Baby Prep

SO I have had so many ask for my recipes and how I have been prepping for baby #6, so I figured I should get it all down and share.

My nesting urges have come and gone all throughout my pregnancy, but most intense at the end of October.  I decided we needed to rearrange every room in the house, we pretty much moved, it was exhausting, but just what I needed.  We will now have 2 kids in each room, minus a playroom, which in all reality was just a room that was ALWAYS messy and was never played in.  I have to point out that no matter what there is no way I would have been able to do any of it without my amazing husband who gives into my decorating whims.  He's a very patient husband, who hates to anchor furniture, for obvious reasons.
 
After moving each room around there was a desperate need to "clear-out".  I went through EVERY drawer, got rid of 8 bags of clothing.  Each kid got to keep 7 shirts, 3 pants and 10 pairs of underwear.  We ended up purchasing new socks and underwear and other clothing that they may not have had.  It felt good to get in there and see exactly what they had or needed.  It's so easy to let those things go with everyday life getting in the way, so to get in there and know for sure felt really, really good.  :)  We also went through toys and only kept toys that were actually played with, not just dumped out on the floor.  We kept blocks, trains, baby dolls, doll house/accessories, dinosaurs, cars and super heroes, this has helped a lot with messes.  When the messes are too big my kids feel overwhelmed and don't know where to start, so with less it's much easier to get them to pick-ip before bed.

Another thing that has helped with my nesting are daily chores.  My kids have chores that they do everyday.  They each have a room in the house that they are responsible for every day, we only change jobs every 3-6 months or so, this way we never have to figure out who does what, they already know and the more they do it the better they get at it and the faster it gets done.  It's magic.  Honestly.  They do their room in the house and then they are also responsible for their own bedrooms.  On Saturdays they have an extra chore, i.e. windows, baseboards, toys in the yard, lawn mowing for Calvin, and on especially cool days weed pulling, this is the only chore they get paid for, $1 for every full grocery bag.  Keeping up with these chores daily/weekly has helped SO much.  When you are trying hard to organize it's hard to have the motivation AFTER cleaning the house, especially when you're huge and pregnant.  ;)  It also helps me to feel willing to clean-up because I don't feel like I'm the only one who cares what our house looks like, and I'm doing it all my own, you know, what mom feels at times.

Now for meal prep.  It all stemmed from advice from my therapist, yes, I see a therapist/energy healer, it's amazing, but that's another post.  We were talking about why I always get so sick after having a baby and how to prevent it.  I am desperate to enjoy this last baby, and to not be sick at all.  We figured out that it is because I try to do too much and don't just let myself recover and enjoy my baby.  Not to get too in-depth in our conversation, she suggested I have meals brought to me for 3 months.  That freaked me out because how does one even go about asking for 3 months of meals?!  So I decided I would let my family, friends, and R.S. bring as many as they were going to bring and I would cover the rest.  I did a little research on-line...Pinterest, but didn't like most the recipes I found, so I went through my own and used the ones I figured would be ok freezing.  First I went through my freezer and made the meals I could with what I already had.  I was surprised, I was able to make 8 freezer meals EIGHT, with what I already had.  It's much easier to get a s many done as possible in one day, because it is exhausting and to make only one or 2  a day would be crazy hard.  I made 2 different types of meals, crockpot meals, oven meals and microwave meals.

*Some things I would recommend having been through it...spend a little extra money and buy Glad gallon freezer bags, and the sturdier foil pans and aluminum foil.  The thought of going through all the work of putting it all together to have a bag break or a foil pan tear isn't worth it.  I would also like to point out that if you use Walmart online Grocery and store pick-up, it. will. save. your. life.  Okay, not really but it will be SO much easier.  You have plenty of time, no kids wanting everything in the store and so many distractions that make you forget one or two items which totally screw you up later when you're trying to get it all done.

Oven Meals:
Beef Stoganauff
Chicken Enchiladas(4)
Chicken Stuffing Casserole(2)

Crock-Pot:
Teryaki Chicken(2)
Sweet n Sour Meatballs(2)

Microwave:
Bean & Cheese Burritos
Bean, Cheese & Meat Burritos
Sausage, egg, potato and cheese Breakfast Burritos

Beef Stroganoff 
2lbs browned ground beef
2 22.6oz cans of cream of mushroom soup
1 9.8oz container Sour Cream
1Tbs Parsley
2 minced Garlic Cloves
1Tbs onion powder
Salt and pepper to taste(I salt and pepper my meat when browning it)
1.5 packages of cooked egg noodles
4 14.5 cans of cut green beans

Mix meat, soup, sour cream, herbs and garlic.  Layer noodles, green beans and meat mixture, cover and freeze.
Bake @350 50-60 mins frozen, thawed @ 375 30-40 mins


Chicken Enchiladas:
1.5  78.6oz packages of Corn Tortillas
3-4 Shredded Chicken Breasts
1 12oz package Frozen corn
1 22.6oz can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 22.6oz can of Cream of Mushroom Soup
1.5 9.8oz container of Sour Cream
1Tbs Ground Cumin
1-2 7oz can of Green Chiles (depending on your taste)
1/2c  chopped White Onion(about half a large onion)
16oz package of cheese(about, I had like 3 open packages in my fridge for several reasons, that I just needed to use up.)

I add corn to add texture and extra filling, so I don't have to use as much chicken, I mean 4 meals with just 4 chicken breasts?!

Mix all ingredients together minus the tortillas.  I fry my tortillas so they get nice and crispy in the oven, but you could just microwave them to soften them up, you really need to do either so the tortillas don't break when rolling, but if you're just going to do layers like a lasagna, you could leave them "raw".   With this recipe I had enough filling and tortillas to do 2 rolled and 2 layered.  If you roll them add the cheese to each roll, and then sprinkle some on top.  If you layer, then just add a layer of cheese.  If I roll them I pour a little I'm sorry it's not more specific, I made these first so they were made with whatever I had in my freezer and pantry.  Freeze in disposable tin tray, cover with foil.  Bake @ 350 for 50-60 minutes frozen, 375 30-40 thawed.

Chicken Stuffing Casserole
2 packages of Instant Stuffing(any flavor)
1 72oz Package of frozen California Blend Veggies(Carrots, cauliflower and broccoli)
3 Shredded Chicken Breasts
2 22.oz Cans of Cream of Chicken or Mushroom soup
1 9.8oz container of Sour Cream
2-3 Chopped Green Onions
1c Chicken broth divided(I used what I had from boiling my chicken)
1 8oz Package of Cheese

Mix Chicken, cream of chicken soup, onions, sour cream and cheese.  Put half of the mixture at the bottom of the pan, then layer half bag of veggies and half of moistened stuffing. cover and freeze.  Bake @ 350 for 50-60 min frozen, @ 375 30-40min if thawed.


Teryaki Chicken recipe I stole from Pinterest.

Sweet n sour meatballs, I used the sauce recipe from Six Sisters Stuff from their Baked Sweet n Sour chicken, which by the way is Ahmazing!  Try it.  I added a bell pepper, can of pineapple chunks and white onion and half a bag of precooked meatballs.  Cook in crockpot for 3-4 hours.

For the burros I did a large can of refried beans and spread it straight from the can onto a warmed flour tortilla, put cheese on top, then rolled it and wrapped it in plastic wrap, then placed in a gallon freezer bag.  Others I added meat to, I just browned up some ground beef and added in the taco seasoning.  Make sure to follow the directions on the package when making taco meat with taco seasoning.  A lot of people just sprinkle it on while browning, if you follow the directions it turns out SO much better.

Breakfast burritos I did an entire bag of frozen potatoes, 2 dozen eggs, 1lb pork sausage, green chiles.  Cook your sausage.  I cooked the potatoes in my large skillet with some of the grease from the sausage, salt and pepper and a little butter.  After potatoes are to your crispy liking add in the sausage and green chiles.  Whip eggs up with some milk and add to potato mixture.  When I rolled them I did one bag with cheese and the other with cheese and hot sauce and made sure to mark them really well, so my kids don't mix 'em up.

I realize this is not very specific and may to be as helpful as you might want, I'm definitely not a blogger, and don't take the time to document very much.  I would love to be more specific, but I have several more meals to make to get up to 30 meals in my freezer before this baby comes in 10 days, respectively.  Eesh!  Check our dump chicken on Pinterest, they have some great easy recipes, I just found it easier to use recipes and meals that we already use because I already had most of the ingredients and if I didn't I knew exactly what to buy and didn't have to go through and make a complicated grocery list.