UPDATE: To read about how these turned out after defrosting and heating, check out this post.

In preparation for the baby’s arrival, I spent the day yesterday making some one-dish-meals that could be frozen. My idea was to make something that had veggies, protein and carbs all in one so that we could eat them by themselves and get a well-rounded meal out of it. If I have the energy, I can throw together a salad or something to accompany the dishes, but we’re still getting lots of nutrition if we just eat them by themselves.

Also, my 4-year-old starts Pre-K on Wednesday and I wanted to have some homemade snacks on hand for her lunch at school. I ended up making a batch of zucchini brownies (her favorite!) and Dreena’s Easy Pleasin’ Oat Bars. Unfortunately, I’m all out of freezer space so the oat bars may not make it in there. I’ll move some stuff around today and see if I can’t find any more space. I also wanted to make a batch of mini muffins, but my oven caught on fire right when I was taking the oat bars out. I had already made the batter, so I’m experimenting on “baking” it in my slow cooker. I’ll post the results of that when it’s done. (The oven fire was very minimal, in case you’re worried. The heating coil at the bottom had had a small crack in it for a while and I was concerned that it would break one day. The fire started at the point where the crack was and traveled like a sparkler firework along the length of the coil. I put some baking soda on it after taking video of it and it went out. On another side note, a small plane crashed into the lagoon directly behind our house on Thursday, so if things happen in threes maybe that means the baby is coming this weekend!)

Anyway, back to the food. In my freezer, I have a giant dish of lasagna (the individual lasagne made into a regular lasagna– double the tofu ricotta recipe and add some fresh spinach), two small dishes of enchilada lasagna, 3 quarts of Minestrone soup, 2 quarts of cooked black beans, 1 quart of lentil and brown rice taco filling, and 1 quart of cooked chickpeas. To freeze the casseroles, I first put a sheet of Press’n Seal wrap directly on top of them to keep out any air and to keep any ice crystals from forming, then I topped it with the lid that came with the Pyrex baking dishes. Also, for the zucchini brownies, I individually wrapped each one in Press’n Seal wrap and then put it in a glass food storage container with a locking lid. I will do the same if I’m able to make space enough for my oat bars.

A quick note about the zucchini brownies. I use this recipe here, but this time I made them with half applesauce, half oil and half whole wheat pastry flour, half all-purpose. They turned out great! Oh, and I also added some dark chocolate chunks.

Here’s what my freezer looks like now:

There’s also some convenience food in there from Trader Joe’s– their vegetable burritos (on the left side), the mini pizzas (on the top– for the kid), and some of their vegan noodle bowls stuffed way in the back. I’d say we’re set for at least a little while!

As we eat the pre-made freezer meals (I suppose we’ll have to get a new oven first!), I will report on how they tasted. I tried to Google some information on freezing certain things (like I wasn’t sure how the tofu ricotta would freeze and defrost), but I couldn’t really find much information. I’ll also update this post or link to my new post about it in case some other Googler is looking for the same information.

Come on, Baby! We’re all set for your arrival!