Amanda and I spent most of this past Saturday cooking for her freezer. She has been having a good bit of "morning sickness" with this pregnancy with the exception that it's been in the evening instead of the morning. I only had "evening sickness" with one of my children and I thought it was so much worse than morning sickness. The reason being, with morning sickness, when I was finally able to be up and moving I was good for the rest of the day. With evening sickness I would start feeling bad around 4:00 in the afternoon and it would get worse until bedtime. Amanda's "evening sickness" seems to be working the same way that mine did.
Having great sympathy for any pregnant woman dealing with "morning or evening" sickness I decided that I would help Amanda get a good supply of meals in the freezer that would eliminate the need for her to spend much time in the kitchen. (At least until the sickness passes (hopefully). With Ellen the morning sickness lasted the whole pregnancy).
We made nineteen meals (or parts of meals) for her freezer and did several individual size containers for the girls. That gives her something quick and easy, besides sandwiches for their lunches.
Some of the things we made are sphagetti sauce, hamburger steak w/gravy, turkey rice soup, potato soup, hamburgers, precooked meat for stir fry, ground meat for casseroles, pancakes and applesauce muffins. Most of the things we cooked were meats that needed to be cooked on top of the stove instead of the oven. Those are the things that seem to bother her the most right now. Amanda has a wonderful vegetable steamer/rice cooker that she uses a lot for side dishes which is really nice since they don't require her to stand over them while they are cooking.
This week I am planning to make some banana muffins, broccoli rice casserole, freezer mashed potatoes, baked ham and turkey for the freezer. That should give her a good supply of quick and easy meals to get her through the worst of the morning sickness. After that we will begin working on meals she can have in the freezer for after the baby comes.
If you haven't started keeping pre-cooked meals (or parts of meals) in the freezer I highly recommend it. It is such a blessing to not always have to start from scratch after a busy day. It also helps the family budget, because by having meals in the freezer it isn't as tempting to eat out after a tiring day.
I would love to hear some of the meals that you cook for the freezer.
I noticed you are a new blogger and am so thankful you came by. I love how you are helping your daughter during this pregnancy. My eldest and I were just talking about that. And I have been pondering once or twice a month cooking. Your post made me think I should try it. But I want a "friend" in the kitchen with me to laugh and have with fun.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to read more on your blog.