Hey Ladies!
I know I haven't been around much. Shortly after we found out we were expecting, life went extremely sideways, and simply existing from one day to the next became a Herculean challenge. I know I mentioned my H had a very serious accident at work in early September (we are STILL dealing with that as the fractured area hasn't healed properly). That was followed by my 13 year old going through a host of intense mental health issues that resulted in 3 separate hospitalizations (the longest being 10 days). It's truly been the longest and most difficult 6 months of my life.
Things are a tiny bit calmer now, even if it's only temporary, and we are 2 weeks out from Baby Day! Because I have GD the OB probably won't let me go past 40 weeks, so we are anticipating either an induction or a c-section around May 1 (baby keeps flipping from head-down to breech, so who knows).
I'm trying to get as prepared as possible, because H has to go for a fairly serious surgery basically immediately after the baby is born (his surgeon is literally calling him May 2 to book it). I've made and frozen some meals, and stocked up on things like frozen lasagna, because he's going to be bed-ridden for probably a week, and after that there is a long recovery period in which he will only have proper use of one arm (the surgery is a bone graft, hip to left forearm, so his helpfulness to me with a newborn will be extremely limited for some time).
Do you guys have any favorite freezer or even "dump meals" (freeze all the ingredients together and then dump in crock pot). I made some from Pinterest once and I was kind of underwhelmed, so I am interested in what people have tried and liked. So far I have things like pulled pork, shepherds pie, soups, and a couple of beef roasts. I just feel like I am drawing a blank and I don't want to spend a bunch of $$ making meals that won't taste good. I have officially started maternity leave, so now that I don't have to work full time, I want to double down on my efforts to make life easier for future-me. Even if you just have a secret for freezing rice or potatoes really well (seriously? Is there a way?) lay it on me. I don't even need full recipes, just things you know freeze and reheat nicely. Desserts too, because we will probably have quite a bit of company. I've made and frozen a couple of pound cakes that I can at least pull out if people stop by for coffee. My chickens are laying lots of eggs, so things that use up those are extra points, LOL.
Thanks so much for any advice or tips!
ETA some missed punctuation LOL