Food for bringing new baby home

[Soph88888]

I’m currently 35 weeks... can’t use my brain and would appreciate your thoughts on food to have in the house when you come home from hospital.
Things that are either easy to prepare, grab and eat, or prepare and store in advance,
Thanks

Newborns sleep LOADS so you'll have loads of time... but then again will be very tired... in the month before the babies were born I double cooked everything freezable for any supper it it would work for - chillis, dal, casseroles, lasagne etc etc. and had a freezer full when the time came. But also get hubby to fill the fridge with cheese and ham and bix, olives, at the time - anything you can graze on.

For me it was speed of prep that was paramount! So frozen jacket potatoes, frozen mash, ready meals, pre-prepped spag bol, chilli etc, microwave rice. And homemade (by someone else!) cake!

As well as batch cooking I was forever grateful for filled pasta (the type that has about 6 weeks shelf life) that I could bang a sauce over, and fish cakes/chicken etc that could be cooked from frozen. Ace for those days you’re so tired you forget to defrost something (I had so many of these). And steam bag veg and frozen spinach/peas. I was fine for a while eating pants but wanted some normality after a couple of weeks.

Assuming you have two adults in the household, food is honestly pretty straightforward even if you have a velcro baby. One looks after the baby, the other looks after the cooking. Bosh.

If there's just one of you - or for times when there will be, if you have a partner - then think of things you can eat one-handed that won't be too problematic if you drop bits on the baby. It's also way easier to prep in advance and then microwave - so the whole thing is ready in a couple of minutes - versus anything you have to put in a pan or the oven (or, god forbid, under the grill). So, where you might normally think 'I'll freeze a portion of curry and then cook some rice to go with it', instead think about freezing the rice along with it, or getting some of those precooked sachets. That sort of thought process.

Stock up on lots of snacks you can keep within arm's reach! Also, get yourself a big, easily grabbable sports bottle. That way, if you're stuck on the sofa for hours with the baby, you can still eat and drink.

I was just talking about this with DH this morning! We're going to batch cook and freeze a load of meals in advance (lasagne etc) and then buy pre-prepared veg, lots of fruit etc that doesn't require much fiddling about with. Plus allllll the brie as I have missed it so much!

Dh just cooked as usual to be honest. I’ve never got the whole batch cooking in advance thing - great if you want to, a life saver if you are a single mum but with two adults and a new baby who sleeps a lot, it’s okay to carry on as normal.

I'm due in three weeks time. I've downloaded Delicious Ella App", got the free week trial and filter recipes by "freezer friendly". There are quite a few yummy option as well as healthy one. So far, I've done the vegan Mac and Cheese and a few soups. Good luck 😉