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Hello Kraft Community, we are very excited to share some great news with you. As loyal Kraft Community members we have heard your desire to do more fun things in the community and we are happy to announce in January 2010 we will be making some changes so you can connect and share food ideas in more ways than ever!
We want to let you know we will not be transferring the existing discussions to the new enhanced message boards so if there are discussions that you would like to save please make sure to either print them or copy and paste into a document that you can save to your personal files.
We will remind you again before the transition occurs but wanted to let you in on the exciting news!!
If you have any questions on how to do this please contact Customer Care at Contact Us
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Re: What are good make ahead meals or frozen meals? I'm having a baby and .....
Posted:
Oct 31, 2009 10:05 AM
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This is a time saver and a treat.cheese burger meatloaf.2 pounds of ground meat,2 eggs,onion,peppers,1 sleeve of crackers.half a package of cooked bacon torn mix all.then on top you put ketchup,mustard,and then cheese any kind you like bake then freeze or freeze un cooked but then you must un thaw in befor baking.I always have 1 in my freezer it goes great with almost any side you can think of.my nieghbor families all use it and it is great for a potluck as well. the family next door make it and eat it with a salad she told me it is the healthy deluxe cheese burger.375 about 30 minutes give or take a few minutes
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Moderator_Sky
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1,521
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Re: What are good make ahead meals or frozen meals? I'm having a baby and .
Posted:
Oct 23, 2009 10:02 AM
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> we had a son together which weighed 11 lbs when born, talk
> about being tired.
Wow! I bet you were. That's amazing.
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Re: What are good make ahead meals or frozen meals? I'm having a baby and .....
Posted:
Oct 22, 2009 11:13 AM
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I don't have a lot of recipes that don't have beef or pork because we raise both but a good one with hamburger is tator-tot casserole great one for the freezer, but put in 9x9 pans for your small family. You may know the recipe already but if you want it I would be glad to share. I married a man with two kids and I had two kids previous and then we had a son together which weighed 11 lbs when born, talk about being tired. Our kids now are between 20 and 8 now but when we met they were 2,4,6,8 so I learned being prepared always saves time, not matter how little the chore.
The extra expense of disposable oven pans and roasting bags always pays off in the long run, it saves on clean up to spend more time with the new one and gives you extra time with the rest of the family
Congratulations......
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Re: What are good make ahead meals or frozen meals? I'm having a baby and .....
Posted:
Oct 22, 2009 10:45 AM
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To make life easier, I fry up a lot of ground beef or turkey and then freeze into individual freezer bags. Then, you can just mix into casseroles or spaghetti or whatever and this will make fixing these meals a little faster and easier.
I also chop a lot of oinions ahead of time and freeze.
Any little things that you can do to cut out steps later will help.
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Moderator_Sky
Posts:
1,521
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Re: What are good make ahead meals or frozen meals? I'm having a baby and .
Posted:
Oct 16, 2009 9:45 PM
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Not recipe tips, but tips to help make life easier for you with a newborn... these are some things I did...
Use a sling. You can carry the baby around while you are preparing food and the movements you make will make the baby feel safe and secure and help the baby sleep. You probably don't want to carry the baby if you're making something like bacon though, obviously.
Sit down with your significant other and ask them if they would be willing to make some of the dinners each week and what they'd feel comfortable making. I did this and ended up only having to cook maybe twice a week. My husband so worried about "breaking the baby" that he was more than happy to cook so he'd not have to do baby duty.
Make a large meal one night that leaves enough leftovers the next night.
Family members LOVE babies. Don't let them come visit... go to their houses... around dinner time. 
Put some money aside for an eating out fund. Some nights, you are going to be so exhausted, even pulling a meal from the freezer will seem like a feat. Then the hubby (or SO) can grab something on the way home so you both can have a break and have the food already made for you.
Obviously freezer ideas are great, but you could quickly run out of freezer space (unless you have a free-standing freezer), so these other tips can help you out too.
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Re: What are good make ahead meals or frozen meals? I'm having a baby and .....
Posted:
Oct 16, 2009 9:29 PM
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You can freeze any pasta you make. My family only eats a half a box, so I put the rest in a ziploc bag and freeze. Its best to cool the pasta first and letting it dry a bit if you rinse the pasta before freezing. If your daughter likes beans and rice, then make a big batch and divide it into family portions. I package chicken in dinner portions either cooked or raw with a marinade in bags and freeze that. Many recipes can be doubled and frozen. You can buy those cheap foil pans to put the food into or ziplocs and just stack them in the freezer. Sometimes just dividing the meals and packaging them after you go food shopping is the easiest way to deal with meals, then you just take out the package and heat it up.
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Re: What are good make ahead meals or frozen meals? I'm having a baby and .....
Posted:
Oct 16, 2009 10:21 AM
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Congrats on the baby! Whatever you're making now for dinner, double it. Put one half in the freezer, labeled & dated.
To make it easier for reheating:
Anything that will go into the oven - line your regular pan with foil then fill with the the casserole. Once frozen, take your pan back out of the freezer, leaving the meal frozen in it's foil liner. When it is time to use it, pop the foil lined dinner in back in your pan, let it thaw (usually needs a day) then bake as usual.
For anything that will go in a sauce pan or crockpot, invest in those baggy style crockpot liners. Again, put the liner in the pot, fill with the soup or stew, the freeze. Once frozen, take your pan out of the freezer, leaving the frozen hunk of dinner in it's liner.
One of our favorites is Spaghetti pie. You can omit the beef, or substitue pork sausage.
SPAGHETTI PIE
7 oz spaghetti noodles
2 Tbl butter, melted
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
2 eggs, wellbeaten
1 lb. ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1 jar spaghetti sauce
4 cups mozzarella cheese
1 pkg. 3 1/2 oz sliced pepperoni
Cook noodles. Combine with butter, parmesan cheese and eggs. Spoon into greased 9”x13” pan (or two 8”x8”).
Brown beef with onion. Drain and spoon over noodles. Pour spaghetti sauce over all. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Lay pepperoni on top.
Bake covered for 20 minutes, then uncovered for 15 in a 350 oven.
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Moderator_Jane
Posts:
1,656
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Re: What are good make ahead meals or frozen meals? I'm having a baby and .....
Posted:
Oct 16, 2009 7:45 AM
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> My favorite websites for freezer meals are:
>
> http://orgjunkie.com/2008/11/freezer-cooking-links.htm
> l
>
> http://www.pammshouse.com/oamcrecipes.html
>
> http://simplemom.net/how-to-menu-plan/
>
> I was a 22 year old single mom of one before I met my
> fiance. He had 3 kids already and we had one more
> together. So within 2 years I went from mom of one to
> mom of five who all live with us full time. So I was
> always looking for ways to make things easier. I
> discovered simplemom.net (which is my favorite) and
> from there I found some great OAMC sites. I thought
> it was crazy they had whole communities for once a
> month cooking. I think these sites keep me sane! I
> have not tried to cook for the whole month yet. But I
> do things like find a great sale on sausage links and
> dice them and throw them in the freezer. Or once I
> did it with baccon and it was great. I just baked the
> baccon to get it done faster and then diced them up
> and froze them. It made great baccon bits for
> everything from salads to baccon stuffed
> cheeseburgers and tastes amazing on grilled cheese
> sandwichs! Good luck and congrats!
Welcome to the Kraftfoods community, spankylively and thanks for the links.
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Re: What are good make ahead meals or frozen meals? I'm having a baby and .....
Posted:
Oct 15, 2009 3:33 PM
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My favorite websites for freezer meals are:
http://orgjunkie.com/2008/11/freezer-cooking-links.html
http://www.pammshouse.com/oamcrecipes.html
http://simplemom.net/how-to-menu-plan/
I was a 22 year old single mom of one before I met my fiance. He had 3 kids already and we had one more together. So within 2 years I went from mom of one to mom of five who all live with us full time. So I was always looking for ways to make things easier. I discovered simplemom.net (which is my favorite) and from there I found some great OAMC sites. I thought it was crazy they had whole communities for once a month cooking. I think these sites keep me sane! I have not tried to cook for the whole month yet. But I do things like find a great sale on sausage links and dice them and throw them in the freezer. Or once I did it with baccon and it was great. I just baked the baccon to get it done faster and then diced them up and froze them. It made great baccon bits for everything from salads to baccon stuffed cheeseburgers and tastes amazing on grilled cheese sandwichs! Good luck and congrats!
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Moderator_Jane
Posts:
1,656
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Re: What are good make ahead meals or frozen meals? I'm having a baby and .....
Posted:
Oct 14, 2009 9:39 AM
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> Hello everyone! I'm going to have my baby in a few
> months, I also have a almost 3 year old daughter. We
> (my husband and me) don't have family where we live
> and with our first it was really hard for me to take
> care of my baby, clean the house and on top of that
> cook twice a day. I have heard that you can cook
> meals ahead and freeze them and just pop them in the
> oven or microwave. I would like to do this. If you
> have any recipes please let me know and also my 3
> year old is a picky eater but she eats anything that
> is really good, I don't like ground beef and we eat
> beef 2-3x a month. We prefer chicken, we also eat
> pork but rarely and meatless food that has protein
> like beans(my daughter loves beans and rice or just
> beans), any tips??
I often cook pots of beans and freeze half for use later in bean soups or chili. I have also frozen cooked rice in plastic bags for my husband to heat up if I'm going to be away and have never heard any complaints.
The most interesting experiment I've ever tried was going to this place: http://www.passyourplate.com/. What you do is pay a flat rate and they have stations set up where you assembly meals ready for the freezer. That allows you to adjust seasonings and some ingredients to address family preferences. It wasn't especially cheap, but it was certainly worth it for the educational value.
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Moderator_Deanne
Posts:
1,704
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Re: What are good make ahead meals or frozen meals? I'm having a baby and .....
Posted:
Oct 13, 2009 9:01 PM
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> Hello everyone! I'm going to have my baby in a few
> months, I also have a almost 3 year old daughter. We
> (my husband and me) don't have family where we live
> and with our first it was really hard for me to take
> care of my baby, clean the house and on top of that
> cook twice a day. I have heard that you can cook
> meals ahead and freeze them and just pop them in the
> oven or microwave. I would like to do this. If you
> have any recipes please let me know and also my 3
> year old is a picky eater but she eats anything that
> is really good, I don't like ground beef and we eat
> beef 2-3x a month. We prefer chicken, we also eat
> pork but rarely and meatless food that has protein
> like beans(my daughter loves beans and rice or just
> beans), any tips??
Welcome to the community amococinar and cynthi4211. =)
Congratulations on the baby! Cynthi had some very good ideas. Meatloaf can be cooked in muffin pans for smaller portions, and lasagna, as well as shepherds pie, both freeze up well.
Good luck with the new little one!
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1
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Re: What are good make ahead meals or frozen meals? I'm having a baby and .....
Posted:
Oct 13, 2009 5:24 PM
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Many meals can be frozen Chicken and rice varieties, meatloaf, etc. I mainly freeze soups and then depending on the amount they can be reheated in the crock pot or on the stove in 15 minutes or less. Chili, vegetable, chowders either potato, corn, even homemade chicken noodle. Just be careful with the noodles. Typically I make a double or triple batch or the basic liquid everything but the noodles (some varieties get soggy) then separate it. I add the noodles when it is thawed or warmed and serve. Easy rolls or bread can be served.
Also you might want to look in your area for a Home Meal Assembly kitchen center. In Colorado we have several
http://www.dinnerndash.com/
http://www.tastydinnersolutions.com/
The centers are pretty quick and are worth the price. I have done the process with a few girlfriends and we had a blast. Our center lets you choose 6 or 12 meals, of course the more you order the better deal. The main thing we liked is we each chose our meals, all the prep is done, chopping, and cleanup, plus a recipe is provided for you to follow as much as you like. One of my friends has a picky son he doesn't like certain spices, so she just didn't add the rosemary, thyme, etc. if the recipe called for it. The instructions are very easy to follow and the while only the main dish is provided, our center gave suggested side dishes. One of my other girlfriends actually did this for one of her expecting girlfriends(her second child as well), they all went and made their meals and then paid for hers as a shower gift(she had everything she needed from the first child).
Hope this helps 
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Posts:
1
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What are good make ahead meals or frozen meals? I'm having a baby and .....
Posted:
Oct 13, 2009 2:42 PM
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Hello everyone! I'm going to have my baby in a few months, I also have a almost 3 year old daughter. We (my husband and me) don't have family where we live and with our first it was really hard for me to take care of my baby, clean the house and on top of that cook twice a day. I have heard that you can cook meals ahead and freeze them and just pop them in the oven or microwave. I would like to do this. If you have any recipes please let me know and also my 3 year old is a picky eater but she eats anything that is really good, I don't like ground beef and we eat beef 2-3x a month. We prefer chicken, we also eat pork but rarely and meatless food that has protein like beans(my daughter loves beans and rice or just beans), any tips??
Rate this post:
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