Last weekend I went a little nuts and finally made all the freezer meals I'd been stocking up for for the last month. (Feel free to read more about other baby-related items on the baby blog.) I've always been pretty good about freezing extra portions of soup, etc., but I've never spent an afternoon just focusing on freezer prep. Considering it was my first real try (and I didn't streamline as much as I could have), I thought it went pretty well.
I started off making my favorite Southwestern Bean Soup. Eric hates this, but I decided to make it anyway since it's packed with protein, low-cal, and actually fills me up. It's super easy to make, and if you don't already have a good southwestern soup recipe, you should totally try it:
1 can tomato sauce
1 can black beans
1 can red kidney beans
1 bag frozen sweet corn
1 can rotel
taco seasoning to taste
Mix all that goodness together and let it simmer on the stove for an hour or so, and you've got southwestern magic! Stick it in a microwaveable container and freeze, and it's good to go.
I then proceeded to make one big helping and two loaf-pan helpings of Mexican Shepherd's Pie. I basically got everything ready to cook so all we have to do is pop it in the oven for 20 minutes. Mmmm.
I also prepped a ton of chicken breasts for baking - mainly this Lazy Baked Greek Chicken from Rachel Ray that I absolutely adore (have I posted about this before? Because I should have). It's super easy, full of protein, and totally delicious!
I also prepped about 5 chicken breasts for chicken parmesan (basically rolling dipped chicken breasts in a parmesan-panko mix) so that all I have to do is bake and pour on some marinara.
I cut up about a bajillion more chicken breasts after that and got some bags together to pour in the crockpot to make the Italian Crockpot chicken that everyone raves about on Pinterest:
2 cans cream of chicken
1 packet Zesty Italian Dressing Mix
1 8-oz pack of cream cheese
4 chicken breasts
Hopefully I can just throw that in the crockpot then serve it over some noodles.
I also made a whole bunch of the Chicken and Spinach Pasta Bake that our familia loves so much. With two BIG servings and three loaf pan servings, I don't think we'll be short on that for awhile!
I also chopped and froze a bunch of mixed veggies for if I want to make veggie stew/pot roast/beef stew in the crockpot. And it seems like I did a few more things, but it's all a little hazy at the moment.
The whole ordeal took me about 3 hours (with some breaks in between since my back started hurting). However, I got roughly 20 meals out of that, so it seems like a fair trade in time. I may just have to do it again one day... we'll see!!
