Seeking Make Ahead Recipes!

I highly recommend two different websites:

recipzaar.com is a great recipe search engine (just type in king ranch and you'll get a recipe) . . .

and savingdinner.com gives you weekly menus. They even have a crock-pot menu mailer and a freezer menu mailer although most of her meals (all yummy) take 30 minutes or less to fix. (But I understand, i have the same dinnertime problem so I use my crock pot often!) I've never been much of one to cook but since becoming a SAHM I utilize both these sites!

Good luck!

Congratulations on your new baby! I know life must be very fun and full...and frazzled! I wish I could send you a personal chef (wish I had one myself), but since I can't, I hope something here is helpful.

Every week, make these items or something similar and keep in the fridge or pantry for easy access:

FOR SNACKS:
Banana nut bread or muffins
Fruit
Sliced and bagged fresh veggies/ranch or other dip
Hummus dip and wheat crackers
Yogurt
Oatmeal raisin cookies

FOR BREAKFAST:
Boiled eggs
Cereal/Grits/Oatmeal
Bagels with cream cheese
Fruit smoothies

FOR LUNCH:
Boiled eggs
Pasta salad
Chicken or tuna salad
Bagels and cream cheese
Vegetable salad

Then, to make dinner planning easy, limit your meal choices and alternate those choices through two or three weeks. You can keep the sides the same each week. Add a nice green salad to any or all! Serve a great dessert on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

MONDAY:
Week 1: Spaghetti with meat sauce; green beans; garlic toast
Week 2: Meatloaf; green beans; garlic toast
Week 3: Tacos; lettuce and tomato topping; ranch style beans

TUESDAY:
Week 1: Baked chicken or barbequed chicken; steamed broccoli; baked sweet potato
Week 2: Chicken stir-fry and rice
Week 3: Chicken fajitas; pinto beans; tomato salsa

WEDNESDAY:
Week 1: Fish tacos; cole slaw; black beans
Week 2: Salmon patties; green peas, couscous
Week 3: Grilled fish or crunchy fish sticks; steamed broccoli; baked sweet potato

THURSDAY:
Week 1: Sandwich and soup; or soup and cornbread
Week 2: Baked potato and toppings (chopped ham, broccoli, cheese, green onion, chili, etc)
Week 3: Frozen dinner

FRIDAY:
Crockpot dinner: pot roast; brisket; ham; turkey; pork tenderloin
SIDES:
Noodles; rice; mashed potatoes; sweet potato casserole; potato salad
Green beans; glazed carrots; broccoli casserole; baked beans

SATURDAY:
sandwiches from Friday's dinner; potato chips; fruit

SUNDAY:
Breakfast for Lunch or Dinner - make ahead breakfast casserole; cinnamon rolls; fruit salad OR scrambled eggs; toast; turkey bacon; OJ; OR Ham and Broccoli Quiche; fresh fruit; crescent rolls...

I hope this helps! Please PM me if you would like recipes for anything mentioned above.

Get a crock pot if you don't have one - and learn to love it!! My second child was colicky from 4 pm until 8 pm every day - we would have lived on cereal and grilled cheese if not for the crockpot and make ahead casseroles.

One of my faves is cranberry turkey breast

One whole turkey breast
one can whole berry cranberry sauce
1 pkg lipton onion soup mix

combine all in crockpot on low for 8-10 hours - serves well with a salad and bread or over rice.

With cooler weather here, my family always has some stew in the freezer that can just be heated up and served with cornbread.

To make our stew, we go the easy route. I buy canned veggies and stew meat. I brown the stew meat in a skillet. Then in a large pot or crock pot I add the stew meat and all the veggies (with the juice). We generally use: Large can of crushed tomatoes, large can Ranch Style Beans, corn, sliced carrots, green beans, peas, diced potatoes, peas, any vegetable you like. Put all the veggies and meat in a pot and heat it up until it boils lightly, then simmer for some really good stew. If you do this on the weekend, then you can cool it down and freeze it for any other day for dinner. I use those Ziplick Containers with the twist on lid. Then the day I'm going to serve it I make some fresh cornbread, which can be made earlier in the day before your 3 year old has his cranky time, and reheat that when dinner is ready.

We also get meatloaf ready ahead of time and just put it in the oven the day we are going to eat it. This can be done a couple days in advance and kept in the fridge, but any longer than that I freeze it. For our meatloaf we use Stove Top stuffing and BarBQ Sauce instead of bread crumbs and ketchup. I bake it for about an hour, depending on the size of pan, on 375. Then I make instant mashed potatoes and frozen corn to go with it - both really easy to do.

Another way to save time for dinner prep is to cook chicken on the grill over the weekend and heat it up with some veggies or a salad for dinner. You can load up that grill with chicken, steaks, hamburger patties on the weekend and either freeze or refrigerate the food until you are ready to use it.

As for crock pot ideas, we love a pot roast in the crock pot. I buy an arm roast. First thing in the morning I put in a bag of baby carrots, then the pot roast, I pour Lipton Onion Soup on the pot roast, and I add new potatoes cut into pieces. I add just enough water to cover the carrots. Cook on low all day, I usually turn it to high about an hour before serving.

Check out this blog http://crockpot365.blogspot.com. This lady has a crockpot recipe posted for everyday in 2008, we have tried the Hashbrown Casserole and are going to try Shepherd's pie. We have a bunch on our list to try, she has some really interesting ideas and gives you her family's feedback on each meal.

When in doubt, my family LOVE Stoffer's meals and casseroles. Just throw that in the oven, serve with a salad, or my kids love carrot sticks, tomatoes & broccoli with ranch.

Another suggestion, get your older two to help out with dinner. I know that sounds like more work, but involving the 3 year old may actually distract him from this "cranky" time.

Good luck and congrats on the new baby!

You do have your hands full! I work full time and have a 6 and 3 year old so I know what you're going thru!

Lasagna freezes well. We grill chicken for quesadillas and make extra so that I can make chicken enchiladas later in the week or chicken pot pie (2 deep dish pie crusts. Put 1 on the bottom of your tin, then in a bowl mix chicken, frozen veggies, a jar of alfredo sauce and whatever spices, spoon over crust then place the top crust on. Bake 350 for 1 hr. I made this 1 day ahead and put it in the fridge til I was ready to bake). We have spaghetti a lot because it's easy (that's what we're having tonight!). Or I do shrimp and pasta with an alfredo sauce cause shrimp only takes 1 or 2 mins. You can grill hamburgers on the weekend and make leftovers or also grill brauts and save those for another day in the week.

HTH!

Wow! You do have your hands full. I too have a newborn and I made a bunch of stuff up ahead of time and put it in our deep freeze..it has been a sanity and life saver!

Many soups freeze well. I made up a chicken cheese corn chowder, chicken noodle and spinach sausage. I put them in ziplock bags. I placed the bags in 2 qt juice pitchers and when they were frozen solid, I removed the bags from the pitchers and stored them in the freezer.

Baked ziti and lasagna, both do well in the freezer. The recipes I have make large batches, so I split them and got two meals out of each one.(http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baked-Ziti-I/Detail.aspx) (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Worlds-Best-Lasagna/Detail.a.... I store these in disposable pans.

I bought a variety of frozen veggies at Sam's to have on hand as side dishes. I also bought some frozen blackened Salmon from Sam's as well. It is surprisingly good for a packaged food.

I had my husband grill up a variety of meats one afternoon. Then I vacuum sealed them and froze them. They are definitely better fresh, but with this much chaos, who notices the difference really? These are easy to microwave or reheat on the stove top. I have noticed that pouring a little broth over the meat helps them reheat better, they don't get overly dried out.

Lumpia and eggrolls can also be made ahead of time and frozen. It helps to wrap them in wax paper before putting them in baggies. Fried rice, which can be served as a side or main dish, does well too. Red beans and rice does well, but make sure to add a little water when you go to reheat it.

Meatballs for spaghetti and sandwiches can be frozen too. We make our own spaghetti sauce and I have that in our freezer as well.

I tried to freeze a spinach quiche, but it didn't do well in the freezer, it got a bit grainy.

I also make up dinner rolls, garlic bread and bread bowls and froze them. You just want to bake them for about half the time, let them cool completely and then freeze. They store well in ziplock bags. When it comes time to heat them up, you can throw them in the oven frozen and cook for the remaining time.

Hope this helps!

I am the owner of Super Suppers Richardson and that's what we're here for! You can come in and make a lot of meals at once, take them home and put in the freezer for those nights you're too tired to cook. When you make the meals they are $3.50 a serving. We do all the shopping and clean up when you're finished. We also keep a freezer full of premade meals for you to pick up anytime we're open. I'd love for you to check out our website...www.ssrichardson.com
C.
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Hi, I am a Pampered Chef Consultant and we have a wonderful thing called Power Cooking. There are several recipes that you can prepare most of the way, freeze and then finish cooking in about 10-20 minutes. There is a set of recipes for beef or chicken. I would love to help you minimize your prep time and actually make diner enjoyable again!

K. Neely
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A., I have two favorites in my family that I've used for years and passed on to the next generation:

Mexican Casserole

In a deep skillet or pan
2 lbs. ground meat
1 lg. onion, chopped
Brown meat w/onion
Add:
1 can (Old ElPaso)chopped green chiles
1 can ( " ") enchilada sauce (mild)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup milk
Stir and simmer 5 or 10 mins.
1 pkg of ten or more corn tortillas
Line a 9x13 casserole with tortillas torn into bite sized pieces. Make sure bottom of pan is covered.
Pour half of meat mixture over the tortillas.
Put another layer of torn tortillas over meat mixture.
Pour remaining meat mixture over this and top with grated cheese.
Bake in 350 oven for 30 minutes.
This dish freezes well. I usually freeze leftovers in serving sizes so individuals can grab one anytime!

Tex-Mex Turkey Meatloaf

20 oz. ground turkey meat
2 slices whole grain bread crumbs
1 egg
1 can (10 oz.) Ro-tel mild tomatoes w/green chiles
1 small onion chopped OR 1/2 pkg. onion soup mix
2 tsp. chile powder
Mix and place in loaf pan
Bake in 375 degree oven for 1 hour
Drain excess drippings
Spoon over meatloaf Pace salsa, or salsa of your choice
Top with grated Mozzarella cheese
Bake 10-15 min. until cheese is melted.

I never have any leftovers with this dish. We love it!
Good luck.

Congratulations on all your little blessings! :) I am a meal planning consultant with Homemade Gourmet, and I do a few different things to help moms through dinnertime. I currently have a group coming to my house weekly to prep meals - they go home with everything in a freezer bag, add their meat and freeze or cook. If you're too busy to get away, I go to houses too - my time is free, and I can help you use the things you already have in your pantry. Also, you can search our recipe database by cooking style - like slow cooker and stew meat and see what recipes pop up. www.homemadegourmet.com/KarlaDunning I'd love to help if you'd like to try it out!
K. Dunning
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I clipped this off the soup can many years ago and have changed it up a bit. It was to be cooked in the electric skillet, but I have done it on top of the stove and in the crock pot. Recipe calls for pork chops, but I use pork steaks or something similar and have just recently made it using round steak or other beef.

6 pork chops
3 -potatoes
4-carrots
1 can tomato soup
1/2 can water
1 tsp. worcestershire
salt and pepper to taste

I use as many potatoes and mini-carrots as I want - usually enough to give everyone at least 1/2 potato and about 6 mini carrots. I also use a full can of water because we like the juice. I use about 1 tablespoon of worcestershire or maybe even a little more. I also add a couple of onions or at least one large one. Just dump everything in the crock pot and leave it to cook for 6 hours or so. Smells great, tastes even better, freezes well and goes good with cornbread on the side. USe the juice over the potatoes, that you mash up or sop up the juice with the cornbread. It is easy enough to increase the amount of meat and vegetables to fit the family, or reduce the size of the meat and vegetables.

You've had some good responses-I've taken some notes off some of them! Our favorite King Ranch recipe is at allrecipes.com: type in king ranch and sort by rating, and I think it's the top rated one: king ranch casserole 3. Another AWESOME recipe from that site is "slow cooker chicken tortilla soup"--it's so easy it's ridiculous, but tastes GREAT. My tip there is that the chicken doesn't have to be precooked (just cook longer in the crockpot), and you can substitute corn chips for the corn tortillas.
Do you have a pressure cooker? If so, I find that to be total greatness for saving time: I put in 3-5 pounds of chicken at a time, season with garlic or tonys, and cook it all in about 30 minutes. I HATE dealing with "gross" chicken (skin, bones) so the pressure cooker saves my life with that: if money is tight and I need to buy chicken with skin to save money, it'll all kinda break off or be super easy to pull off without making me gag once cooked in the pressure cooker. Then that chicken is 3-5 different meals!!! It comes out almost falling apart, so I'll do a king ranch casserole, a soup or stew, some chicken enchiladas with green sauce, BBQ chicken sandwiches, and quesadillas or a cheesy chicken and rice casserole all with that meat. It sounds weird, but I would throw all the chicken in the pressure cooker while getting my son ready for a nap. When he was sleeping, I'd throw everything together to cook one meal in the crockpot, then throw everything for a casserole to cook in the oven, and then open a box of jiffy cornbread mix (add a pinch of sugar) to serve with the soup. Now you've got tonight's dinner, and tomorrow's dinner in the oven, all at the same time. Now you've got a stovetop to make a gumbo to freeze, some rice, or veggies and you'll have a complete two or three meals before you children wake up from a nap! You could then separate the rest of the chicken into ziploc bags for other meals and either freeze or refrigerate for a headstart on the next meals you cook. Casseroles and soups/stews are great for making ahead and freezing.
Another thing: I'm not big on my children watching TV all the time, but I will not hesitate to put on a Wiggles video while cooking.

Wow, you have your hands full and I can understand you needing something tasty but fast.... Best wishes to you.

A favorite at my home is homemade marinara sauce. I make it ahead and keep it in a jar in my fridge. My 13 yr old LOVES pasta and my sauce and she helps herself to it. When I use it for my mail dish, I will make meatballs or make hot Italian sausages from Hirsch's meats to go with the dinner.

I am one who does not use the crock pot that much. I've not found the dish we love in the pot. When I make pot roast, beef stew or beef tips I make it in my large cast iron pot on top of the stove all day.

Last week I made a big batch of Brunswick stew and veggie soup. These are easy to heat up later. The stew is flavorful with a lot of chicken.

Chicken Broccoli casserole.....this is a make ahead you can have done and let it sit in the fridge a day or so. It is very flavorful with cheeses, curry and rich sauce.

If you are interested in any of the recipes I will be glad to pass them on.

Best wishes to your family!

WHen my husband and I were in grad school, nboth working full time, we were only home together two nights a week. I'd spend some time on Saturday, or break from studying, making a menu and shopping list. I would do all my shopping and preparation work on Sunday, cooking 3-5 meals that we could easily reheat and pack up if needed. It was such a great way to spend my Sunday (I love to cook). I know time constraints are different with children, but see if you can work it into your schedule. You won't regret it!

Slow cookers are the way to go, I think. I don't have a newborn but I have a hungry family. After working all day, even though my husband says I just sit on my bottom... I don't feel like cooking. Put a roast in a slow cooker, add some carrots and potatoes... You can make BBQ sandwiches out of the left over meat, beef stew... Another slow cooker one is... chicken and noodles... boil a chicken or stop at the store and get one of those rotisserie chicken, add 2-3 cans of chicken broth, or use your own, use the frozen egg noodles, put it all in the slow cooker, season up with salt and pepper and a little butter. (Don't put the whole chicken in, take meat of the bones can use all if you like a lot of chicken or little). I would start it around 1-2 PM, thicken up with a little corn starch towards the end to make it gravy like, maybe around 4ish. Just let to cook all afternoon. If you want to make mash potatoes or buy precook ones, those are good.

Good Luck, try to get some sleep too:)

Hi A.!
I make lasagna with the ragu sauce, any kind you prefer! You just brown your beef, put the sauce in to warm up while the noodles are finishing up, then layer the noodles with the sauce, cottage cheese and mozzerella! Then put in the oven until the cheese melts! Probably at about 350! Super easy and very good! I made it last night and it only took me about 45 minutes!
Hope that helps!