Comments on: Meal Ideas for Expectant Parents

By: rebecca

rebecca — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 18:35:06 +0000

Celeste, I’ve thought about that shower idea, too. Another option might be to have everyone bring a freeze-able meal–and it can be homemade or storebought. Many people hate cooking and would not be excited about having to cook for someone else. If they have the option of stopping by Trader Joe’s for some muffins or something, they’d be thrilled.

Another tip I read somewhere: make a bunch of freezer casseroles such as lasagna, macaroni and cheese, etc. Pour those into Zip-loc freezer bags. Then settle the bags in an 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 pan before freezing, so that the stuff freezes in a block shape that can easily be popped out and baked in the same pan. (Hope that made sense.)

By: Celeste

Celeste — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:19:13 +0000

I have a dream of a “freezer meal making” baby shower where, instead of bringing stuff for baby and parents, people bring assigned ingredients to make freezer meals and instead of playing baby games, everyone prepares food together. I know I would cherish this type of baby shower and gift. I hope someday I opportunity to plan one for someone else who might appreciate it as much as I would.

By: karalee

karalee — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:36:56 +0000

I second what Angela V-C said… use containers that don’t have to be returned! Zipper freezer bags, foil pans, “disposable” tupperware are all great (and you can obviously re-use the tupperware many times).

The “what to put it in” dilema was our big stumbling block to freezing food in general. We heard about people who make monster batches of food and freeze some for their families and/or to share but had a hard time figuring out what would work for an inexpensive but workable solution for containers.

Once we figured out that a giant batch of spaghetti mac can be cooled down a bit then spooned into quart size freezer bags – we started a “cook lots and freeze some revolution” at our house… making everyone’s lives easier and happier! Even if you just make a monster batch of homemade mac n cheese or pan full of taco meat once a week… you can freeze enough for 2 – 4 meals to eat later, it’s SO exciting (and a little sad to think how excited we get over not having to cook a meal once in a while – oh how our lives have changed)!

There are quite a few books and websites on cooking large batches of food and freezing it, they talk about containers, recipes, etc… just Google it!

By: Angela V-C

Angela V-C — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 23:58:17 +0000

We were lucky enough to receive lots of home-cooked meals when both of our kids were born (our new baby is now 8 weeks!) My biggest tip would be to package meals in a container that you don’t need returned. We’re still trying to get containers back to people that kindly brought us food!

By: Audrey

Audrey — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 23:48:27 +0000

I’m expecting a baby in 12 weeks, and I’m feeling the final crunch! I’ve been making to-do lists, figuring out childcare arrangements for my 2-year-old, and making meals to freeze for when the baby is born. So far all I’ve frozen is clam chowder, enchiladas, and freezer jam, but I have a huge list of things I’m planning on making in the next 9-10 weeks!

By: Emily

Emily — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:08:32 +0000

Great ideas! I made myself freezer meals ahead of time, but I will do the dry ingredients beforehand too, next time around. I think my favorite meal we were brought was homemade pizza. Our friends brought it ready but uncooked and while it cooked we visited and they held the baby, etc. It was a great and simple blend of fellowship and food!

By: Kelly

Kelly — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:54:16 +0000

I use a great website for organizing meals for new parents at our church. It is http://www.foodtidings.com You can send one message to multiple people, and then they can each access the website to sign up for a specific date and let everyone know what they are bringing. It makes it really easy on the organizer as well as all those who want to bring meals for their friends!