13 October 2010

in which i disappear~

What can I say?  I'm busy.  But as I hopped over here today I realized how woefully out of date things are.  So....I have (loosely held) hopes to clean things up a bit and post a little in the near future.  Geez, I still haven't even finished the Preparing for Baby posts but I think all I really have left is cleaning part.

Anyway...see you soon?  (ish)

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in which i disappear~

25 June 2010

preparing for baby
part 5
stocking the freezer and easy meals~




~for previous posts in the series, click on the banner  :)

There is no way that I had an evening to myself on Wednesday and enjoyed sitting outside at Panera working on this post for over an hour only to have the computer freeze up on me and lose the entire thing.  Stuff like that never happens to me; just in case you were wondering.

eh~


It is without question that having meals on hand after the birth of a baby are tremendously helpful.  It is equally helpful to have things on hand to make creating those meals easy.  Multiple births have taught me that the time and energy invested are most definitely worth it.


I like to stock my freezer with a lot of meals.  Around 34-36 weeks, or whenever I am mostly done with the other preparations (except cleaning) I plan what I want to make for my freezer.  I sit down and make a list of meals my family enjoys that are freezer friendly.  I plan a cooking day (usually a Saturday for me) and figure out how much I can reasonably accomplish in one day.  I make a list of what I will need from the store, (don't forget disposable ziploc bags and foil pans!) and do my shopping a couple of days in advance.  


Ideally you will be able to get a lot of prep work done before your cooking day (chicken cooked/shredded, meat browned, veggies chopped, etc.) but if you can't then just plan it into your day.  No worries.


I wish I could give you some really great tips on freezer cooking. Sadly, that is not really my area of expertise.  I just get it done.  I try and be as efficient as possible, but it's really just been trial and error.  Every time I do it it gets easier.  And this is something I actually try and do at least a couple of times of year, even when I'm not pregnant.  It's just really helpful.  Some really resourceful and impressive people do it on an ongoing basis, always doubling or tripling recipes and sticking the extras in the freezer.  Hopefully I'll be that impressive one day, but for now this works for me.  I can't really get my brain around adding anything else to my life right now.  :)


While I mainly just use my own recipes that I've gathered from all over the place, one book in particular that helped me a lot the first few times I did it was Don't Panic - Dinner's In the Freezer.  I really only used a handful of the recipes (though there were a lot that sounded promising) and tweaked them to my liking.  But reading about the process was really helpful.  


And if the idea of big cooking day  makes you panic is a bit overwhelming, just having some things in your freezer to simplify meal making is really handy.  If I were only going to do some very basic freezer preparations I would have pre-cooked, shredded chicken in ziploc bags (Dear Costco, I love you.), browned hamburger and onion pre-measured into ziploc bags of approximately 1lb each, and various chopped, frozen veggies.  I would also have some frozen fruit since we like to make a lot of smoothies.  Just having these basic things will enable you to throw together quite a few meals quickly.  Even more so if you have dry ingredient mixes already prepared for things like chicken pot pie, casseroles, etc. and broth on hand to put together soups, stews, or chili.


(To get a glimpse of what the end of my pregnancy and some of the freezer prep I did with Grace, read here.  You have to scroll down a bit to get past the pregnancy update but down a ways is a good picture of what life looks like around here toward the end of my pregnancies.)


Here is a list of what I made before I had Grace just to give you some ideas.  If you click on recipes, it will take you to some of these.



6 meatloaves (yep, with hidden zucchini again...shhh)
4 chicken casseroles
3 sesame chicken
3 chicken enchiladas
2 bags chicken in raspberry walnut vinagarette  (edit: won't use this again, it was not good as a marinade!)
2 bags chicken in some other marinade I can't remember :o)
4 bags beef brisket
15lbs browned hamburger with onions
10c. cooked, shredded chicken
some hot dogs and beef smoked sausage for easy, fast meals (i know, i know...yuck. but i have kids, people. kids)
turkey bacon & turkey sausage

several bags frozen chicken tenderloins
we still have a huge amount of beef from the cow we split with my dad
a ridiculous amount of frozen veggies
a stack of pizzas and gluten free pizza crusts
frozen waffles & french toast sticks
whole rotesserie chickens in freezer ready to be thawed and reheated; which they do beautifully


Next time I will probably make some of the same stuff and also some different things.  Some other ideas and meals I made in my first trimester (which we ate during the fall and winter months) were:


cheesy chicken vermicelli
chicken & rice soup
white chicken chili
chicken casserole
chicken tenderloins frozen in egg to make homemade chicken tenders quickly
chicken pot pie
lentil soup
tortilla soup






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It is also nice to make a list of fairly easy to make meals to be able to reference when you just can't seem to think of anything to make.  Meal planning is really great, and I would love to do it more often, but truthfully, I don't do it nearly as often as I could.  Okay, okay.  I rarely do it.  I generally have an idea in my head of what I might possibly make, but I am not a meal planner on a regular basis.  So it is helpful for me to keep a list on hand (I tape it inside one of my cabinets) of  meals I can usually put together from things in my pantry and freezer.  

These are a few of the meals that are pretty easy around here.  Usually.

spaghetti 
tacos 
sloppy joes
chili
(these are considered easy since I keep browned beef in the freezer)

anything grilled - fish, burgers, grilled chicken
baked potatos with various toppings
breakfast food 
rice with creamed chicken and veggies
roast

and obviously anything I can pull out of the freezer, already made  :)



What foods and meals do you  like to have on hand?



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19 June 2010

preparing for baby
part 4
pantry items~




Find Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of the Preparing for Baby Series here

So we've covered first trimester preparation, baby stuff, and non food items.  Next comes the tricky part.  Pantry items.  Again, you'll want to take into consideration your budget, storage space, and your family's needs and habits.  This is where your list could vary greatly from mine.  The point is that you will want to figure out what non-perishable/staple food items your family uses on a regular basis and how much of a stockpile you want to have on hand.  

Now, we like to have some food stockpiled anyway, so it just made sense to add some to it.  Like before, I was aiming for an approximate six month stockpile.  And like before, on some things I overestimated  :)   That worked out okay since we like to keep food on hand (our power goes out frequently; three times in the last two weeks, in fact!)

Since I tend to have my babies pretty early (no haters, I did have a 15 day late baby!) I like to have everything done by 38 weeks at the latest.  This includes everything previously mentioned, and also my house completely clean and in order.  I save the cleaning for last (since with seven kids it's not like it's actually going to stay that way for long.)  I also like to take the cleaning kind of slow (seeing as how 9 1/2 babies inside a 5'2" body don't lend themselves to cleaningly quickly, easily, or comfortably) so some of it overlaps with the other stuff, but I'll get to that eventually.  Hopefully. (This is taking more work than I anticipated.)

Back to the point.  Between 30 and 32 weeks I like to get the non-food items stocked up.  Then around 32-34 weeks I like to get the pantry items stocked up.  It's not like the timetable is set in stone, it just kind of gets me organized and gives me a general goal to aim for.

First, you will want to go through your cupboards and make a list of all the non-perishable food items you use regularly.  Figure out how much you want to have on hand (taking into account that if you prefer  tutorrosso crushed tomatos with basil that are typically on the bottom shelf and shoved behind the regular tomatos your husband will probably not have the patience to find them and will come home with regular diced tomatos instead.  Not that my husband would ever do anything like that.  But still, you should consider it.  Ha ha)  And make your list accordingly.  Do make sure you pay attention to expiration dates if you are aiming long term so that you don't end up with expired pretzels and have an internal dilemma over whether or not it's acceptable to give them to the church pantry since you did eat some and they taste fine.  But still.  (Don't worry, I didn't give them to the church pantry.)

To give you some ideas, this is what my list with Grace looked like:

*premixed cornbread bags (my husband has celiac and therefore I have to make things with alternative flours.   The cornbread we make is a combination of several different things, so I mix all the dry ingredients up and store them in quart ziplocs so when we want cornbread we just grab a bag, add the wet ingredients, and bake.  Otherwise, I would never get around to making cornbread.  Which he loves.  Sorry, that was a long paragraph.)
*premixed chicken pot pie topping bags (re-read above description)
*premixed biscuit mix (same thing.  Are you observing a pattern?  If you frequently bake things that require multiple dry ingredients, it is super helpful to mix large batches and store them in grab and go bags.  I do this regularly, otherwise I would never bake anything.  I already said that, sorry.)
*24 jars spaghetti sauce
*48 boxes of gluten free spaghetti (We use two at a time, we eat spaghetti approximately once a week, therefore to have around six months' supply I needed 48.)
*taco shells
*tortilla chips
*taco seasoning mix
*sugar
*salt/pepper
*flour/baking powder/etc.
*baking soda
*6 bottles of ketchup
*24 bags of pretzels
*6 boxes of tea bags
*bacon bits  (baked potatos are an easy, quick, and filling meal)
*12 large cans fruit cocktail (its a lot cheaper to buy in #10 cans and I just rinse it really well)
*96 cans of corn (we've since switched to mostly frozen vegetables, so next time I will be stocking up on those instead.  We do have an extra freezer which I would highly suggest getting if you are able.  We got ours on craigslist.  But it's still a good idea to keep canned foods on hand as well in case of power outages.)
*48 cans of peas
*24 cans of carrots
*12 cans petite cut diced tomatos
*12 cans each black, pinto, and kidney beans
*tomato basil soup ingredients
*96 cans baked beans
*chocolate chips
*granola bars
*baking m&ms
*24 containers of peanuts
*icing
*bbq sauce
*various other salad dressings, marinades, etc. that I might use 
*popcorn and paper bags (we pop regular popcorn in brown paper bags)
*a ridiculous amount of cereal
*an equally ridiculous amount of oatmeal
*2, 25lb bags of rice
*12 jars peanut butter
*2-3 jars of honey
*we get canned jelly from my grandparents, but you'll want this too if you eat a lot of jelly)
*tamari sauce (gf soy sauce)
*vinegars/cooking wine/etc.
*spices
*garlic
*you get the point

This was my basic list.  I'm sure I thought of other things while I was at the store.  Costco was great for quite a few of these things.  I also use Amazon quite a bit for some of this stuff.

Up next, stocking the freezer...


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18 June 2010

preparing for baby
part 3
non food items~






Click on the banner to read all of the Preparing For Baby Series


When I was expecting my first baby I was working full time.  I continued to do that until the day before she was born.  My preparations looked like any first time mother's.  I registered, had a couple of baby showers, got the room ready, and that was about it.  It never occured to me to do much else...  

Until the night before she was born.  I (ignorantly) decided to be induced for no good reason other than impatience, so I knew the next day was the day.  I rushed around like a crazy lady trying to get everything clean.  There wasn't really a whole lot I needed to do since it was just Glen and myself at home, but I did want to have everything nice, clean, and in order.  (Which ended up coming in handy since I couldn't walk for two weeks.  But that's a different story...)   It didn't occur to me to have meals prepared or extra supplies on hand.  Now, with a first baby (and possibly even a second) it wasn't a huge deal to not have much prepared or stocked up, but once you hit that third baby, it is quite advantageous to put a little forethought into baby preparation.

So I approach baby preparation with these things in mind:

*not having to get my husband to have to pick up anything other than perishables in the days following the   birth
*having enough paper products and non perishables food items on hand to last for awhile to make shopping trips with an infant as infrequent and quick as possible
*having some meals in the freezer for those days
*having supplies and ingredients for quick meals on hand
*having the clothes organized, bedding ready, and house cleaned

I am an intense nester.  After that intial first trimester cooking spree, it kicks in again around week 18 when we find out the gender (earlier in the case of Grace.)  Once I know boy or girl the clothes are out, washed and folded by 20 weeks. Seriously.  With Grace, since I found out way early, I think I had clothes out by like 16 weeks.  But that's my OCD shining through.  I don't think that's normal.  I have friends that can be overdue and say things like, "I guess I should get some clothes out of the attic,"  or  (cannot imagine in a million years) don't even find out what they're having!  I feel faint even thinking about it  :)

Anyway, the first things I begin to stock up on are paper goods and other non-food items.  I do this starting around 30 weeks or so.  I usually spread it out over a few weeks of shopping and often will get coupons from the coupon clippers. Over the years, and as my family has grown, my goals for quantity have changed.  You will need to think about your budget, your habits, how much you like shopping (considering that you will have an infant in tow and possibly other children), distance from the store, and storage space.  With Grace I wanted to have a stockpile of non food items to last six months.  That is probably quite a bit more than most people will want to have, but for me it was great.  

This is my preparing for baby checklist #1~

Baby~
*newborn diapers
*size 1 diapers
*diapers for other children
*diaper cream/baby powder
*baby wipes
*baby lotion
*infant gas drops
*infant tylenol & motrin
*pacifiers
*bottles if needed
*lansinoh - if you are nursing, you will want this.  Trust me.
*nursing pads possibly

Personal Care/Household~
*shampoo/conditioner
*soap/body wash
*hand soap and lotion
*toothpaste and toothbrushes
*razor blades/shaving cream
*any medicines you use on a regular basis 
(non prescription, if you can get prescription meds in advance that's great, too)
*laundry detergent/fabric softener
*stain remover
*deodarant
*feminine products
*toilet paper
*bathroom trash bags

Kitchen~
*paper towels
*napkins
*paper plates
*kitchen trash bags
*sandwich bags
*freezer bags (quart and gallon)
*dishwashing detergent
*dishwasher detergent


That's it.  I kind of miscalculated with Grace.  She was the first one that I aimed for a six month stockpile.  I ended up with almost a year's worth of supplies in some things!  Next time, I don't think I'll be quite as ambitious in my quantities, but nevertheless it came in handy!


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preparing for baby...misc

tea tree, baking soda, etc.
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"How can it be a large career to tell other people’s children about arithmetic, and a small career to tell one’s own children about the universe? How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone, and narrow to be everything to someone? No; a woman’s function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it is minute. I will pity Mrs. Jones for the hugeness of her task; I will never pity her for its smallness." ~GK Chesterton

2012 November

2012 November