Freezer Meals Are Worth It (Mostly)

One of my grand plans before the baby's arrival was to make a buttload of pre-prepared frozen dinners since I doubt either of us will feel like cooking during those first few weeks of sleep deprivation. Plus, I've been told by freezer meal advocates that not only does it save a ton of time, but also a good chunk of change, which I'm always in favor of. Well, let me tell you the first lesson I learned: don't try to shop for and cook a month's worth of entrees when you're 38 weeks pregnant and fatigued as heck.

Optimistically beginning round #1 of cooking...

Now granted, the book I chose had me cook a week's worth of food (rather a whole month's) at a time in what it referred to as "mini-sessions." But still, it was exhausting! Saturday was spent foraging for supplies with K at the grocery store and Sam's Club. Then Sunday after church, I rolled up my proverbial sleeves and began mini-session #1 with 5 chicken recipes:

• Old-fashioned chicken and rice
• Chicken pasta italiano
• Chicken vegetable skillet
• Chicken noodle soup
• Mushroom chicken couscous

All in all, the whole process probably took 4 to 5 hours. Food preparation, like cutting and chopping, for all 5 dishes was done together at the beginning. Then I proceeded to cook each recipe one by one, with a maximum of two dishes at a time because of my limited stove space and attention span. After one entree was done, I would cool it down rapidly by placing it on the cement of our unfinished basement. Then the bagging and labeling would be completed during breaks between dishes. The worst part was probably the throbbing pain on the soles of my feet from standing so long on the kitchen floor, but K disagrees because he had to deal with the massive clean-up afterward. ^_^;;

Bagging completed at midnight! (I probably shouldn't have waited till after dinner to start cooking...)

Since then, the beef mini-session has been conquered as well, but when it came time to do chicken mini-session #2, I just couldn't take it anymore. That very day, Sophia had randomly passed me a link for a deliciously fattening chicken marsala, so we took the rest of the chicken breasts and made 5 dinners worth of the recipe. Done and done... I just don't care anymore!

P.S. Least you think all of my pre-baby to-do's are so productive, I did take Not Jenny's advice and painted my toenails while watching The Dark Knight with K. That's right, Momma's going to have gorgeous feet going into Labor & Delivery! ^___^