Tuesday, 5 August 2014

Freezer food for early days with a newborn baby

Introduction

Here is an unpublished post I discovered from back when I was preparing for baby to arrive...


These meals saved me in those early days—easy to reheat, nutrient-dense, and manageable with a baby in tow.


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ready to freeze


List of Freezer Meals

In response to Marcy's comment, here is a list of the meals I've been stashing away in the freezer for those first few weeks of newborn haze.  


They're pretty much all meals I've blogged before.
This can be reheated in the oven from frozen or simply thawed on the counter and served cold/room temperature.  An easy breakfast (although I *do* prefer them fresh).

Spanokopita

Bake this from frozen at approx 180C for about 45 minutes.

Chili with cornbread.  

I made a super-sized batch of chilli and simply spooned chilli into small, foil lined casserole dishes (I probably should have bought some foil ones at the supermarket), and smoothed cornbread batter evenly over the top.  Then I folded down the foil and froze.  

Once completely frozen I tipped them out of the casserole dishes and wrapped in more foil and returned to the freezer.  I'll unwrap, return to casserole dish and bake from frozen, loosely covered with foil at 180C until I can see that the chilli is heated through then I'll remove the foil and raise the temperature to 200C until the cornbread is nicely baked.  

Actually I wont.  That will be Mr Duncan's job.

Risotto

I'm making double sized portions then freezing as described above for the Chili with Cornbread. Same re-heating method too.

Soup, soup, soup 

Made with home made chicken stock for nourishment.

Just tip frozen block into a saucepan and thaw/re-heat over a low flame.


Falafels and pita bread.  

I made about 60.  Simply microwave three or four falafels each from frozen and pop the frozen pita into the toaster.  Stuff with salad and a dollop of yoghurt.

If you dont have a microwave they can be heated gently on a low heat in a frying pan with a little oil or butter, put the lid on so they stay moist.

Sausage/Bean casseroles 

Hearty French peasant fare along these lines.

Quiche

Quiche is nourishing and easy to make from whatever veg or leftovers are in the fridge.  It freezes well and is just as nice to eat hot or cold.  

The best thing is can be eaten one handed while juggling a newborn.

Pate (and this one)

Freeze in small portions and just thaw overnight in the fridge.  

It's full of iron and protein and makes a quick breakfast smeared on toast. 

Also a one handed kind of meal.




2 comments:

  1. Thanks for posting! These will be so good to have in the freezer in the winter months.

    ReplyDelete