Postpartum Freezer Prep Recipes

I’ve been meaning to write some more personal posts about pregnancy ending, anticipating the new baby and all those emotions, but instead, I’ve been letting myself take some naps and crying while making videos like this 🤣

But I’ve also been doing a TON of prep for the baby around the house, including stocking our freezer with some meals. As you may remember, I prepped some meals last pregnancy but it was winter then, and I knew I wouldn’t want things like beef stew and chili in the middle of summer.

So I’ve made 2 breakfast recipes, I froze leftover pork ragu so we just have to defrost the cubes when we want to eat it, and I prepped 4 huge trays of dinners - and all of the recipes are below!!

To optimize my time as much as possible, I made the first 2 recipes in the same morning which allowed me to cook 2 pounds of sausage and 1 pound of ground beef all together. Once that was cooked, I used 1/3 of the mixture in the lasagna and the rest was split between the 2 ziti trays. If you don’t want to make them both, you don’t have to - but this made it all very easy and fast.

I also bought aluminum pans from the grocery store so I could easily stack them and also not worry about running out of baking dishes OR cleaning them afterwards. Mine were around 9x13.

1 lb of meat (can be Italian sausage, ground beef, ground turkey, etc)
about 55oz of pre-made tomato sauce (I used a Costco size jar and regular size jar)
2 (20 oz) bags of ravioli
2 zucchini, thinly sliced (I like to use a mandolin)
2 cups mozzarella cheese
parmesan cheese (optional)

1. Cook the meat. If you are making ziti at the same time, you can cook 3 pounds of whatever mix of meats you want. If not, just cook 1 pound of your favorite.

2. Add a thin layer of tomato sauce to the bottom of an aluminum pan.

3. Layer ravioli, meat, thin slices of zucchini, and cheese. I sprinkled both shredded mozzarella and grated parmesan, but you could skip the parm if you want.

4. Repeat with more sauce, ravioli, meat, zucchini, and cheese until you run out of ravioli and meat (or you’ve used 1/3 of the meat if you prepped for ziti). Sauce should be your last layer, followed by cheese.

5. Write “Ravioli Lasagna” and the date on a piece of foil and cover the top. Wrap in saran wrap and put in the freezer.

6. To bake from frozen, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove saran wrap and foil and replace with a fresh piece of foil. Bake for 1 hour, uncover and continue cooking for another 15+ minutes until the cheese is melty and the middle is warm.

2 lb pasta
2 lb of meat (can be Italian sausage, ground beef, ground turkey, etc)
about 32-55 oz of pre-made tomato sauce (depending on how saucy you want it)
1-2 zucchini, finely chopped (optional)
1-2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
parmesan cheese (optional)

1. Cook pasta to al dente.

2. Cook the meat. If you are making lasagna at the same time, you can cook 3 pounds of whatever mix of meats you want. If not, just cook 2 pound of your favorites.

3. Drain pasta and add at least 32 oz of sauce.

4. If you are adding zucchini, chop into small pieces and add to the pasta. Stir thoroughly.

5. Split the mixture between 2 aluminum trays.

6. Add half of the meat to each tray, along with a handful of mozzarella (measure with your heart). Stir to combine.

7. Top with more mozzarella cheese and grated parmesan, if you want.

8. Write “Baked Ziti” and the date on a piece of foil and cover the top. Wrap in saran wrap and put in the freezer.

9. To bake from frozen, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove saran wrap and foil and replace with a fresh piece of foil. Bake for 45 minutes, uncover and continue cooking for another 15+ minutes until the cheese is melty and the middle is warm.

Bonus recipe for paid subscribers!