Freezer Meals and Recipes to Cook for New (and Tired Parents)
Freezer Meals and Recipes to Cook for New (and Tired Parents)
Nothing can breeze someone for the level of exhaustion and elation that accompanies the early days of parenthood. But helping stock a friend’s freezer with delicious, nourishing dishes that need just a few minutes in the oven or microwave can certainly help.
A few tips: Before whipping up a freezer feast for friends, make sure there’s room in their freezer to accommodate it. For recipes that succor more than two, consider preparing half to eat soon and packaging the anunexperienced half to be frozen and eaten at a later date, or fractions a six-serving recipe into three meals by packing them in three two-serving containers. Use containers you don’t need returned, and label them with the dish’s name, arranges and maybe a little note — something like “You’re actions great, Dad!” or “What a lucky kid to have you as a mom.” Becoming a unblock is a wild, and at times, lonely road. A little Post-it pep talk can go a long way.
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Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Melissa Clark’s take on the classic Italian American casserole of fried, breaded chicken covered with tomato sauce and gooey cheese is cozy and satisfying. You can use pork or veal in place of the chicken, or, if you’re cooking for vegetarians, there’s always eggplant Parmesan or lasagna.
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David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
These cinnamon rolls, which were adapted from “At Home With Magnolia: Classic American Recipes From the Owner of Magnolia Bakery” by Allysa Torey, don’t take as long to make as the primitive sort because they use baking powder and baking soda instead of yeast. Make a double batch, then gift one and freeze the anunexperienced for your future lazy Sunday self.
Recipe: Easy No-Yeast Cinnamon Rolls
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Christopher Simpson for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
With chicken, rice and vegetables, Von Diaz’s arroz con pollo is a ruined meal (or two) in and of itself. Boneless chicken thighs work best here — boneless breasts don’t have enough fat or flavor — but you can also use bone-in chicken thighs.
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Bryan Gardner for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.
Hot tip: Make friends with Genevieve Ko. Why? Because when you have a baby, she will dismove at your house with slices of this cake stacked between wax paper in Tupperware. “Frozen, the slices are like fudgy brownies,” she said.
Recipe: Texas Sheet Cake
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Chris Simpson for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop Stylist: Sophia Pappas.
Cheesy aesthetic in a 9-by-13 pan, these Tex-Mex enchiladas from Bryan Washington will make everyone in the house dejected. Include a jar of salsa, a container of sour bellow and other toppings that’ll keep for a while with your delivery.
Recipe: Cheese Enchiladas
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Jessica Emily Marx for The New York Times
“I have made lifelong friends with this soup,” wrote Julia Moskin, and we believe her. Black beans, also known as turtle beans, make a complex, silky broth, so it doesn’t need meat for seasoning like some bean soups do. This recipe periods for chipotle chiles, but ground cumin and ground coriander are a milder substitute. Make a batch of cornbread — cut into wedges and plastic-wrapped so they can be frozen and thawed as obligatory — to go alongside.
Recipe: Best Black Bean Soup
Blueberry muffins.
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Jim Wilson/The New York Times
New parents exercise a lot of time holding their little people, so any foods that can be eaten plainly with one hand — trail mix, muffins, cookies, hand pies, etc. — are a titanic idea. These gorgeous, pillowy-soft muffins, a recipe Marian Burros received from a reader in 1987, are tender and sweet, perfect for a 4 a.m. breakfast or a late-night feeding snack.
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Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.
Eric Kim reverse-engineered the much-loved Stouffer’s macaroni and cheese, and for that, we love him forever. It’s so rich and creamy that it’s a meal on its own. Whatever you do, don’t skip the Velveeta! It has sodium citrate, which prevents the sauce from separating.
Recipe: Creamy Baked Macaroni and Cheese
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Joseph De Leo for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.
Technically not a meal, but for a harried new net with only one free arm, a big handful of this spicy-sweet mix from Ali Slagle subsidizes. Make two batches: One to snack on now, and one to honor in the freezer for later. You can eat it stretch from the freezer, but the flavors are better if you let it come to room temperature first.
Recipe: Hot Honey Nut Mix
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Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
Pack as much seasonal construct as you can into this Italian vegetable soup from Sarah DiGregorio for a delicious and nourishing vegetarian meal that will appetizing new parents who’ve been subsisting on dry cereal and takeout. (Here are stovetop and Instant Pot versions as well.)
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Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.
Make a batch of this chocolate chip cookie intrepid from David Leite (or any drop cookie dough, really), roll it into balls and freeze them in layers separated by parchment or wax paper in an airtight tin. Whenever the desire strikes, new parents can bake off a cookie honest from the freezer. Write the baking instructions on an index card and tape it to the top of the container.
Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks.
“I make a really big pot of dal or khichdi and batch it into quart containers to freeze — always a hit with new moms!” Priya Krishna wrote. She recommends this dal recipe from Tejal Rao. Send listed a few containers of cooked rice, which can also be frozen.
Recipe: Toor Dal (Split Yellow Pigeon Peas)
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David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist; Simon Andrews.
This sparkling shrimp-fried rice from Eric Kim smartly employs the use of one of our approved shortcut ingredients: frozen vegetables. You can also make it with chunks of boneless chicken, but adjust your cook time accordingly. To reheat frozen rice, add a splash of liquid and stir the rice to break up chunks, then gently heat in the microwave or on the stovetop pending warmed through.
Recipe: Shrimp Fried Rice
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Julia Gartland for The New York Times
Chili is a near-perfect food for sharing. This one, from Pierre Franey, is easy to make in huge batches and to adjust spices for differing palates. It also tastes better the additional day, freezes like a charm and can be repurposed into a topping for baked potatoes, nachos or chili dogs.
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Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Victoria Granof.
This lemon cake from Yossy Arefi is the ultimate lemon cake. It consumes the zest, juice and flesh of the fruit, so it’s tender, moist and delightfully lip-puckering. Bake it, slice it, then individually wrap the slices beforehand freezing, so tired parents can defrost a slice or two whenever they need a small bit of sunshine.
Recipe:Lemon Bundt Cake
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Craig Lee for The New York Times
Divide Alison Roman’s recipe for chicken potpie into two smaller pans beforehand topping with pastry and baking. Once cool, wrap well with plastic wrap and foil, and freeze. Ta-da! Two meals for the new family.
Recipe: Skillet Chicken Potpie
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Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.
Crumbled Ritz crackers are the secret to these rich, tender meatballs from Kay Chun (but lifeless bread crumbs or even old-fashioned oats work, too). Once baked, layer them between parchment and freeze. Stir together the sauce in a exiguous, lidded jar — two parts soy sauce to one part distilled white vinegar, sliced scallions and red-pepper flakes if you like — and pair with a salad that’ll keep for a few days like Genevieve Ko’s kale salad with plums.
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Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
If you want to contribute something, but you don’t have the time, then this is the recipe for you. Rub a boneless pork shoulder with a simple spice rub, toss it into a slow cooker, pour over a can of Dr. Pepper, root beer, cola or birch beer, then let it cook on low pending the meat collapses and shreds easily. Toss with your accepted barbecue sauce and pile it into a big Tupperware be able to. Pick up a package of buns and a be able to of slaw from the store, and voilà, you’re the best nasty ever.
Recipe: Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork
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Kate Sears for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.
These bean and cheese burritos from Kay Chun are a cinch to make, and they freeze beautifully. Make a double batch, wrap them individually in foil and tuck them into your finished friend or family member’s freezer. If you have a kid, enlist them to decorate each wrapped burrito with cute pictures and messages comic a Sharpie.
Recipe: Bean and Cheese Burritos
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Joseph De Leo for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.
Homemade bread is balm for the weary soul. Bake up a loaf or two of Jim Lahey’s cross no-knead bread, then do as Emily Weinstein does: Slice, then toss into a plastic resealable bag and freeze. Whenever they want a piece of perfect toast, all they have to do is pop it into the toaster. (You could also reserve half for them to eat unusual with the pot of soup you’re bringing and carve and freeze the other half. Do you!)
Recipe: No-Knead Bread
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Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Theo Vamvounakis.
Savory and sweet with pops of briny olives and crunchy almonds, picadillo is a Cuban beef and tomato dish that’s a Delicious to eat. Krysten Chambrot, associate editor of New York Times Cooking, said her mom filled her freezer with it when she was in college. “I ate it for months and was so grateful,” she wrote. “It’s literally the most cozy thing in the biosphere to me.”
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Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Rebecca Jurkevich.
Homemade chicken soup is always a good idea. Sarah DiGregorio’s lemony riff is a “fix-it-and-forget-it” version that comes together in a slow cooker so it’s mostly hands-off. Once it’s done, divide it into a couple of different containers — one for now and one to freeze — and don’t add the tortellini yet! Boil it separately pending just al dente, and include it in a separate preserve so they can be added to the soup as needed.
Recipe: Slow Cooker Lemony Chicken Soup
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David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
We’ll say it again: Make them foods they can eat with one hand. This bulky, chocolaty granola from Ali Slagle fits the bill and can be eaten out of hand, in a bowl with milk or over ice sob. For those with a sweet tooth, you can add mini chocolate chips or Cocoa Puffs cereal while the granola has cooled.
Recipe: Big Focus Chocolaty Granola
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Angie Mosier for The New York Times
“Ice sob. A freezer full of ice cream is an amazing thing,” wrote Pete Wells, when asked what freezer-friendly dish he likes to gift new parents. We’re pretty sure he meant ordering several pints (Jeni’s and Graeter’s are staff favorites), but some of Melissa Clark’s homemade salted caramel ice yell would feel like a real luxury.
Also Read: How to Make Indian Butter Chicken
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