatever your favourite quick frozen finger food is.
In addition to the freezer, we also stocked up our pantry cupboard with things like pasta, sauce, soups, rice etc. Things that are quick and easy. We don’t typically buy jars of pasta sauce, but this time around, I figured convenience wins! We also always had cheese and eggs in the fridge and made a big batch of Cesar dressing. When you are making your list, think about things you and your family eat often and stick to that. (Don’t over complicate things! Your baby will do that for you soon enough.)
A Few Extra Tidbits
Lastly, we did have friends and family that brought us hot meals, food to heat and food to freeze. These were all so awesome! It has been 8 weeks since Molly was born (HOW!?) and we still have a couple of options left in the basement. By no means did we have enough food in the freezer to last us this long, but there are always leftovers, and like I said, we’ve had several meals dropped off to us. We have also been doing some cooking and takeout.
Before I go, I’ll remind you to grab a fresh roll of masking tape and a permanent marker. Be sure to label all of your meals with very specific directions. For example, I ran out of mozzarella at the time I was preparing a lasagne – so my label said something like this: “LASAGNE > ADD MORE MOZZA > REMOVE LID IT’S NOT OVEN SAFE > Heat at 375-400 until hot throughout”. We cooked most meals from frozen, so there isn’t really a specific time to cook – just until hot throughout. Remember: everything is fully cooked so you just need it hot enough to eat. Also, and I promise this is the end, I generally start things off without a tinfoil cover and then keep an eye on it so as the top begins to brown, or ahead of it drying out, I would put a little tinfoil roof over it.
Well, folks, thanks for reading this novel. I hope whether you’re waiting for baby or not, that you’ll take some of my advice and fill the freezer with some delicious Fancy Napkins meals. It has truly made our life a heck of a lot easier.
