I am 39 weeks and 2 days and am looking for easy post-partum meal ideas that can be put in the crockpot, cooked ahead, and/or generally easy to deal with on little to no sleep to feed 6. Also some super simple meals my SO might be able to handle not being super familiar with cooking? lol
So far I have stuff to make:
Spaghetti
Chili
Tacos -ground beef
Beef Roast for slow cooker
Baked Ravioli
Pork Loin for slow cooker
Fajitas
Any other ideas of things I can make ahead of time and maybe freeze so I can just pop in the oven and be done??? Perhaps some easy chicken recipes too so there is more variety!
Thank you!!!
8 Likes
I would say like TV dinners family size !
Grilled cheese tomato soup is always easy
S.O.S
Sloppy joes
Vegetable soup in the slow cooker
Butternut squash soup and pulled pork are easy
Enchiladas, mac & cheese, breakfast burritos, muffins, shephards pie, pizza, chopped veggies & shredded cheese so at least you save some prep time.
Chicken noodle soup, shepards pie, even just cooking quick foods like hot dogs cheeseburgers especially where its grill time! Seriously takes ten minuets to grill some chicken strips and veggies.
Sausage and peppers
Cranberry chicken
White chili
BBQ ribs in the crockpot are amazing! Put them in on low late morning-like 11 or so and let them cook til 5-6! Make your own bbq sauce or buy a few bottles to cover the bottom and the top of the ribs. Then make an easy side- instant potatoes and corn or something like that. They’re so good and fall right off the bone
1 Like
Pizza , chilli dogs, sliders are so simple especially ham and cheese
This was really good when we made it.
Shepherds pie, homemade soup/stew
Any soup or stews would be great!
My go to is always frito soup! It’s the best.
Chicken Cesar wraps Sheppard pie one l like to make it is easy take Hamburg brown it up and onion diced frozen veggies mushroom soup and minute rice mix together in one pot and serve my kids call it porcupine another one homemade soup with left overs from the fridge just add to them make cabbage rolls and freeze and with left over cabbage make a soup good luck momma
There is a chicken crockpot recipe on Pinterest that my family loves. Its chicken, cream cheese, and ranch powder. I cook it all day and then make rice or potatoes to eat with it. I got a lot of recipes off there
Sloppy Joes freeze really well. Make a double batch and place in freezer bags. The sauce is ketchup, mustard, vinegar, brown sugar, onion and bell pepper with salt/pepper.
Also, meatloaf, stuffed peppers.
Cranberry chicken:
It’s chicken breasts, then one can of whole cranberry sauce, a packet of dry onion soup and a cup of French dressing.
Put it all in a crock pot and mix it. It can sit all day on low and it’s delicious!
1 Like
I made mini meatloafd, stuffed meatballs, mini lasagnas, marinaded some chicken and steaks, some mini pot pies and I did it easy on the veggies by just buying the stream bags.
Chicken and dumplings too in the crockpot! Whole chicken breasts on the bottom. A few cans of cream of chicken soup. A can of cream of celery soup. (Fill with water just as it says on a soup can and then add to it) maybe some chicken stock and salt and pepper. Let it cook all day and then drop your dumplings in an hour before it’s completely done! BOOM. Don’t forget to take some forks and shred the chicken when it’s all cooked through
2 Likes
Salsa cheese chicken
Jar of salsa and chicken breast in crock pot low for 7 hours. Add cheese until melted and serve over rice.
I made stuffed shells ahead of time and froze them in the disposable casserole dishes. Super easy to pop into the oven.
- V
1 Like
Baked spaghetti…
Lasgna…
Also I’ll just throw chicken of any kind in the crock pot on low, just smothered in BBQ sauce, Italian dressing, whatever suits you. It’ll be so tender by the time dinner comes. Easy for you or your SO to throw together in the morning.
- V
Crock pot chili is great
Hamburger helper
Soup
Sloppy Joes
Spaghetti
Pulled pork with crock pot just get a slab of bonless pork meat let cook over night by morning drain water tear apart easy with a fork and add bbq sauce
Pork butt …root beer onion and BBQ sauce… Great easy crockpot pulled pork sandwiches
1 Like
Orange chicken… Just Google easy crockpot orange chicken… Look for the one with with babyrays bbq sauce… And then do a box or two of feied rice
Chicken&dumplings
Chile… Get the can Pinto beans cook up somehamburger put in with tomato sauce and and tomato paste and Chile seasonings, maybe some nacho cheese… And chips…
Sloppy Joe
Broccoli, cheese, chicken rice casserole
Ground beef enchiladas
Chicken spaghetti with penne pasta (instead of spaghetti noodles)
U can cook boneless skinless chicken breast in the crockpot in bulk… then shred it up & divide it to make easy meals… or precook ground beef & divide it up for quick easy meal prep
I love making bbq pulled chicken in the crockpot and then do sandwiches!
1 Like
I’m not sure where you live but the stores around here sell Roccos spaghetti and lasagna, they are frozen and you just pop them in the oven for 90 minutes and they are almost as good as homemade. Keep bread lunch meats and cheese. You can also get English muffins, pizza sauce and toppings for mini pizzas and everyone can have what they want. Even hubby could do those lol
BBQ pulled pork or chicken.
Buffalo pulled chicken.
Taco soup.
Lasagna soup.
Chicken fajita soup.
Gumbo.
Chicken noodle or chicken veggie soup.
Lemon Pepper Chicken.
Chili Cheese Dog Casserole. All of these are on Pinterest and are super yummy.
Any pasta is easy to bake and then freeze for later, casseroles, also try pinterest slow cooker meals that you can freeze!
Mac & cheese
Hot dogs/ sausages
Stir fry
Tator tot casserole
Honey garlic chicken (crockpot)
Soup, canned goods, bowls of cereal grilled cheese
Cooking a whole ham is easy, its already fully smoked, so it just has to heat up, whatever you don’t eat for dinner you can slice up for sandwiches, have with eggs for breakfast, and my husband and I make ham and bean soup with the bone and last bit of meat, its easy and you can make it in the crockpot. You can get a lot of meals out of one ham
1 Like
Salsa chicken…1 or 2 lb chicken breast, jar of salsa, cook look for 7/8 hours. Shred chicken with fork. Spoon chicken over rice sprinkle with cheddar cheese.
1 Like
I used a Crock-Pot easy to throw everything in all together and let it cook
Tuna noodle casserole, chicken enchiladas, lasagna, tator tot casserole are good for freezing. This is my favorite chicken enchilada recipe… White Chicken Enchiladas - Taste and Tell
Pulled BBQ beef, pork, or chicken sandwiches is easy and good too
Tuna casserole, chicken enchiladas, meatloaf, shredded chicken and/or pork with bbq. Sloppy joes, roasts with freezer veggies, pork and Kraut with potatoes and onions (hubby will prep this for me in the morning before heading to work). Baked ziti, baked chicken Mac and cheese, lasagna, meatballs, spaghetti, beef tips with mushrooms(in the crockpot) and noodles, homemade Salisbury steaks, hubby will make fried cabbage and kailbasa, are all things I’m planning to cook ahead of time or prep for the crock pot. For post baby number two. I’ve been wanting thinking on this for a few wks now so I can start prepping and freezing things now. Also, everything will be made in crockpot with crockpot liners and in throw away pans for the oven, and I’m sure we will utilize our fair share of paper plates also for the first few weeks.
Make a ton of pancakes/waffles & freeze them
We like to do a roast we add 1 brown gravy packet, 1 ranch packet, 1 Italian dressing packet to the water slow cook for 6-8 hours add carrots potatoes or whatever else our stomachs cant handle pork so we do a beef roast but you can make it with either