8 Healthy Gluten and Dairy Free Freezer Meals Perfect for Postpartum
- Main meals, Mama Health, Meal Prep, Postpartum Health
If you’re looking for a way to make dinner time a lot easier, having these Healthy, Gluten and Dairy Free Freezer Meals can be a big help.
It may surprise you but I actually haven’t taken a huge jump on board with freezer meals. Instead I usually prep and freeze my veggies for the week like (sweet potato, carrots and zucchini) to use in one tray bakes.
But I have to say, having a completely-ready-made freezer meal you literally just have to put the thing in the oven (no prep time or cleaning involved) is always a welcome break to a Mum with little ones.
My go-to’s for healthy freezer meals are either mince based, soups or curries that are easy to reheat and store ahead.
These are great recipes for a pre-baby freezer meal prep if you want to prepare before your (or someone you know) baby arrives.
A couple of tips for your freezer meals:
- *I usually always fully cook them first, then either store in a dish that is freezer safe / oven safe, or in ziplock bags.
- *You can freezer the vegetarian curries without cooking but increase the cooking time and use within 2 weeks.
Reheating
A general rule of thumb is to reheat the dishes at their original baking temperature but add about 20 minutes. Most of these will reheat in the oven loosely covered with foil at 180° C.
If you are reheating it while it’s still frozen it takes a lot longer to cook, I found between 50mins to 1hr 10mins instead of a reheat for about 20-30mins at 180C if already thawed. (I’ve listed some see details below each recipe).
- Let any glass dish sit at room temperature for a little bit before popping in the oven.
Thawing
- *Most freezer meals need to be thawed overnight in the fridge or in a sink of cool water. Exceptions: I have cooked the shepherds pie, frittata, pumpkin korma and sweet potato curry from frozen because they were in a dish I could transfer from freezer to oven (see details below).
(My suggestions for freezing and reheating are below each recipe picture)
Here’s 8 of my favourite recipes:
Veggie Packed Spaghetti Bolognese
Freeze the bolognese in an air tight container or ziplock bag. Thaw in fridge the night before or defrost in sink of cold water for a couple hours. Make your gluten free spaghetti, rice noodles or zucchini noodles fresh when ready to use.
Slow cooker chicken noodle soup
Freeze in a round airtight container or ziplock bag that will fit into saucepan. Either defrost overnight in fridge, in a cold sink of water OR heat from frozen on low in the saucepan with lid on.
Pumpkin lentil cauli korma
Cook and Freeze in an airtight container or tin tray. Either defrost overnight in fridge OR heat from frozen loosely covered with foil at 180C for 40-60minutes (check)
Spring Harvest Frittata
Freeze in an airtight freezer safe container or can use a tin foil tray. Either defrost overnight in fridge OR heat from frozen covered with foil at 180C for 40mins-1hr (check)
Shepherds Pie with Cauliflower Potato Mash
One of the best healthy freezer recipes - store in an airtight freezer/oven safe dish and reheat from frozen uncovered for 1hr10minutes.
Sweet Potato Coconut Curry
You can pre-make and freeze or freeze all of the uncooked ingredients in a freezer bag ready to dump and cook. Cook from frozen for 1hr 10minutes.
Pumpkin Soup
This easy pumpkin soup is a good one to double batch - have half for dinner and freeze the rest for another night. Freeze in a round airtight container or ziplock bag that will fit into saucepan. Either defrost overnight in fridge, in a cold sink of water OR heat from frozen on low in the saucepan with lid on.
Coconut Chicken Quinoa Casserole
Freeze in an airtight freezer safe container that can be put straight into oven. Either defrost overnight in fridge OR heat from frozen covered with foil at 180C for 40mins-1hr (check)
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