First off, a lot has happened since I last wrote. I still have many food allergies and digestion issues like normal. I still workout and love being healthy. Now I just have more of a reason to stay fit and be healthy, I have a baby on the way. Just about a week after my June post I found out I was pregnant, no wonder I was having so many digestion issues, my body was trying to figure out how to brew up a baby! Since then I have become even more conscious about what I eat and how well I take care of myself.
I have 5 weeks left of this pregnancy and then a whole new world of motherhood awaits me. Since I'm so close to D day I figured this weekend I would make some freezer meals. I have heard from many new moms that finding time to cook is the hardest part of having a new baby. I decided to get ahead of the curve and make sure our little family is ready for its new addition and has food to power us through the feeding, crying, pooping machine that is about to grace us with her presence.
So far I have made 14 different meals. I'm still planning on making about 5 different breakfast meals to go along with those too. I feel like it's a good start to a good collection of meals.
I spent 2 days making all of these things. Found most of the recipes on pinterest and things I found on other google searches. I noticed as I started making them though I adapted them to things my husband and I like more so I guess you could say I made them my own… I'm not taking any credit for it though. Most of the meals are paleo, all of them are gluten and dairy free because my body is just not liking those things right now and I don't think they ever will. When I made these things I just kept in my mind "just eat real food" that being said I got some really healthy meals in my freezer.
Now it's time to look at the mess I made and I will kinda go through the process with you to how I made this happen…
First off, I made some overnight bone broth. We had a whole chicken for dinner and I used the bones from that to make some delicious broth as we slept that night.
If you have never read about the benefits of homemade bone broth you should… it can heal your gut make your skin amazing (collagen) and is full of healthy vitamins and minerals.
After learning the facts about it I will never buy store bought broth/stock again.
Then the madness started…
I started by cutting up everything I needed. I did all the veggies first and then all the meat.
You will not believe how many onions and carrots I went through…
Most of the recipes I just had to throw raw ingredients in bags (both veggies and meat) which was super easy but then I also made some soups that are already all made that we just have to thaw.
… and this is the soup mess I made.
I used the stock I made above in both these recipes.
Some chicken and quinoa soup and creamy chicken cauliflower mushroom soup is what you can see. They both tasted amazing and I can't wait to have them.
Lastly… the aftermath…
I love cooking but I wish I could hire someone to clean up after me…
Some pictures of the results! It was all well worth it.
Some of the things I made were…
Beef Stew, beef stir fry, hawaiian chicken, cilantro lime chicken, bbq chicken, chicken and quinoa soup, creamy cauliflower mushroom soup, pizza soup, sausage and peppers, taco chili, and a large sweet potato cottage pie.
All of these we can either just warm up or put straight into the crockpot and let cook.
TOO EASY!!!
Side note:
I didn't use all fresh ingredients, I like to try and keep it fresh but some things are totally ok to me in cans. In these recipes I used canned tomatoes and tomato sauce ( I always use muir glen brand) , pineapple chunks for the hawaiian chicken, salsa (I love muir glen again) and lastly, low sodium black beans (Eden Organic brand). Sometimes canned foods just make life a little easier which is always nice…
Ps. I also bought mostly all the fresh ingredients and other things I needed at Aldi… If you haven't gone to an Aldi before, you need to make a trip like umm… TODAY! It's a life saver for the budget. Just remember… bring a quarter so you can get a cart and bring your own bags, otherwise you will have to buy some at checkout!
I hope all this can help a person or two with making some awesome freezer meals!
Recipes:
The rest of the recipes I got from THIS WEBSITE
Hi, Anna! I found you through one of the pregnancy hashtags and loved it when one of your posts would pop up. I'm current 19 weeks pregnant and trying to live out a healthy, happy pregnancy, and your posts just gave me so much encouragement and inspiration. I'm planning on making a lot of real food freezer meals, too, so I'm glad you decided to post this!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you liked the post! I'm working on getting back to blogging now! With a 2 week old it's a bit of a challenge. Congrats to you and your little one on the way! All these freezer meals have helped me so much and are so worth the extra time in the kitchen!
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