New Babies and the Freezer Solution

No, I do not recommend freezing your baby.  I don't even recommend letting them get chilly - babies like snuggly warm socks and blankets.

I do, however, strongly recommend freezing vast amounts of food before a baby arrives.  Whether you make it all yourself, or you have an army of fabulously helpful friends and family to stock a freezer, it is a marvellous idea to stash away as many pre-prepared meals as possible.

I froze a fair amount of food while pregnant with Tabitha - maybe a good month's worth of meals - however this time, I knew I needed to pull out the Big Guns.  Not only would there be a new baby, requiring hours of cuddling and feeding, but Tabitha would still need plenty of stories and play time.  I knew that the time leading up to dinner (say, 5-7pm) would be the most frantic and difficult, and being able to pull an instant dinner out of the freezer would be a blessing.

My lofty aim was to have a full three months' worth of frozen dinners.  That is, a minimum of 90 meals (each enough for the three of us food eaters).  Did I do it?  Oh yes, I did!

Step One was securing the freezer space.  We have a reasonable sized freezer, but there was no way it could hold this much food.  I thought about distributing the meals between the freezers of a few friends and family but a) this was a bit of a logistical headache and b) I would still struggle to get enough room.

Ultimately, we decided to purchase a stand-alone freezer.  My research suggested that a chest style freezer would be best (cheaper and more energy efficient) however The Daddy felt that a chest freezer would be a giant pain, leading to UFOs (unidentified frozen objects) lurking deep at the bottom, covered in ice.  Whereas an upright freezer allows easy access, and with drawers or shelves, you can segment foods into vague categories (helpful when keeping tabs on what you have left).

We shopped around a fair bit (didn't need anything fancy, as it lives in the garage, but also wanted something vaguely decent, as I've heard too many horror stories involving freezers dying suddenly, hundreds of dollars' worth of food lost, and shonky warranty repairs).  We went with this one - a Fisher and Paykel 389 litre freezer.  It's been great!  You could also look int renting one for a few months, or possibly borrowing one - you'd be surprised how many people have an empty chest freezer in the garage, particularly empty-nester types.

One point - once the freezer is full of your precious food, representing hours of cooking, shopping, planning, and possibly hundreds of dollars of food, it would be a tragic disaster to loose the lot due to a freezer power failure.  How can I be so sure?  Alas, I have experienced this nightmare firsthand, during the Great Freezer Disaster of late 2012.  While moving around some heavy furniture in the garage, The Daddy knocked open the freezer door and it did not close properly.  I didn't discover this for a while (at least 24 hours, possibly more), by which point the top 1/3 of the freezer was defrosted (cold air drops, so the bottom part of the freezer survives power outages and door openings the best.)

I screamed, I sobbed, I blamed (I was 8 months pregnant and very hormonal).  Quickly, I pulled myself together and was admirably pragmatic, in my opinion.  I retrieved my Thermapen instant read thermometer (don't have one?  Put it on your Christmas list) and was able to quickly ascertain the temperatures of all the items in the freezer.  In case this happens to you, here is what you can do:  

• Anything that remains frozen (less than 0 degrees, or with a nice coating of icy frost all over it) can stay in the freezer.  
• Anything that has risen above 6 degrees (for more than a few hours) should be tossed - although The Daddy ate a whole bunch of chicken curries that has been sitting at 14 degrees, and he didn't get sick!  I personally would not, though.
• Anything sitting in the 'refrigerator zone' of 1-6 degrees, you can either re-freeze (depending on who you listen to, but there are certainly official health bodies out there who say you can) making sure you heat thoroughly when you do eat them, or you can transfer to the refrigerator and cook as soon as possible.  In the case of raw plain or marinated meats, you can safely cook them, then re-freeze.

My Thermapen allowed me to get an instant, accurate core temperature for all of the items, very quickly, which was great as it meant I didn't have to pull all the items out, poke them, examine them, and generally melt them even more.

Instead of using the above information, however, I recommend preventing freezer failure in the first place.  Clever, aren't I?!  How do you do this?  Duct tape the power point and the plug, so that they cannot accidentally be knocked out.  Also, check if your freezer tends to swing closed automatically.  If not, like mine, you need to be really vigilant about giving it a good press each time you close the door.  Also - a partially empty freezer will loose its coolness very quickly (e.g. in case of blackout etc).  So it's a good idea to fill the freezer with big bags of ice or similar, which will help keep your foods cool in case of a disaster.

What containers should you freeze 90+ meals in?  Not Tupperware, that's for sure - unless you are far wealthier than I.  I am a big Tupperware fan, but that many freezer containers would send a small nation bankrupt.  You could buy cheaper versions (which I don't find as good) or do as I did, and use a combination of snap-lock bags and bulk-purchased takeaway containers (which can be washed and reused a few times, and are Dirt Cheap from places like Lombard).

Snap lock bags are particularly great for marinating meats.  I lined up rows of bags filled with chicken drumsticks or pork fillets, dolled out the marinade ingredients into each bag, sealed up (squeezing out the air) and massaged with my hands, before laying in the freezer.

So, here is the big question - what was in my freezer?  Here goes (when I say 'meal' I mean that it contains enough for myself, The Daddy and Tabitha):

• 5 x bag of 10 marinated South African drumsticks (a Nigella recipe)
• 6 x Char Sui style marinated pork fillets
• 6 meals of paprika chicken, and 6 containers of frozen spaetzle
• 8 meals of homemade sausage rolls (using free range pork mince and lots of grated veggies)
• 6 meals of chicken satay, plus 6 packets of frozen satay sauce
• 6 meals of tuna and veggie pasta bake (12+ truly enormous serves)
• 4 meals of veggie lasagne
• 6 meals of meat lasagne (also half a dozen sticks of homemade garlic bread)
• 5 Thai green curries
• 5 meals of diced chicken thighs, with enough homemade teriyaki sauce in a jar in the fridge
• 5 meals of Thai chicken patties
• 2 meals of Moroccan lamb curry
• 2 meals of lamb veggie curry
• 2 meals of minestrone soup
• 4 meals of roast pumpkin and cumin soup
• 2 meals of chicken Kiev
• 2 spanokopita (with spinach and pumpkin)
• 4 family sized pies (chicken and veggie, steak and mushroom and beef pastie - these were purchased, from Rolf's Pies)
• 4 meals of crab croquettes (purchased from Suzuran Japanese grocery store)
• 6 packets of 100g homemade frozen pesto
• 6 meals of chicken Provençal

The above came to 96 meals, each providing plenty for the 3 of us.  This is what was in the freezer (garage, our indoor freezer and some stashed in my parents' freezer).  

Where possible, I added loads of veggies to the frozen meals (for example, double veggies in the curries, lots of grated veggies in the sausage rolls) so that we could get away with not cooking separate veggies for many of the meals.

Sometimes, we needed to cook some rice or pasta, or add some extra veggies or salad, but many of the meals were perfect without any additions.

In addition, I had:

• Frozen peas and corn, raspberries and blueberries, and bananas (for smoothies - I drank loads of banana/blueberry/yoghurt/oats/LSA smoothies in the early weeks);
• Dozens of date scones, and plain buttermilk scones.  Cook until just beginning to brown, then reheat directly from frozen in a 180 degree oven.  Again, great for quick snacks or when people were visiting;
• A few whole, unbaked apple pies;
• 200 balls of frozen chocolate chip cookie dough (14 minutes in a 180 degree oven from frozen);
• Around 50 small dark chocolate walnut brownies;
• Several slices of cheesecake, which freezes brilliantly, defrosting with no discernible decline in condition in just a couple of hours on the bench.

With the baked goods (brownies, cakes, cheesecakes), I recommend wrapping them really well to prevent freezer burn - two tight layers of clingfilm, and a layer of aluminium foil.  They should keep just fine for a good month or so.

I also stashed away several large bags of scallop dumplings, prawn dumplings and pork steamed buns from an Asian grocery store.  These made a nice quick lunch on several occasions.

I made around 70 per cent of the food myself, with the rest contributed by friends and my dad.  You can also buy 'nearly' homemade instant meals at many markets, and there are many small retailers specialising in homemade type instant meals - some even deliver!

I personally think that a freezer-stocking would make an excellent baby shower / Blessingway idea.  Many women have a baby shower for the pure joy of getting together with their friends before the baby arrives - but so many of us don't need the gifts.  How about throwing a shower for a pregnant friend and asking the guests to bring a homemade frozen meal instead?  You could easily put together a full month's worth of dinners this way - what a spectacular gift for a new family, a month of wholesome, healthy dinners without having to cook!

If the mother-to-be lacks freezer space, you could spread the meals between a few people, and arrange a weekly drop-off.  Or you could all put in to rent a freezer for a month or so.  If the mother has special dietary concerns (gluten free, vegetarian, an intense dislike of meat / fruit combinations...) then you could even provide some recipe ideas that the mother might like if the guests are into cooking?

One final note - after the baby's arrival, you may well find that you actually feel like cooking - particularly if your partner has some leave, you may in fact have more free time to cook than ever before.  Very well.  Use this time to continue stocking the freezer - I did several great big batch cooks while The Daddy was home after Zach's arrival, and even though Zach is now 5 months old, we still have a nice full freezer!


What else should I have stashed in the freezer?  What are your favourite meals to freeze?