J.G.
The extra meals are really nice - even now when we make things like stuffed shells & lasagna we make extra... we usually do a double batch of shells & bag them (15 per bag for us, but we are 2 w/ 4 kids eating - so you could probably put 8-10 per bag) which gives us about 4-5 meals in the freezer. All you have to do is put sause over them and bake 35-40 min @ 350 deg and dinner is done. With the lasagna we usually only get one extra 8x11, but we can eat 2 days on each one... you may be able to get a few more smaller ones if you have the pans for them. I have also froze veggie/beef stew... which wasn't that bad. I would love to know more things I can cook & freeze for easy meals more often - we are not big on frozen store bought meals & don't eat out much... so that means I cook big meals almost every night.
Also, as for meals... my crock-pot became my best friend for a while. I would start dinner after the morning feeding and before everyone else was up. That why when everyone was hussling & bussling and I was getting ready to fall over because of being tired before dinner time I didn't have to do much to get it on the table.
Something else I did - not really prep, but it did help... when I am feeding a baby a bottle & burped them, I have the older ones do their reading. They have 30 min of reading homework everynight (they are to read to someone), so it kinda killed 2 birds with one stone.
I'm not really sure what else to advise... other then, if things need to be let go till tomorrow - let them. Just get the important things done like getting everyone feed, bathed & give them a little love... everything else can wait a day or two if need be.
BTW - Congratz!!
