UPDATE: In preparation for our SECOND daughter to arrive, I did another HUGE haul of meals. You can find the links for them in this post.Â
**Shopping List now included at the bottom of this post!!**
I look back at a few things that I did to “prepare for baby” and making freezer meals was one of the smartest things we did! They came in handy those first few weeks home with baby!
I made all 20 of the meals listed below (I made some of them again after Emmy was born) and it only took me one Saturday afternoon to do. A majority of these recipes called for chicken or beef so I bought my meat in bulk at Sam’s. I bought all other ingredients at Wal-Mart.
My grand total spent was $165! That is including the bags and a few aluminum foil freezer pans.
Once I had all I needed, I started by separating the recipes that needed pre-cooking and those that didn’t. I began with cooking a few pounds of chicken and beef on the stove while I put together the meals that did not need cooking. In order to do these the fastest, I laid out the gallon sized bag for each recipe on my kitchen table will all possible ingredients close by. I would just go down the line, one by one and add in all ingredients. I used a sharpie to write down the name of the recipe and the cooking instructions.
The dump meals were by far the most convenient. It was so convenient to just add the bags contents into the crock pot. An important lesson learned with the crock pot dump meals:Â crock pot liners and paper plates makes clean up a breeze!
Crock pots have gotten pretty fancy over the years! You can now buy them to where they have a built-in timer and will switch to the warm setting once the time has been reached. This helps alot if you are away from the house or if you just have your hands full with baby! I prefer this one because it also has an attached temperature probe to make sure any chicken has reached the right temp before serving!
Here are all the recipes I used with links to the original sites! I’ve listed my top 10 at the top with photos! ENJOY!
Chicken Black Bean Enchilada Stack from Thirty Handmade Days (Made twice, reheats VERY well)
Parmesan Crusted Chicken Tenders from Kristine’s Kitchen
Cool Ranch Shredded Chicken Tacos from New Leaf Wellness
Skinny Cheddar-Stuffed Meatballs from Maebells. Â
(have a side of pasta ready to go! Also- this works great with I wash, You Dry’s InstaPot spaghetti!)
Chicken Philly Cheesesteaks from New Leaf Wellness
Simple Beef Stew from Savory Nothings
Baked Chicken Penne from Our Best Bites
Chicken Enchiladas (Makes TWENTY!) from Andrea Dekker
Skinny Three Cheese Penne from Skinny Mom
Freezer Chicken Pot Pie via Freezer Dinner (one of the best websites for mom’s looking to freezer meal prep!)
Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos from Our Best Bites (this one was a guilty pleasure! I had to KEEP myself from making it twice!)
Crock Pot Lemon Garlic Chicken via Who Needs a Cap?
Honey Soy Pork Tenderloins from Eating on a Dime
Chicken Fajitas from The Humbled Homemaker
Sausage Lasagna from A Mom’s Take
Shredded Beef Tacos via Eating on a Dime
Chicken Broccoli Alfredo via Six Sisters Stuff (Made Twice)
Slow Cooker Honey Teriyaki Chicken via Twin Dragon Fly Designs
Crock Pot Beef + Broccoli from BS Recipes
Want More Recipes?
Here’s 12 more freezer meals I’ve come to LOVE making!
Shopping List
After many, many emails with request for a shopping list, we finally have one put together for you! You can simply click the link below and it will download in PDF form. Happy Cooking!
Pre-Baby Freezer Meals – Grocery List