I have 3 kids under 5 too & am thinking about doing the sane…

Enchiladas

If pasta dishes are a favourite with the little one,how about
Macaroni Cheese?
Makes a change from the tomato/spice based sauces usually used in pasta dishes
You can add finely cubed ham and chopped tomatoes,peas to it.(finely chopped onion if liked)
My girls loved it and freezes well.

I buy about 3-4 kg premium mince at a time and make it into lots of different bases… a couple of each… lasagne sauce (often freeze the whole made lasagne, but sometimes just the sauce), spaghetti sauce, chow mein, taco mince, chilli con carne, shepherd’s pie mince, mince & vegie patties, porcupine meatballs…freeze, defrost and then add the pasta, rice or potato. And for the days that this may even seem too hard, there is always eggs or baked beans on toast or a quick quiche. Hope it all goes well! Slow cookers are also a great investment!

Any type of stews are great to freeze.
I would suggest investing in a slow cooker as they are amazing for loading up with the meat, veggies and stock the night before and keeping the dish in the fridge and then in the morning popping into the slow cooker and allowing to cook all day. Dinner will be ready with no real effort at all.

Sorry freezer!!

All great ideas above but the best tip I heard recently from Jamie Oliver is to put in zip lock bag, smooth all contents into a flat style pancake (remove air) and stack up your fridge that way..

I made taco meat with veggies thrown in (diced capsicum and zucchini) all my kids 17mths, 4 and 6 love it and its easy to double 🙂 just need the lettuce, carrot, cheese and taco shells and you’ve got a nice summer meal.

I love homemade pizzas frozen! If you make your own bases you could make the littles ones (or buy them) for child serves.

Things like frozen pies, rice, steamed vegie bags, steamed fish in bags are all handy to have. Stews are also good beef, chicken, curried snags (not too hot) There are more and more good healthy frozen meals available in the supermarket these days. And it won’t be for ever before you are on top of things. Hubby could also learn to cook lol.

Soups, stews, chicken cacciatore with bones removed once cooked, spinach & ricotta cannelloni

Beef stroganoff, curry, chili, stir fry’s,

Another idea could be to make up some pizzas and freeze them 🙂 just about any casserole or slow cooked meal can be frozen, stir fry, pies. Also soo easy to make are those Latina fresh ravioli/tortellini type meals and you can freeze leftovers. I’d recommend going and buying lots of snap frozen veggies from woolies too.. Good to have 🙂 best of luck xx

I’m going away for 2 weeks and have spent the last 2 days cooking!! I’ve done spaghetti bol, lasagne, curry snags, beef in red wine, spinach pie, potato bake, noodle omelet, crumbed chicken, sausage rolls and froze the lot 🙂

Following

Pea & ham soup. Healthy & delicious and can freeze. My two year old loves it. I use a slow cooker start in the morning. 1 large hock, 2 large carrots, 2 onions, 3 celery sticks. Dice them all and chuck in slow cooker add 2 big bay leaves, 1 clove of garlic diced small. Add one bag of split peas top up with water, add pepper cover and let the slow cooker do the rest. In the afternoon removed the bones cover and continue to cook. I start at around 7am, remove bones around 2. Turn off at 4:30 and serve up around 5. Very yummy with fresh bread.

I love the pre-packaged microwavable veggies. So convenient! Also for 2 year old always have tins of baked beans on hand for nights when you don’t feel like doing anything. Baked beans are full of iron and if you chuck a microwave veggie pack int he microwave you’ve got quite a good meal that’s fuss free for toddlers 🙂

Try meals like cous cous or risotto as well as the normal spag bol, casseroles and stuff. But maybe also look at making some cakes and slices, cut up into individual servings, for special treats or those sweet cravings after dinner. Best of luck.

Chilli con carne that can be used to make tacos, nachos, burritos when the time comes to thaw and eat.

Stay at Home Mum have a ‘once a month cooking’ freezer cookbook you can download.