Pittsburgh Nesties
Anne22202
member
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Freezer Meals/Home Routines
Me again! 
I am thinking of doing a massive freezer meal food prep before I go back to work. What are your favorite meals to prepare ahead?
Also - I am trying to figure out how to stay organized with the house once I am back to work. Any tips for routines - one room a night, one person's laundry a day? I fully admit I get overwhelmed with this staying home. Oh boy.
I am thinking of doing a massive freezer meal food prep before I go back to work. What are your favorite meals to prepare ahead?
Also - I am trying to figure out how to stay organized with the house once I am back to work. Any tips for routines - one room a night, one person's laundry a day? I fully admit I get overwhelmed with this staying home. Oh boy.
Re: Freezer Meals/Home Routines
Meals that I've found freeze well: lasagna (don't bake beforehand, just prep and freeze), chili, crockpot salsa chicken. I'm sure there are more, I'm just blanking. I find that things with pasta (like a baked ziti) don't really freeze well, but you can easily prep them ahead of time and store them in the fridge overnight. sometimes I make a casserole or dish like that on sunday, then pop it in the oven on Monday after work to cook it. Also, I finally got smart and started to buy the larger packs of ground beef when they're on sale then I brown 2 lbs of it at a time. I will usually use one of the pounds right away, then I freeze the other pound. it makes for an easy taco night if you have little time after work to prep much
as far as laundry and household stuff, I still don't have a great system! Full disclosure: I have a cleaning lady who comes every other week and that of course helps tremendously! But the in between things (like still doing the bathrooms and vacuuming) i don't have a good system, I just kind of do when I can.
I've found that I can stay on top of laundry pretty well if I do one load on Wednesday after work. So on Tuesday night, I'll sort the laundry and put in a load into the washer, add the detergent and have it ready to go so that when I come in the house on Wednesday after work, all I have to do is push start. our laundry is in our basement and we watch TV in the gameroom down there at night, so I fold that load while watching TV. Then I usually do another 3 or 4 loads on the weekends, depending on the sheets and towels situation, and make an attempt to put it all away on Sunday. Notice I said attempt. Many times, I'm digging through a laundry basket for clean socks days after the load has been washed
Jake - 1.15.08
Liam - 5.17.11
Split Chicken Breasts--I bought a bunch of these on super sale at Shop n Save. Then I mixed up 3-4 different marinades, and froze them in ziplock bags with the marinade. Then all we had to do was pull out of the freezer, thaw (usually overnight) and bake the next day. So easy.
Chicken and biscuits--I made the filling and froze it, then I either whipped up the biscuits the day of or just used pillsbury
Wedding soup- made the soup minus the noodles and froze. Then just thawed the day before heat up and added the noodles (I usually use ww couscous). I also added more broth if necessary.
Stuffed shells (I feel this is a give for freezer cooking)
Pot roast bags-Seasoned beef or pork roast in a ziplock along with another ziplock with carrots, onions, etc. stored together. Dump into crockpot in the morning and add potatoes (or not). Ready when you get home.
Chicken fried rice freezes surprisingly well.
Chili (another given)
You get chicken that falls off the bone and shreds easily. Its well cooked and tender and ready to add flavor and use as a base for other things: tacos, throw it in a skillet with some other things you like, put a sauce on it, chicken salad, lunch meat, etc.
If you separate the fat from the liquid left in the crockpot you will have a nice chicken stock.
Meatballs
Cooked, shredded chicken – for stir-fry, soups, tacos, quesadillas
Meat sauce
Chicken Spaghetti (this freezes pretty well despite the noodles as long as they aren’t overcooked)
Soup – vegetable, chick pea, sweet potato, tomato, tortilla, etc
I’ve also found brands of chicken tenders and fish sticks that my kids like, and that don’t have a lot of crap in them. So I keep them in the freezer, along with frozen tortellini, ravioli, peas, corn and sweet potato fries.
As for house stuff, we have someone who cleans for us once a month. I will wipe down the kitchen as needed and vacuum after a mess, but most of my focus is on keeping things straightened up, laundry and dishes. I try to do at least a couple loads of laundry during the week to keep from getting too far behind. I often fail at putting the clean things away. :-)