I’ve spent most of my pregnancy with little to no energy, not feeling good and just feeling “bla”. So when the nesting hit, and I got some energy back, I was very stoked. My kitchen looks clean (most days) and I feel like I have the energy to do some meal prepping, something that I don’t typically do, but feel drawn to do this time around. I’m guessing its my body’s way of telling me that I’ll be thankful I did it after Dani arrives. This pregnancy has been vastly different than any of my other ones, and I can only assume its not going to stop during the fourth trimester, during post-partum care.
I’ve never meal prepped a day in my life though, so where do I start? Well, I looked into meals that I did pretty well in the past, Burritos, broths, that sort of thing. And then I looked up the best way of meal prepping them, and made myself a list. The first thing I was going to do, was Beef, bean and cheese burritos. Because I could either A. use them as a whole family meal, or B. The family could heat up one or two for lunch as desired, so it seemed like a pretty solid choice. Not to mention, I could make a batch of homemade refried beans and cook them in the homemade turkey stock I made after thanksgiving.
1. Beef and Bean Burritos
Ingredients:
- 1 lb Ground Beef
- Taco Seasoning
- Refried Beans
- Flour Tortilla shells
- Cheese
- Parchment Paper
- Aluminum Foil
- Ziplock Bag
Cook and season your ground beef and Refried Beans. I personally will cook up the ground beef, and then add the refried beans to it and add seasoning as necessary, until it gets to a flavor I enjoy. Once that is done, add filling to your flour shells, top with cheese and roll your burrito. Wrap in Parchment paper and Aluminum foil before placing it in zip lock bags.
To cook, Preheat your Oven to 400 degrees and placed your foil and parchment wrapped burritos in the oven for 45 minutes, or until heated through. I personally don’t have a Microwave oven to test the Microwave heating method, but you should just need to unwrap the burrito, place in a damp paper towel, and microwave for 2 minutes, flipping and cooking an additional 30-40 seconds until hot.
2. Frozen Broth (multiple uses!)
This one may not be a ‘meal prep’ idea per say, but the broth would have many uses, and empty my fridge of the veggie scraps and chicken bones I’ve been saving up. And it also makes your house smell so good while its cooking down all day. Toss in your bones, and scraps in a large pot and fill with water. I cook my broth on medium and then once it comes to a boil I keep it on a medium low, checking it every couple hours and skimming any foam or fat that comes to the top. I personally don’t season my broth as I want control over how its seasoned based on what I’m making, so I just add some salt, and then season it more with what I’m making (I.E. Chicken soup, or using the broth to cook down beans, whatever). Its not a complete “meal prep” idea, but making homemade broth will at least make future dinners a little bit faster, and a bit more homemade.
3.Shredded Chicken
This one is a simple idea, cook some chicken in the slow cooker, until its ready to shred. Now put it in a bag and freeze in a Ziplock bag. Now you have already cooked chicken that is ready for Tacos, stews, soups or even sandwiches. It may not be a complete “meal prep” idea, but you’ve at least got options now. You’ve made broth already (above) and now you’ve got chicken. Now you just add rice, pasta or gnocchi and you have a nice and filling soup!
4. Meatloaf
Yeah, I know everyone’s favorite. But pair it with some instant potatoes and a canned veggie and you got a nice hearty, and homecooked meal! Now, with meatloaf you can do it two different ways. You can make your meatloaf mixture, and form it and then freeze it, taking it out to cook (and keeping it mind it might take a few minutes longer) OR you could completely cook it, and then freeze it, only taking it out when you want to heat it up and eat it. The way I decided to do it was to mix and form it and then freeze it, taking it out when I’m ready to cook it for dinner. It still saves me some time either way. And in the meatloaf, I am using my homemade breadcrumbs that I made from the bits and pieces of bread I’ve been saving up in the freezer.
5. Pancakes
This last one, could be used as a dinner, or a breakfast. Being that I do not own a toaster, or a microwave, we make our pancakes from scratch anyways. And when I have leftovers, I freeze them, and the freeze wonderfully! So I plan on making a large batch of pancakes, and freezing them for the kids, breakfast, or a lazy weekend dinner.
The key to freezer meals, is making meals you know your family will eat. Having a freezer full of stuff they don’t like very much, doesn’t do much good, and in fact just adds more work on me that with a newborn- I’m not gonna need or have the patience for.
