I did not make freezer meals with my first and I remember wishing during that horrible 5-6 pm witching hour that I had. It was so tough trying to get dinner ready with an infant that only wanted to be held, hated his swing, and refused to sleep. I ended up putting him in my Moby Wrap while making and eating dinner, all the while thinking "gee, if I had just made some things that I could pop in the oven/crock pot this would all be so much easier". Well this time around, I'm making the damn freezer meals!
After lunch I took the dog and J for a long walk with the hope the walk would tire them both out and give me some time alone in the kitchen. It worked! J was happy to sit on the couch and watch a movie and the dog was passed out on the floor somewhere. Nap time finally arrived around 3-something (yes, those are underwear over his footie PJ's and yes, those are his snow boots - I pick my battles).
During their quiet time I worked on getting 5 lbs of ground beef into freezer bags for future use. I ended up making:
- 2 lbs ground beef for Sloppy Joe's or spaghetti sauce
- 2 lbs taco meat
- 4 hamburger patties
These are in addition to a pound of ground beef for spaghetti sauce and a pound of pre-mixed meatloaf muffins that I already had in the freezer. We're also having chicken taco soup tonight for dinner and I put the 2nd bag into the freezer to have later. (please ignore the dirtiness on my iPad screen - it pretty much belongs to J at this point and he isn't the best about wiping his hands before playing Color Drops - thank goodness for screen protectors)
I can't take credit for the inspiration/recipes here. I have Pinterest boards overflowing with crock pot and freezer meal ideas. The chicken taco soup comes from Six Cents (recipe here) and the ideas for the 4 bags of ready to use ground beef are from A Turtle's Life For Me. The patties are just ground beef, some dried minced onion, garlic powder and Worcestshire sauce.
I'm sure this will come in handy sometime in March while I'm trying to manage a newborn, 2 y.o. and husband. I have a lot more meals I plan to make, but this was a good start and I already feel better knowing I've gotten at least 1 item off my massive baby-prep to-do list.
Now someone come rub my feet.
