Need Prepare Ahead Meal Ideas

[SunshineMama]

Does anyone have any good meal ideas that I can freeze ahead for the daycare?

I want to make it as easy as possible on me when the baby comes, and just have some meals prepared in advance.

Recipes???

[momofsix]

I always have frozen sloppy joe meat, taco meat, chicken taco meat, lasagnas and meat loaf in the freezer. Those are all my kids favorites anyhow so it works out great. I've also frozen pancakes and french toast ahead of time too.
I'll be interested in other ideas too.

[Meyou]

These are easy peasy! I make them 24 at a time with different toppings, mostly leftovers.

http://moneysavingmom.com/2012/05/4-weeks-to-fill-your-freezer-homemade-pizza-pockets-day-8.html

[AfterSchoolMom]

Ooh, I'm watching this thread as well. Though, if I'm going to do any cooking ahead, I'd better get cracking - we've got six days to go.

[Childminder]

Go to pinterest or google make ahead meals. I have found multiple sites that have complete grocery lists and instructions for slow cooker meals in particular. LOVE them!happyface

[heyhun77]

I just made 50 freezer meals last weekend so we don't have to hardly think about cooking for the next few months. Here's what I made:

Cilantro Lime Chicken with Beans and Corn (slow cooker dump)
Chicken Cacciatore (slow cooker dump)
pork and veggies (slow cooker dump)
lasagna rollups (cooked and ready to thaw and bake)
honey sesame pork chops (slow cooker dump)
burgers (shaped and ready to grill/broil)
stuffed shells (ready for oven with sauce and cheese on top)
sausage soup (thaw heat and eat)
chicken cordon blu casserole (thaw heat and eat)
mexican lasagna (thaw cook and eat)
sausage potato brunch casserole (thaw cook and eat)
spaghetti sauce (for stuffed shells and spaghetti)
chili (thaw and slow cooker)
sesme chicken (slow cooker dump)
southwest rollups (heat in oven and eat)
tortellini vegetable soup (thaw heat and eat)

We also browned about 10 pounds of ground beef for spaghetti (meatsauce) and sloppy joes.

I have most of the recipes pinned in pintrest:

http://pinterest.com/chelle_r/august-19th-big-cook/

[SunshineMama]

I just made 50 freezer meals last weekend so we don't have to hardly think about cooking for the next few months. Here's what I made:

Cilantro Lime Chicken with Beans and Corn (slow cooker dump)
Chicken Cacciatore (slow cooker dump)
pork and veggies (slow cooker dump)
lasagna rollups (cooked and ready to thaw and bake)
honey sesame pork chops (slow cooker dump)
burgers (shaped and ready to grill/broil)
stuffed shells (ready for oven with sauce and cheese on top)
sausage soup (thaw heat and eat)
chicken cordon blu casserole (thaw heat and eat)
mexican lasagna (thaw cook and eat)
sausage potato brunch casserole (thaw cook and eat)
spaghetti sauce (for stuffed shells and spaghetti)
chili (thaw and slow cooker)
sesme chicken (slow cooker dump)
southwest rollups (heat in oven and eat)
tortellini vegetable soup (thaw heat and eat)

We also browned about 10 pounds of ground beef for spaghetti (meatsauce) and sloppy joes.

I have most of the recipes pinned in pintrest:
http://pinterest.com/chelle_r/august-19th-big-cook/

Wow those all sound great! I am going to check some of those out on pinterest. I did make some meals with veggies from my garden. My butternut squash plant really took off so I have made a few different soups for the deep freezer.

Has anyone frozen sandwiches ahead of time? I heard that you can pre-make PB&J and freeze them if you put the PB on both sides first- kind of like the uncrustables. I wonder if I can do this with cheese as well.

I literally don't want to cook anything for the first month after the baby is born !

[AfterSchoolMom]

I'm going to do lasagnas today - a traditional one and a mexican one. I may also do a batch of vegetable beef soup in the crockpot. I figure those are all easily reheated.

[AnythingsPossible]

If you go to www.food.com and search oamc (once a month cooking) there are tons of ideas. I plan to utilize this concept this year as I have a large group of 2's and want to keep my focus on them rather then meal prep .

[heyhun77]

You can totally do sandwiches ahead and freeze them. We do pb&j with the pampered chef circle pocket sandwich maker so they turn out just like uncrustables without the junk or the expense. We also do ham sandwiches for camping so we can just pull them out of the cooler and eat.

Good luck with your preparations before baby arrives.

[misslori50]

tator tot casserole

[craftymissbeth]

Onceamonthmom.com

They have tons of recipes on there. I used to pay the $8/month fee to have all of the recipes and plans laid out and ready for me, but now I jus go on there and browse their recipe index for free.