My "Make-Ahead and Freeze" Plan for March

Ever since baby girl #2 was born, I have tried to keep at least a few homemade, ready-to-heat meals in the freezer. With a toddler running around and an infant on my hip, I am usually exhausted by the time I start to think about having to cook dinner. And let's face it, 4-6PM are often acid hours for both mom and the kids making getting dinner on the table that much more of a struggle.

Along the way, I found that if I just doubled the meal I was making on the nights I had time to cook then I could get a dinner on the table for tonight and have freeze the other half for a night when I really needed an easy evening. This worked well for a little while until I went back to work part-time. Now I have more evenings when I need to be able just pop something in the oven, and the freezer is looking a little bare. At the same time, there are several mornings a week now that we are up and out the door super early, and I need healthy ready-to-go breakfast options.

Y'all have seen me reference both Kelly @Faithful Provisions and FishMama @Life as Mom in previous posts. As I have been following their blogs, I have been inspired to attempt something completely new: A Once-a-Month Freezer Cooking Day.



This will be my first real attempt at setting aside some time at the beginning of the month to stock my freezer with meals and meal components that I can easily pull from after a super-busy day. Here is my plan:

Dinners:
Personal-Sized Pizza Crusts (Regular and Whole Wheat)
Lasagna Roll-ups
Taco Meat
Chicken Pot-stickers
Baked Mac&Cheese
Chicken Parmesan Stromboli
Chimichangas

Breakfasts:
Breakfast Cookies (Thanks for the recipe FishMama!)
Flax Seed Waffles

Extras
Garlic Bread

Baby Food
Butternut Squash & Apple
Apple, Pear, & Blueberry
Sweet Potato, Carrot, & Broccoli
First Chicken Casserole
Banana Berry

I am not sure if I am being a bit ambitious for my first attempt at a Freezer Baking Day. Hopefully if I can devise a really good working plan for the next few days, I can get it all done and have a good stockpile for the month of March. As I work on the recipes I will plan to post recipes and steps as well as helpful hints I learn along the way.

If you are interested in having a freezer cooking day of your own, check out the following articles for some inspiration and some how-to help:

How I plan my Freezer Cooking Day @ Money Saving Mom

Freezer Cooking Basics @ Life as Mom

Freezer Food Safety @ Freeze Happy

Helpful Tools for Freezing @ Freeze Happy