Freezer Meals

I wasn't smart enough to make food in advance of Ike's birth. I gained some IQ points in between his and Felix's births, though. This time I did a bit of food prep, and it made my post-baby life much easier.

For the most part, I didn't cook many meals that went straight into the freezer for later use. Instead, I froze leftovers. This did mean that in the few weeks leading up to Felix's birth I was more likely to have peanut butter sandwiches for lunch instead of leftovers, but it was well worth it when all I had to do was thaw and warm up food for dinner while holding a newborn in my arms and trying to negotiate with a hungry and cranky toddler. (Why is dinner time so difficult?)

Here are a few meals that I made and froze the leftovers:

• Ultimate Beef Stroganoff from Mel's Kitchen Cafe - This is a hit every time we have it, and having the leftovers frozen and warmed up didn't change things for us.
• Crockpot Sweet Potato and Blackbean Soup from Everyday Reading - We didn't lovelovelove this when we had it the first time, but we did like it. I liked the leftovers a little better, and I do think this soup will be added to my list of go-to crockpot meals. It's really nutritious and cheap.
• Roasted Sweet Corn and Tomato Soup from Our Best Bites - Good golly I loved this so much both times. I really need to take better care of my cherry tomatoes next summer so I can make a bunch of this and freeze it.
• Vietnamese Pork Meatballs  from Girl Cooks World - We didn't really care for these the first time, and we weren't crazy about the leftovers either. I made them because I was looking for a way to use some ground pork I had, and I love Vietnamese meatballs. They weren't bad, but they also didn't make the make-again cut.
• Tortilla soup from Zupas - Okay, I didn't make this. Eric brought home a fairly large container from a work meeting, and it went straight into the freezer. We had this the other night, and I added a little bit to it from things I already had at home. Honestly, we both prefer my tortilla soup, but this was free and easy.

And here were the few that I made for the purpose of going into the freezer. (All of these came from Mel's Kitchen Cafe because she has a link with a whole bunch of her make-ahead meals. I'd made a few of her things before, so I felt like I could trust these recipes. Most of them are not strictly make-and-freeze meals, so I had to make a few adjustments here and there.)

• Delicious Greek Pastitsio {Casserole Style} from Mel's Kitchen Cafe - This was good, but not something I'd necessarily make again. I think we both prefer something with more veggies.
• Baked Penne with Chicken, Broccoli and Smoked Mozzarella from Mel's Kitchen Cafe - Holy cow, so good. Will definitely make again, freezer or not.
• Creamy White Chili  from Mel's Kitchen Cafe - I actually went with the crock pot version of this recipe, but I froze the ingredients first. I wanted something where I wouldn't have to shop for ingredients or anything. I just wanted to dump the already mixed ingredients in and forget about it. It was really good, and will definitely make the winter dinner rotation.

Plus, we had meals brought in from neighbors, Eric's mom and Eric's grandma. We haven't starved, and it's been lovely.