There has been so much going on the past few weeks between finding out we’re having a baby girl and buying a house, that I haven’t had much time to worry about focus on my pregnancy as I’d like. So I spent some time recently catching up on some of my Baby Center e-mails and absolutely loved this article with advice from parents, How to Care for Your Newborn Baby.
I think my favorite part of most projects is the preparation and planning because it means I can indulge my list-making and organizing obsessions. I was absolutely ecstatic when I read the tip to plan ahead for meals once your baby is here. Now I know family and friends will absolutely pitch-in to help us here —my mom started freezing her garden tomato sauce as soon as we spilled the beans about the pregnancy in August!— but I love the idea of having our favorite go-to meals right in our freezer or the ingredients on-hand for some of the simpler stuff we love.
On my list to plan for are:
Make-Ahead and Freeze
– Alyce’s pasta sauce (with pork, sausages, and meatballs) (2x)
– Sausage-stuffed shells
– Slow-cooker chicken and ginger with veggies
– Homemade chicken soup (3x)
– Bri’s potato leek soup
– Honey Bourbon Chicken
– Chicken Pot Pie (2x)
– Turkey Chili (2x)
– Mesquite pork chops
– Chicken picatta
Quick and Easy Meals
– Chicken tikka masala
– Girl Scout stew
I’ve read that it’s a good idea to have a “labor project” queued-up to focus on leading up to your due date, but if I’m being honest, I think my favorite part of post-delivery meal planning is picturing a meal prep schedule and pre-delivery grocery shopping list neatly fitted into a big, tabbed binder of organized amazingness!
What are your favorite make-ahead and freeze meals? Or quick and easy ones? I’d love to hear.
Married with Style 