As it turns out, small children sometimes leave freezer doors open overnight in a climate where garages reach temperatures well over 120 degrees. This temperature is not conducive to keeping frozen foods frozen. Before my preceptorship was scheduled to start {and also before it was cancelled}, I spent two days prepping dinners for the boys to pop into the crock pot or oven. The freezer was beautifully full of both homemade meals and some fun stuff that is convenient, but nothing I can eat {stupid gluten}. It was a glorious feeling until the morning we woke up to go to school/work and stepped into a puddle of melted goo on the garage floor. Nothing in the freezer was salvageable. No prepared meals, no packaged stuff, and none of the meat {I think that might have hurt the most}. We did okay restocking the store-bought stuff, but I just didn’t have it in me to start all over with the meal prepping. And if I’m being completely honest, the crock pot meals weren’t really all that great to begin with. There’s just something about food sitting in a crock pot all day that makes it taste like every other meal regardless of what it is. Unless you are making soup or stew that is designed to simmer all day to get all the flavors together, it isn’t the best.
Flash forward to 12 hour shifts with a 2+ hour commute time {there and back combined, I’m not that crazy}. By the time I get home at night, I do not have the energy to make and eat food and I can’t go around eating a gluten free pizza every night I work. I mean I could, but I don’t really want to. So I did some research, bought some groceries, and spent an entire day shopping, prepping, and freezing enough meals to once again have a freezer full of goodness. Let me tell you, it is glorious. Absolutely wonderful.
I love my husband. He is amazing and can fix just about anything around the house or in the garage, but his culinary expertise ends somewhere around macaroni and cheese. When my dinner after my first 12 hour shift consisted of cookies, chips, and queso dip and a giant stomach ache for the rest of the night, he put his foot down. He {we} decided that wasn’t good for me, especially since it is shocking how many calories I burn at work. It also makes me feel so much better {an a lot less guilty} knowing that my boys are eating good food while I’m at work and it sure has been wonderful coming home to dinner I can eat.
I say all of that to tell you, whether you are a nursing student, a brand new nurse, or an old curmudgeon that’s been at this for an eternity, you might want to consider some freezer meals. So far I have made:
- Zucchini lasagna
- Chicken, broccoli, rice, and cheese casserole
- Shepherd’s pie
- Chicken pot pie
(a regular size pie and little self-serve pies for the nights the boys eat glutenized dinner) - Meatloaf
- Enchiladas
Unfortunately, I forgot to leave instructions on the dinners so my husband ended up baking some of them at 350 for hours. We are still in the trial and error phase with these, so I think some may have to be defrosted a bit before baking so that it doesn’t take until I get home {many hours after our “normal” dinner time} for dinner to be ready.
Once we try them out and get the reheating down right, I might even take the time to write up the recipes and directions. There are no guarantees that this will happen any time soon, but you never know!
Do you have a favorite go-to meal you like to freeze and reheat for those nights you don’t feel like cooking? I would love to get a few more ideas.
The Diary of a Mad Nursing Student *Turned ER Nurse* 