Freezing Meals

Photo above by Ralph Anderson via Southern Living

I’ve decided I’m going to give myself the next three weeks to get all the essentials ready before our bub arrives, that way I can spend the remaining month taking things easy. One of my ‘essentials’ is stocking my freezer full of meals for us to use in those first weeks when we arrive home from the hospital. Our freezer isn’t all that big however so I need to find an efficient way of storing things so I can cram as much in as possible. I’m keen to find the perfect storage containers, preferably ones that are BPA free. I bought a few Pyrex dishes the other day as then I can reheat meals straight from the glass dish but these tend to be pricey.

In my searching for meal freezing ideas, I came across a few handy resources. I love the idea of the labels below as I think it’s important to have the date of frozen meals labelled. I will definitely be printing off a little batch of these to use. The link for the PDF file for these labels is here.

Image above from Martha Stewart

Another useful find was a table listing the freezer life of different foods. I’m always phoning my Mum asking her questions about freezing or reheating dishes, so this table will be handy for me. I might put it up somewhere inside our pantry. This article on the Taste website is also handy for knowing the best way to store particular dishes.

I’m keen to know which storage containers you all use. Do you use different ones for different dishes? Are you too avoiding any plastics with BPA? Which meals do you find are the best for freezing? So far I’m planning on freezing spaghetti sauce, lasagna, muffins, cookie dough, pesto, soup and perhaps a curry (although I’m not sure this is the best idea with breastfeeding?) What else would you add to my list?

Excuse This House

As I looked around my house this afternoon at the dishes sitting in the sink and the pile of washing waiting to be folded and put away, as well as the other endless household tasks I had yet to tick off my to-do list, I thought of a poem I’d come across recently here:


Excuse This House

Some houses try to hide the fact
That children shelter there
Ours boasts of it quite openly
The signs are everywhere

For smears are on the windows
Little smudges on the doors
I should apologise I guess for
The toys strewn on the floor

But, I sat down with the children
And we played and laughed and read
And if the doorbell doesn't shine
Their eyes will shine instead

For when at times I am forced to choose
the one job or the other
I want to be a house wife but
FIRST I'll be a mother

Author: Unknown

Image above found via Gingerella

Friday Flowers

As I heard the noisy rubbish trucks early this morning (our sign that it is Friday), I couldn't believe that it was already the end of the week. I don't know where this week has gone, I feel like I've kind of fumbled through it and not really achieved a lot and so I have a big 'to do list' for this coming weekend of things I hope to achieve.

Our garden has been a bit bare over winter so today, I thought I'd share this little posy which is currently in our laundry. While I haven't actually planted any freesias, we get the occasional ones popping up amongst our agapanthus plants so this week, I picked all that I could find and placed them here on the window. They have the loveliest subtle scent.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

Etsy Baking Supplies

In my Etsy browsing lately for a few parties I have coming up, I came across the store Sweet Estelle’s Baking Supplies. If you’re after anything cupcake or party related, be sure to check it out. It has a range of decorative cupcake liners, paper straws, party favour bags and cake decorations. Here are a few items which caught my eye…

All photos above by sweet estelle's

Pottering Around The House

Image via weheartit

As much as I’ve grown to love winter, I do find that when the weather is a tad warmer and the sun is out shining, I’m far more motivated to get things done around the house. Such was the case over the weekend.

I am however finding that lately, my pottering around the house tends to be a bit scatter-brained. One minute I’ll be hanging out the washing, the next I’ll sit down and work on a bit of Grace’s quilt, only to find myself sorting and organizing baby clothes in the nursery all within the same half hour. Over the weekend, I just went with the flow and managed to get a range of things done.

It’s a bit the same with my decorating plans. There are so many ideas floating around in my head at the moment, I’ve been trying to jot down things immediately so I don’t forget. Similarly, while I am making progress slowly on a range of creative projects, my ‘to make’ inspiration folder is overflowing with things I’d like to try. I think I definitely need to open a Pinterest account.

Here’s hoping my muddled way of doing things lately is simply related to pregnancy…