Freezer Meals

Alex's brother and his wife are expecting their first child in a few short weeks. We have already showered the little man with gifts and the parents with advice, but wanted to do something special for them when baby comes. Meals were a godsend when Lily was born. So many people brought delicious meals, ranging from spaghetti squash, macaroni and cheese, salads, fruit platters, you name it! Although I am sure several people will bring food to Joni and Andrew and baby peanut, I wanted to contribute in this way.

Since we were visiting the expectant parents in Charlotte, North Carolina during the holidays, I arranged ahead of time to prepare several freezer meals for them, with the help of Alex's mom.

When we arrived in Charlotte, we brainstormed several meal options and made a shopping list for ingredients. We spent about $70 total at the grocery store.

On D Day, we shopped for ingredients, then started with a HUGE pot of meat sauce. We used the hearty sauce to make lasagna and spinach pasta bake. We then made meatballs from the extra ingredients, for future Italian nights! We also dished out at least 5 additional quarts of sauce for said Italian nights. We also made chicken enchiladas (a family favorite!) and macaroni and cheese. All items went into the freezer disposable pans, instructions on top.

We spent an entire day on the project. From shopping, to chopping, tocooking, to freezing, we were both exhilarated and tired. It was super fun and easy! Lily provided lots of encouragement in the form of kisses and cooing. (I used my Ergo Baby for most of the cooking part.)

The family benefited in the immediate too, because we had enough ingredients to make an extra pan of enchiladas, and some delicious chicken salad with dill.

I am so pleased with the result, that I plan to do a freezer meal day with my friend Betsy this weekend. We are going to do vegetarian meals. I'll let you know how it goes!

Bon appetit!