Real Life Food Adventures!: Pre-baby Freezer Meals

So, a bit of an aside today...on the off chance I don't make any new recipes before the baby comes I wanted to get a post up here that was [hopefully] better than a so-so cream of chicken soup. ;)
Since I don't have any finished recipe posts waiting in the wings, I thought I may as well do a summary of what foods I'm stocking in the freezer to make things easier for us in the coming month.

Originally I wanted to be superwoman and make 2 weeks-worth of food. I had a list with breakfast ideas and lunch/dinner plans. I scoured freezer meal blogs and assessed what crock-pot recipes I had that could be easily assembled for cooking later. I thought ahead about buying frugal cuts of meat in bulk and making ingredients stretch. I even had a list of dry mixes (such as pancakes and cornbread) I wanted to make for the pantry.

Yeeeaaahhhh.....no go. As the days have passed and I've gotten fat bigger, my energy has just not been where it needs to be for such a huge undertaking - even in bits. I've struggled just to make regular dinners some weeks (and my hubby has been awesome to help out whenever he can). Occasionally I'll have moments of awesome energy and I try to take advantage of that. But even if I used every opportunity, I would still run into a rather important problem: space. We have a standard side-by-side fridge and freezer. We do not have money or room for a second freezer. My freezer is nearly full, just with the basic ingredients like chopped veggies, fruit, and fish/meat. Forget about space for pre-assembled meals.

So I've had to take a bit of a different approach. I'm focusing on only a few "tried and true" favorites and just getting the components prepped so that assembly/cooking (and storage space) is minimal. Someday I'll have freezer space to make a month of meals, but for now I have to do the best I can with what I've got. That means relying on family/church members for meals that first week (which would happen anyway) and supplementing with my reduced amount of freezer stuff while I work back into semi-normal cooking habits.

So what did I devote my precious freezer space to?

Taco meat made from ground turkey that can easily be stretched with quinoa or rice.
Chicken Pot Pie Pockets made with my homemade chicken broth.
Slow-cooked roast beef and au jus for making french dip sandwiches.
Homemade pre-baked pizza crust for quick, customized pizzas of any sort.

I could of course also use the veggies, broth, and meat in the freezer to throw together a quick soup at any time, though I don't have anything specific in mind. I'm keeping it simple and we'll take one day at a time. Four different options isn't bad, and I'll hopefully find the room to freeze any leftovers from meals we are given that first week. In the mean time I'm trying to eat through some of the space-consuming items to create more room before it is really "go time". Fish and veggies are the main culprits and I've just been sticking to easy recipes I've made before. I do have a new vegetarian meal planned for next week that'll use up some corn, so we'll see if I actually get around to doing it. If so, you can look forward to at least one more post before my official "maternity leave".

Source: http://newlywedfoodadventures.blogspot.com/2012/08/pre-baby-freezer-meals.html

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