Freezer Meals for when little Miss arrives!

When I was pregnant with E I decided to make some frozen meals for after the birth. It turned out great and as we settled in and the visitors slowed down, it was great to just pull something out of the freezer, stick in the crockpot or oven and have dinner done!

I wasn’t sure if I was going to do it again this time, but I figured with a toddler it will probably be more difficult to make dinner- so I found some recipes online and brought some that worked well last time, went shopping and spent the morning putting together our meals.

I got 9 meals in the freezer, with left-over ingredients in our pantry and freezer for another 5-7 or so. The first thing I did was start browning the beef- while that was cooking I started putting together the easiest bags that didn’t require anything cooked.

1 cups (approx) of carrots
1/2 red onion, cut into large chunks
1 large can pineapple (undrained)
1 garlic cloves, minced
2 Chicken Breasts
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce

Sweet & Tangy Meatballs
(adapted from Ring Around the Rosies) I haven’t made this before, but it looks great and was SO easy to package!

(below is what is needed for 2 bags)

Crockpot Freezer Roast and Veggies
(I make this often, and froze a few with E; they turned out great- the trick to freezing the potatoes is to make sure they are completely covered in liquid while freezing)

(below is what is needed for 2 bags)
1 large chuck roast, cut in half (this feeds just hubby and I, if you have a large family you will want 1 whole roast in each bag.)
4 cups carrots
12 potatoes (can be small red or small russet, you could also cut up some large russet potatoes if that’s all you have.
4 cups beef broth
4 cups water
2 package onion soup mix

Place 6 potatoes on bottom of bag to insure they are covered in liquid. Place 1/2 roast, 2 cups carrots, 2 cups water, 2 cups beef broth and 1 package of onion soup mix in each bag (again, adjust for a larger family). Freeze with potatoes on bottom (I freeze upright with these).

Thaw before cooking. Put in crockpot, cook on low 6-8 hours (the bag says 4-6, but the longer you let it simmer the more tender the roast will be).

Crockpot Freezer Taco Soup 
I made and froze this with E and it turned out great! I made 3 batches this time, and just opened the cans and poured them straight in the freezer bags, put the seasoning and beef in last, Lots of cans for 3 batches!

(below is what is needed for 1 bag)
1 can corn
1 can pinto beans
1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can tomato sauce
1 can stewed tomatoes
2 cups (approx) cut carrots
2 cups cooked ground beef
3 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp taco seasoning
2 cups of beef broth

Pour all in a bag together, do not drain the canned items. Double bag- Freeze flat. When ready to cook, thaw, cook in crockpot for 4-6 hours.

Serve with tortilla chips, sour cream, lime, cilantro, etc.

I had a bit of ground beef left over, so I froze it in smaller batches to be able to use quickly. Things didn’t fit quite as nicely this time around, but everything was in bag so I was able to make it work.

I bought almost all of the ingredients for the items below, but couldn’t put them together because I ran out of room in the freezer, was missing a few ingredients, and/or realized I didn’t necessarily need to freeze them as meals.

Sloppy Joes– I have meat in freezer, cans of Manwich in the cupboard and hamburger buns in the freezer. It will be easy enough to heat up the meat and Manwich and toast a few buns.

Taco Pasta ( I have everything for this- but didn’t really want to freeze the cream cheese and sour cream, so I decided to leave it all separate, it is a pretty quick meal to cook)