3 Weeks of Scratch Made Freezer Meals (before baby!)
After having 3 babies I have learned how valuable home cooked meals are in those first weeks. I get so hungry after giving birth but obviously don’t have the time or ability to cook. And let’s be honest, nothing hits the spot better than a hearty, home cooked meal. So I have stocked our freezer FULL of meals that either I or my husband can easily pull out, heat up, and serve in no time. In this blog post you will find a full list of the meals I prepared, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, with recipes and links! To watch a video version of this blog post, click the video below!
Breakfast & Snacks
You’ll notice all these recipes are for sweet breakfasts and I have a few reasons for that. First, I wanted to prep a bunch of foods that could be eaten either as a quick breakfast or a midnight nursing snack. Second, savoury breakfasts are generally really quick and easy to whip together in the morning and I felt it would almost be more work to prep them for freezer meals. It takes no time at all to make a big batch of eggs and throw some bread in the toaster, but homemade muffins or pancakes? That’s a little more time consuming.
1. Pancakes
This recipe is not my own but ever since I first made these my family has been hooked! We stopped buying pre-made pancake mix and exclusively enjoy homemade pancakes at least once a week! I always make a double batch and freeze half to eat another day. To prep these as a freezer meal I made a quadruple batch and froze them in ziplock freezer bags. When we are ready to eat them we’ll throw a few in the toaster and enjoy!
2. Sourdough Chocolate Muffins
Again, this is another recipe I found and my family is now obsessed with. However, I do tweak this one ever so slightly. I find the muffins often come out dry so I add twice the amount of oil the recipe calls for. I also use avocado oil or melted butter in place of vegetable oil and homemade greek yogurt instead of sour cream! This is also a fantastic way to use up that sourdough discard!
3. Banana Chocolate Muffins
Now, unfortunately the recipe I use I cannot share because it is not my own and I do not have permission to do so. However, I did find a couple different recipes that I will be testing in the near future! These Sourdough Banana Nut Muffins sound absolutely heavenly, and a great way to use the discard. And these Banana Chocolate Muffins are vegan and very similar to the recipe I use!
4. Carrot Streusel Muffins
Are you seeing a trend? I absolutely love baking and freezing muffins because they are so quick and easy, not to mention a favorite of children everywhere! This recipe I tried for the first time and it was a huge hit! I did add an additional 1/4 - 1/2 cup of milk to the batter to loosen it up a bit because it came out more like a dough than a batter. But they were really yummy and decently healthy!
5. Granola
Only recently did I start making granola at home and I see now what I’ve been missing all this time. This granola is far better than any I’ve ever purchased from the grocery store and so quick to whip up! I made a double batch, divided it into four freezer bags, and froze. Now we have a large supply of granola to sprinkle on yogurt or eat as cereal! I like to sub the flax seed for chia seeds and add handfuls of chocolate chips to the mix after it’s been baked and cooled!
6. Breakfast Bars
I wanted to try something a little bit different than a muffin and these breakfast bars happen to be even healthier and easier to make! To freeze I cut them into squares, popped them into a container, and then into the freezer. When we want to eat them we can either pull out the whole container and enjoy as a family or I can sneak a few squares straight from the freezer to enjoy while nursing!
7. No Bake Energy Bites
These would classify more as a snack than a breakfast but if I was on the go and needed something fast I would absolutely grab a few of these and enjoy while driving. I’ve made these energy bites a handful of times to switch things up from the classic granola bars and the kids love them!
8. Sourdough Sandwich Loaf
I realize this isn’t a meal, but aside from making all this food I have also been baking crazy amounts of our favourite sourdough sandwich loaf and freezing them in our deep freeze! Having a ton of this ready to go will help with quick meals in between - toast, sandwiches, garlic toast, grilled cheese, you name it!
Suppers and Lunches
9 times out of 10 you will find us warming up leftovers from last night’s supper for lunch, which is why I combined the two. Some of these are family favourites and comfort foods that I know my family is sure to enjoy and some of these are new-to-us slow cooker meals that sounded delicious and were so fast and easy to put together. For each meal I doubled the recipe so I would have two meals to freeze instead of one. I also wrote clear instructions on each bag so anyone could easily grab a meal and throw it together! Most of these we will be enjoying alongside rice and a steamed veggie, which I also made sure to have ready to go!
1. Honey BBQ Meatballs
I’ve shared this one a number of times before but it is a family favourite and freezes so well! I cooked these as normal, allowed them to cool, and then froze with instructions to warm up the meatballs in a pot, cook some rice, and steam a veggie on the side. When I make these I usually sub the bread crumbs for oats, parsley for dried oregano, and grape jelly with whatever jam I have available!
2. 30 Minute Beef Stroganoff
This one has been in my recipe rotation for years. It’s quick, easy, and always a crowd pleaser! To make it a freezer meal I made the beef sauce and froze in a bag with instructions to warm up in a pot, cook noodles, and steam a veggie. When I make this I also sub half the heavy whipping cream for milk so it’s less heavy!
3. Spinach Rolls
AKA vegetarian lasagne. Technically you’re supposed to roll the cheese filling in the noodle and layer between tomato sauce but honestly it’s way faster and easier to layer it like a lasagne. This is a childhood favorite for Zach and it has continued on in our family! My kids eat SO MUCH of this and always request that I make it more often!
Ingredients
12 lasagne noodles
500g carton cottage cheese, drained
250g package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
2 cups mozzarella, shredded
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
2 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
1 jar pasta sauce
Directions
Cook lasagne noodles until barely tender. Drain and set aside.
Combine drained cottage cheese, thawed and drained spinach, mozzarella, parmesan, eggs, salt and pepper. This is your cheese mixture.
To make rolls spoon your cheese mixture on each lasagne noodle, roll, and arrange in a 9x13 pan with pasta sauce on the top and bottom. OR to make it a veggie lasagne create 3 layers starting with pasta sauce, then noodles, then cheese sauce. Top with a thin layer of pasta sauce and sprinkle extra cheese on top.
Bake at 350 for 25 minutes fresh or at 350 for 1 hour if frozen (or until cooked through and warm!)
4. Cilantro Lime Chicken
This one, as well as the next few recipes, came from this blog post I found on Pinterest. Every meal in this post looked so good and is SO easy to throw together! I love how they are different from your classic quick slow cooker meal or freezer casseroles. We are a family that enjoys variety so this is perfect! I am excited to test these out in a few weeks when baby is here.
5. Chicken French Dip Sandwiches
French dip sandwiches is a family favorite but never have we tried a chicken version! I am eager to try this one!
6. Sesame Honey Chicken
This one we will probably serve over rice or ramen noodles with a steamed or fried veggie on the side but I love how open this is and the variety of ways you can enjoy it!
7. Chicken Peanut Curry
Curry is not something I make often but this particular recipe has been a favorite for many years. I do not remember where I found this one so unfortunately I cannot link it but it’s easy and tasty and we enjoy it alongside rice and naan bread! To make it a freezer meal I just cooked the curry, let it cool, divided it into bags, and froze. When we eat it we will warm up the curry in a pot, cook rice, and, if I’m feeling fancy, I might just bake a batch of sourdough naan bread!
Ingredients
For the spice blend
2 tsp coriander
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
For the curry
2.5 pounds chicken breast, chopped into 1 inch pieces
splash of oil
1 onion, diced
1 TBSP ginger, minced
6 gloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup ketchup
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 TBSP brown sugar
4 cups chicken broth
2 zucchini, chopped
2 bell peppers, chopped
Directions
Mix together spice blend and set aside.
Pour half the spice blend over the chopped chicken and toss to coat. In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add chicken pieces and cook until the outside is browned. You don’t need to worry about fully cooking the chicken yet, it will finish cooking later on.
Remove the chicken and set aside. In the same pot, add diced onion and cook for a few minutes, until fragrant. Add ginger and garlic and continue cooking for another 30 seconds. Add the rest of the spice blend and cook for 30 more seconds.
Add ketchup, peanut butter, brown sugar, chicken broth, and browned chicken pieces into the pot and simmer for 30 minutes, or until sauce is slightly thickened.
Add chopped zucchini and bell peppers and continue to simmer until veggies are cooked through and tender.
8. Homemade Pizza
Making pizza crust from scratch is surprisingly easy and so much yummier! And making pizza at home is a fantastic way to use up leftover meats, veggies, and cheeses that are going bad in your fridge. To make this freezer-friendly I made the dough and assembled the pizzas as normal but instead of throwing them in the oven, I threw them in the freezer. To do this I wrapped them up in cling wrap and froze them flat on a piece of cardboard in my deep freeze. Once they were frozen I could stack them on top of each other until we are ready to bring them out and cook them!
9. Sweet & Sour Sausage
Okay this one, I’ll admit, is not healthy at all. But this is a mennonite favorite and postpartum nostalgic for me so I made it anyway! To make it a freezer meal I cooked the sausage and froze it in the sweet and sour sauce. When we’re ready to eat, we’ll warm it up in a pot, cook some rice, and steam a veggie or make a salad on the side!
Ingredients
1 ring of mennonite style farmer sausage
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup white vinegar
2 cups water
2 TBSP cornstarch mixed with a splash of water
Directions
Cut sausage into rounds and cook in a medium pot until cooked through. Remove from pot and set aside.
In the same pot, add brown sugar, ketchup, white vinegar, and water. Stir and bring to a boil.
Meanwhile, mix together cornstarch with a splash of water to make a slurry. When the sauce begins to boil, slowly pour the slurry into the sauce, whisking constantly to prevent lumps from forming. Cook for another minute, until the sauce thickens.
Remove from heat and add sausage back into the sauce. Serve over rice.
And there you have it! I spent 3 full days in the kitchen preparing these meals and hopefully this will make the postpartum recovery a much more relaxing experience!
