Freezer Meals are an amazing way to make things easier for new moms. You had given enough of yourself while keeping the baby inside your belly for almost nine months. You can prepare and store daily meals for your post-delivery days to keep yourself relieved when you still can bear standing and working. You can consider these freezer meals as insurance which could actually be claimed after you deliver your baby. Think of the time when you are fully exhausted, unable to sleep for eight straight hours, still bearing through the after-delivery pain and fatigue. Still, the meals you had prepared beforehand are ready to eat after a quick reheating in the microwave.
What Meals Should I Freeze for After Having a Baby?
If you are a new mom, you should be well aware that your diet should be a complete supply of proteins, minerals, iron, vitamins, and other healthy nutrients. You will supply your baby with all the nutrients he requires; you must at first consume enough of these yourself. When talking about the vitamins needed by new mom’s bodies, vitamins A, D, and K, along with the omega-3 fatty acids, are superb. You should eat iron-rich foods, including beef, chicken, eggs, soups, fish, and broth.
Why You Should Prep Freezer Meals?
No wonder all these nutritional meals can be prepared beforehand and saved for later use. When you want to eat any of this, throw your meal into the microwave and heat until it defrosts. Not only that the meal is going to be safe and healthy, but you can also save enough money compared to if you had to buy a daily meal from the outside. Also, after delivery, fatigue and laziness is the truth; you should make sure that the calorie intake your doctor has recommended is what you are taking good care of. Here comes the frozen meal you had kept in your freezer.
How Many Meals Should You Prep?
You can prepare as many meals as you wish and make sure the food doesn’t expire before you wish to consume it. Freezer meals can stay good for up to three months; after that time period, the flavor, texture, and nutritious value of the meal start degrading. Here we have compiled a list of delicious yet freezer-friendly meals for new moms.
12 Nutritious Freezer Meal Ideas
Pumpkin Pancakes
These yummy and nutritious pancakes are the best solutions for frozen meals concerning new moms. It delivers plenty of fiber to new moms. Here is a list of healthy ingredients you can put in these pumpkin pancakes.
Asian Peanut Chicken
This delicious chicken meal is a package of flavorful ingredients that provide a lot of essential proteins to keep the body and energy levels of new moms up to the mark. They won’t get tired of making milk feeders, changing diapers, and even breastfeeding during the odd hours of the day and night. These ingredients will load this meal with protein and energy.
Crockpot Soup
When going through the recovery phase, you might get a craving to eat out and have different types of foods to satiate your craving. This Mexican soup is a slow-cooker soup; it is gluten-free and serves great nutritional value. These delicious ingredients could make it healthier for new moms.
Pizza Stuffed Peppers
When you have your taste buds craving pizza, but you also got to care for your baby’s feed, pizza peppers come in handy at that time. You can simply cut the peppers in half and fill them with these yummy yet healthy ingredients.
Spaghetti Squash with Delish Meatballs
You have to cook your spaghetti and get ready to toss in the ingredients for meatballs. Prepare this delicious meal prior to your delivery and enjoy it later, when you lack the time and energy to make such yummy meals.
Tuna Hummus Cake
These tuna hummus cakes can be cooked and frozen or frozen without being cooked at first. They will remain yummy and fresh either way. These are some of the healthy ingredients you will need to make these cakes.
Dip Sandwiches
These slow cooker sandwiches are best to take as a meal kit. You can freeze them in a zip lock bag and defrost them whenever you wish to have them. They are nutritious if you fill them with a healthy filling; make sure to combine the sauces to enhance their taste.
Crunchy Carnitas
Everyone’s favorite! You can slow cook them for a whole day, and the batch makes these easily.
Chicken Taquitos
You can store and freeze them before baking to keep their freshness alive. Chicken taquitos are great when served fresh, so baking them at the time when you want to eat them is the best solution.
Parmesan Sliders
These can be simply made prior to your delivery date and can be cooked when needed. You can freeze the half-prepared sliders and give them a quick heat in the oven when you wish to eat these. These sliders are nutritious and can be filled with any of your favorite fillings.
Chicken Soup
This is everyone’s favorite and can be cooked very easily. Chicken soup has all the nutrients a new mom needs to heal her body and internal ailments. You can freeze the broth and reheat it properly before having it.
Baked Pasta
You can make small batches and store them separately for every single use. The reason for making these small batches is that when you reheat the quantity of pasta you want, the rest of it will remain fresh and untouched.
Pizza Bread
If you already have kids at home, preparing pizza bread ahead of your time is a life savior. Pizza bread is everyone’s favorite and doesn’t take much time for its preparation. But make sure you bake it when you need to eat it; pizza bread serves best when served hot and fresh.
More Freezer Meal Ideas for New Moms
The meals mentioned earlier are amazing and could save you nearly a week or two. But if you still want to add a little more taste along with new styles to your frozen meals, you can try making these.
- Turkey Casserole
- Mexican Quinoa
- Garlic Tortellini Soup
- Beef Taco
- Pizza Pockets
- Caramel French Toast
- Lemon Chicken Pasta
- Turkey Sausage Lasagna
- White chicken with lentils
- Teriyaki Chicken Casserole
- Stir Fry Veggies and Rice
- Banana Bread Cookies with delicious Chocolate Chips
- Fried Rice with grilled chicken
- Chicken Potato Soup
Visit miss-bohnenkraut.com for more recipe ideas!
Nutritious Things To Make for a New Mum
You can make plenty of yummy meals for new moms, but keeping them healthy and packed with all the necessary nutrients is better. These nutrients will help the new moms heal and stay energetic throughout. Here is a list of things you can make for a new mum.
- Freshly homemade granola bars
- Muffins
- Banana bread or muffins
- Burritos
- Frittatas
- Quiches
- Soups
- Meatballs
- Zucchini soup or meal
- Caesar salads
- Fish cakes
You can be carefree and make freezer-friendly meals ahead of your delivery time. It absolutely depends on you whether you want to stock these meals for a week, a month, or even two months. The standard time for frozen meals to remain fresher is until three months.
After three months, the frozen starts to lose its nutritional value and becomes stale, hence should not further be used. Also, you might fall sick of having the defrosted food and want to let your tastebuds experience the freshly cooked meal.
What Cooked Foods Freeze Well?
When mom meals are concerned, any batch-cooked meals or even the leftovers like soups, stew, and baby food are great to be frozen. They don’t leave their taste or nutrition when they are being reheated. Combined recipes such as pizzas, crumbled items, lasagna, or even pies are kept best when they are frozen safely in airtight packages or containers. But it is better to freeze baked items before they are baked. This will prevent any dehydration when being reheated. Buttercream icings for your cupcakes can be frozen well, but the rest of the icings made of dairy cream separate the water from it.
Foods That Should Not Be Frozen
There are certain foods that cannot and should not be frozen. The reason for that is that sometimes these meals or foods become soggy after being frozen, some lose their delicious taste, and become useless after being defrosted.
You should never freeze a boiled or fried egg, soft cheeses, dairy products, salad dressings, sauces, fried foods, some fruits, meringue, cakes, cookies, egg whites especially, custard or cream caramel, carbonated drinks, soft herbs, bean sprouts, mayonnaise, rice, tomatoes, ketchup, milkshakes, and smoothies.
Vegetables and Fruits That Cannot be Frozen
Water-rich fruits or vegetables should never be frozen, as they leave their nutritional value and become soggy or stale after being defrosted. Vegetables like cucumber, lettuce, parsley, potatoes, radishes, onions, green peppers, celery, asparagus, etc., cannot be kept frozen. Fruits such as melons, kiwis, grapes, pomegranates, or plums should never be frozen.
You should not freeze potatoes, but it is absolutely fine if you wish to freeze mashed potatoes. Simply let the mashed potatoes cool, put them in a container or a zip lock bag, and pop them into the freezer. They can easily survive the chill without getting stale after being defrosted. It is better if you put in them a lot of butter or cream to keep them safe from any dehydration.
What Cooked Meats Freeze Well?
Raw meat can easily stay fresh in the freezer for almost up to eleven or twelve months. Ground meat, sausages, meat cuts, or even processed meat can be ideal for long-term freezing. Although when we talk about freezing cooked meat, it is ideal for freezing and saving them for later use. If there is a lot to be saved, you can make small portions so whenever you need to consume these, you would not require defrosting the whole quantity of the meal frozen.
Here is a list of cooked meats you can freeze for later use. Beef – Steaks, Short ribs, Briskets, Picanha, Duck breasts, Trout fillets, Shrimp, Charcuterie and deli meals, Lamb chops, and Rack of Lamb.
Leftover meat is not made to rot in the refrigerator; it should instantly be frozen after you have a heart dinner or lunch and notice any leftovers. This way, your meat that is now cooked gets a free and extra three months storage period.
The Best Way to Freeze Cooked Meat
You should put the meat into a plastic wrap or an airtight container; make sure the meat has been completely cooled down before you freeze it. If any part of the meat is left uncovered, this might cause a freezer burn, or the part of the meat will actually dry out until you plan to consume it.
It is better if you can vacuum the sealed bag and write the date when you are putting it to freeze, or else you might as well write the expiration date. Assume the expiry to the same date as you freeze the meat; only change the month to 3 months later.
How to Defrost Cooked Meat?
Before you want to consume it, take out the meat from the freezer, and defrost it at first in the refrigerator. It is best to defrost meat in cold water or in the refrigerator instead of defrosting it at room temperature. The meat you have frozen after cooking is most likely to get dry than that of the uncooked one.
Is Two-Year-Old Frozen Chicken Good for Use?
If the chicken you had frozen in the freezer is continuously freezing, then it is safe and good for use. However, if in between the chicken was defrosted and then frozen, this might affect the life of a frozen chicken and cause bacteria to grow. As a result, it stales earlier than usual.
It is still better if you freeze the whole chicken for only a year max and then use it. Also, it is very important to note the way you have frozen it; it should be well kept and sealed from all sides. This will help save it from any freezer burns or drying.
Make a Month’s Worth of Freezer Meals
Freezer meals can be great life saviors when you are having any health issues or, after your delivery, you lack the energy to stand and make food. It’s obvious that ordering from a restaurant on a daily basis is a not-so-healthy option while costing you too much of your money at the same time.
The best way to store a lot of meals for up to a month’s usage is to make your daily food with some extra batches. Eat your dinner, but the excess could be saved during the after-delivery days. This way, you won’t even have to make an extra effort to prepare the meals before your time.
How to Pack Meals for Your Freezer?
You can get the most out of your prepared frozen meals by packing them correctly in the first place.
Freezer bags
Use Freezer bags; they can be a great solution when you are not in the mood to take an extra round of effort for all the packaging. Slide your food or meal into these freezer bags, seal them and put your meal straight into the fridge.
Make sure the meal you are freezing has cooled down already; otherwise, let it completely cool and then put it into the freezer.
Foil Pans
Always keep a bunch of foil pans for meal freezing. These small pans are super helpful for perfectly freezing and saving the meals, such as casseroles and lasagna.
Vacuum Sealer
A good vacuum sealer could be your top kitchen gadget favorite. Get it so whenever you need to pack your meals or even raw food, you can always vacuum the pouches to suck out any excess air. These will not only help the meals take lesser space, but in fact, the food will also remain fresher.
Conclusion
Preparing for the postpartum period is a must. There happen to be major changes in your life once the baby has arrived, it gets smoother over time, but for the initial days, you must be well prepared and organized. Make sure you have access to online ordering of food or any other necessary items; this will help you to save enough of your time and energy when you need anything all of a sudden. You should stock up on the items that will support you after the baby’s arrival.
If you haven’t yet got comfy mama clothes, you are making a huge mistake because motherhood is all about keeping yourself safe and comfy to forward those vibes to your baby. Prepare delicious and healthy meals ahead of time to save you all the effort and energy you have been through during the recovery phase. Above in the article, we have enlisted a list of healthy yet delicious meals that can be prepared and frozen ahead of time with fewer efforts and on the go.
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