To order a whole load of food from cook for after the baby is here or should I just buy groceries as usual online?

[roundligament]

I used them a fair bit after my son but I thought a lot of their dinners were sort of below average (we cook a lot from scratch)
Some of the things I really liked
Eg nasi goreng

If I do order what can I eat

I agree. Either full on completely pre prepared meals or incredibly simple cooking. Things like Hello Fresh are fun but a snare and a delusion when it comes to convenience.

Don't like hello fresh
It's messy and I think my own cooking is tastier and better quality

Why not get a load of tin foil trays plastic tubs etc and batch cook before baby is here. Or stock up on m&s ready meals

What do we like from cook then

I lived on sandwiches for about 6 months and a fair few takeaways as I was soooooo tired and couldn't plan my way out of a paper bag. Any pre baby meal planning is a good idea

Depends what sort of thing you like to eat. I am vegetarian and prefer things that are better fresh - so we had a lot of stir fry and noodles or quiche and salad or filled pasta and vegetables type meals.

bit puzzled by posters saying that you could use a company who deliver fresh ingredients - you'd still have to cook.

I dream of being able to use a Cook! type place and stock up the freezer. Are they good? I am not a good cook and find it really tedious.

OP, up to you, but if you prefer your own cooking, I too would set up an afternoon to do a batch cook.

We got some Cook things after our 2nd was born. Plus some supermarket ready meals/easy oven meals. It’s definitely worth it for the first few weeks.

I didn’t think it was too difficult (for my dh!) to cook after our 1st but once you have 2, it’s twice as much work, homework, two bedtimes, etc. So totally worth it for a few weeks while you adjust.

Stock up. You'll be glad you did.

The best present anyone has ever given me, was 2 days of M&S ready meals, prepred veg, puddings and custard - meaty, veggie and toddler size - , a big tin of biscuits and a big box of teabags. This was after dc2 was born.

We have a 4 week old and have stocked up as bedtime for the toddler coincides with the baby screaming and my husband having a super busy period at work and lots of very late nights. Cooking every night would have tipped me over the edge.

Not unreasonable to buy meals in for after the baby, but if you've had them before and found them below average I would think it would be a waste of money to buy them in again? I'd go for another brand if I were you

I just made sure we had the fridge and freezer well stocked as well as cupboards - we don't eat ready meals either. Just easy simple food that I could prep and DH could finish off.... (bearing in mind he can't even boil an egg unassisted). I also made sure that each meal was a large enough quantity to either use for lunch or dinner again the next day.

I am vegetarian and really like their red lentil and bean casserole - healthy and nutritious. I have tried to make it at home and it turns to mush! I also like their veggie tagine. Both are great on their own, with rice, or potato.

MRex, depends on your baby and how you are. I had a week between finishing work and DS being born and spent most of it resting in the hope my blood pressure would go down so no cooking in advance, then I was in hospital for two weeks after DS was born followed up by another month or so of being knocked out by the medication I was on.

Then DS decided to feed hourly in the day for a few months.

Cooking was difficult.

With my first we lived off toast and pizza for the first two weeks and she was an extremely easy baby, just slept! But with visitors and basically staring at the sleeping baby for two weeks we didn’t have the thinking skills to plan cooking!
For the Second I did a big lasagne / bolognaise/ chicken curry the week before and then my dh got some m&s meals. That did us for about two weeks and we also ate out a few times .
After that we lived off pesto pasta and frozen pizza for the next few weeks until we go in to a routine .

If cook makes it easier definitely do it, whatever will make life easier is my motto

@mirime - sorry to hear you had so long in hospital. I had a Caesarean but was sent home after 2 days. DH and I are used to cooking relatively simple meals perhaps; chicken and veg wraps, quorn stir fry, slow cooked bbq pork etc take not much more effort than something ready made (we always end up dicking about adding pepper / cheese / herbs etc) but can be tastier.

(The other thing I guess is that it's "DH and I", if your partner doesn't cook then that must make life very much harder.)

I wouldn’t have. But if you want to, can afford to, and are happy to accept the quality then do it.

Slow cooker is invaluable with a new baby. Buy pre chopped veg and pre diced meat and whack it all in first thing, far healthier and cheaper than any ready meal.

The Cook veggie lasagne is gorgeous. Pies are good too and big enough to have leftovers. I also really liked the mushroom risotto.

I would.
I lived off ready meals, m&s sandwiches and delivered pizza for the first month.

We just did easy meals, cold cuts and salad with French bread, ready cooked chicken with salads, baked potatoes with fillings. I can think of better ways to spend my money than on a fancy box of groceries that you have to cook yourself tbh.

@Nottheboreworms - we love the lasagna - has it last weekend when some friends came for dinner. So easy to just put it in the oven and I just added a salad with it. Everyone loved it and it tasted as good as any I’ve had made fresh.

If I understand correctly it's your second child?
You might find things are a bit easier with the second one. I have four dc and to be honest never got the I can't have a shower/cook dinner thing. I made maybe ten meals for the freezer when pregnant but in honesty I had to cook for the kids anyway so usually either ate what they had or made something easy when dh came home.
I'm no earth mother but you just learn to do things quickly!