For anyone who doesn't have a slow cooker yet, I can't say enough good things about our Ninja. It sears and does stovetop in addition to just slowcooking, so you only need one pot for just about any recipe, and the cookbook it came with has some good quick meals in it. And since it's all metal, you can't accidentally drop the crock and crack it taking it out of the cabinet like we tend to do... We got ours on sale at Costco for less than it usually goes on Amazon - maybe there will be a good Black Friday deal somewhere for those in the US. https://www.ninjakitchen.com/ninja-cooking-system/
I'm planning to freeze meals, but I'm not sure exactly what yet. I'm going to have a couple freezer meal days with a friend a month or two before I'm due.
Rather than go to the trouble of making something like lasagna or enchiladas, I usually do a baked penne (just double the sauce you'd use if you were eating it fresh - I do two jars to a box of pasta, add in a little sliced sausage or cooked ground beef, and some little scattered spoonfulls of ricotta, then top with mozzarella and bake), or enchilada casserole (tortillas, cheese, beans, leftover taco meat, and a few cans of enchilada sauce, layered like lasagna). Both can be varied according to your tastes. I haven't tried freezing either, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.
I'll probably also freeze some sides (au gratin potatoes, maybe I'll see how mashed potatoes freeze), and make sure I have some of the frozen rice from Trader Joe's. I believe they do other frozen grains, too, and they just take a few minutes in the microwave. And I'll cook up some ground beef with various seasonings and maybe some sausage for dishes like tacos or spaghetti.
Soups are supposed to freeze well, too. I'll probably make a couple hearty soups and stews, and maybe double my New Years Day Hoppin' John and freeze the leftovers.
And then I'll prep some slow cooker meals in gallon ziplocks so I can just toss them into the Ninja in the morning, and I'll make sure I have the dry and frozen ingredients for some of the half hour Ninja meals.
Hopefully that will get us through until we regain sanity and are able to think about cooking again.
