Eating in Survival Mode

 Buttons is now a month old and it feels like she has always been with us. We are deep in the dark of living on very fractured sleep and are learning how to operate as a family of four with two little girls.

You may have noticed I haven't written for a week- I gave myself a wee break as I inched towards meltdown zone, holding everything together. 

One thing that we ARE managing to do well is eating proper dinners. While I was pregnant, I made it my mission to fill the freezer with as many home cooked meals as possible. It was actually a lot easier than I expected- I just did double batches of dinners that we were eating and immediately froze half in tinfoil containers!  I am a big fan of Pintrest and like to try new recipes so trawled through there to find lots of tasty meals, trying to avoid having lasagna every night for a month! I also asked advice from the awesome mummies on a Facebook mummy forum I belong to, and got some great ideas. 

I really like using recipes from 

www.carlsbadcravings.com and from www.skinnytaste.com. Both are American sites, with fab crockpot recipes and a lot do Asian, Thai and Mexican inspired meals- yum! We have been enjoying sweet chilli Asian chicken wraps, baked sweet and sour chicken, tortilla soup and lots more.

I also went to one of my favourite NZ chefs- Chelsea Winter , and stocked up on her recipes- so far we have been loving her sneaky rissoles, satay chicken and glorious sausage quiche. 

Combined with our amazing Bellyful meals and meals that wonderful  family have made, we probably have amassed about 20 frozen meals. In the four weeks since Buttons came home, we have been heavily relying on these meals to keep us going- each morning I grab a meal from the freezer to defrost and then Action Dad is in charge of preparing it as Buttons cluster feeds from 4-7ish.  To keep our supply going, I have been cooking meals in the weekend to keep the stock pile full. This has meant that we have only had to resort to takeaways once!!! 

A couple of tips for those of you who want to make your own freezer full of meals-

- Double up your weekly meals and freeze half. 

- Make sure you have a variety and don't end up with all pasta- I did soups, casseroles, curries, quiches, burger patties, meat balls, stir fries etc. 

-  As you package up your meals, write the cooking instructions on the lid! Nothing worse than trying to find the right recipe at 5.00 at night when you are hungry and tired! 

- Keep a list of what your freezer contains on your fridge so you know what you have and what you need to buy to accompany it. Eg salad, buns, etc 

My mum keeps telling me that at six weeks things will get easier and we will fall into a routine. Right now, I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel but every night that we grab another frozen meal, I am so thankful to pregnant organised Me for thinking ahead! 

On another note- VERY excited to have my first official follower who is not family and therefore forced to read my writing! Blogging takes on a whole new level when you realise people are reading!! Xxx