I am currently 40 weeks and 4 days pregnant with our baby girl! We are anxiously awaiting her arrival and hoping she comes in the next couple days. Honestly I’m so uncomfortable being overdue pregnant that I hope she comes tonight!
We have the baby clothes washed, the hospital bags packed, my Mom in town to watch the boys and our freezer stocked with food. I thought I’d share some freezer meals I’ve been prepping over the past couple weeks!
Having some easy dinners ready to go in the freezer is always helpful when you have a new baby, but is especially helpful when you eat gluten-free!
I’ve found the easiest way to stock the freezer is to make dinners as you usually would – but to pick things that freeze well and double or triple the recipe. It is just as easy to make a double batch of a recipe as it is to make enough for one dinner.
For all these meals we ate part for dinner the night I made it, then I put the rest in the fridge overnight to let it cool completely before packing it in freezer bags. I highly recommend letting the food get completely cold before packing it up to freeze especially when using plastic.
Something I always make in bulk to freeze for later is Spaghetti Sauce. I like this recipe from Pioneer Woman. The only change I make is to half the amount of meat she uses. I use about 3 pounds instead of 5 for the whole batch and it is plenty. To defrost you can put a bag of sauce in the fridge overnight then reheat it in a pan. Or you can microwave the frozen sauce on defrost straight from the freezer. I like to serve this over my favorite gluten-free spaghetti from Jovial Foods.
I also like to make chili in bulk to freeze for later! We also eat this over gluten-free spaghetti with some sharp cheddar cheese and a dash of hot sauce. We call it “chili-mac” and my kids love this meal. This is my favorite chili recipe to freeze.
This recipe for Slow-Cooker Moroccan Apricot Chicken is one of my very favorite dinners! It freezes great and is delicious over quinoa. I recommend defrosting this one in the fridge overnight for best results.
These Slow-Cooker Pinto Beans are an all-time favorite recipe that I make again and again. They freeze great and can be used to make tostadas, burritos, tacos or quesadillas. My kids love pinto bean tostadas. Such a great easy meal!
Another all-time family favorite recipe at my house is this Slow-Cooker Sweet Island Pork. Our favorite way to eat it is in tacos, but it it is also fabulous over rice. I doubled the recipe and ended up with dinner one night and 2 freezer meals.
My all-time favorite thing to freeze for breakfasts is 100% Buckwheat Waffles! They are delicious straight out of the freezer and into the toaster. I am addicted to them spread with some Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter. It is a dairy-free, tastier alternative to Nutella.
Turkey Sweet Potato Hash is also a great thing to freeze in individual portions for easy breakfasts/meals. This is great food when you’re nursing and starving!
I also like freezing healthy cookies and eating them straight out of the freezer. Perfect for late-night nursing snacks. I like to make my Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies or Flourless Oatmeal Almond Butter Cookies with coconut sugar and freeze them for later.
Those are all the meals I have prepped in my freezer for baby this time. I was going to make some healthy muffins (like these Chocolate Almond Butter Muffins or these Coconut Flour Peanut Butter Banana Muffins) but didn’t have time. This is WAY more prep than I did before either of the boys so I think we should be good to go for a few weeks.
I actually have a whole section of freezable meals in my recipe index! Fingers crossed baby girl gets here soon and safely! What are your favorite gluten-free meals to freeze?
