If you had a 3 day old, what food would you most like me to cook and put in your freezer?

[arfishy]

That's it really. A friend has just had her first and I want to pop round with some food for the freezer. What would you have liked?

lasagne
apricot chicken with veges - could buy cook in bag rice to go with it.
have a great vege lasagne recipe with spinach and pumpkin - good iron boost.

some yummy ice cream.

do you know cheat's apricot chicken??

a curry

I know someone brought around a home made steak pie and salad for the night we got home with dd3 from hospital. That was great.

Small portions of things that are easy to eat one handed. If she has a dp who's out at work, they may end up eating at different times for a while - so that's why the small portions. And that means that he has something nice to eat as well so if she's the type to feel guilty she doesn't have to!

Take her some delicious fruit as well - and maybe some posh squash for breastfeeding thirst.

And you are lovely to think of it!

Bolognese.

Poached salmon in individual containers, watercress sauce in ice cube portions.

another friend brought me some lovely soups.

Pate in ice cubes, so you can have a snack fairly quickly, especially if you are feeding.

Wow you lot are fast. Excellent ideas already, and I would like to say how lovely I am (oh, go on then!) but I think if you've been there you owe it to new mums don't you?

Small portions are an excellent idea, especially as she really cares about her weight.

That poached salmon and watercress idea is great, she'll love that.

Eids - can I have your vege lasagne recipe, she'll adore that too. What's cheat's apricot chicken?

I have a great veggie soup that I do, really healthy, so I might make up a batch of that as well. Not sure if she can eat it yet, her DD is lying on her most of the time, but it will be good for a few weeks time.

Home-made soup - easy to freeze into single portions, eat one handed, and reheat.

apricot chicken - tin of apricot nectar and french onion salt reduced soup ( packet mix one) diced chicken or thighs and veges.

Put chicken and veges in casserole dish, mix soup mix into the apricot nectar - pour mix over the chicken - bake in oven about 180 degrees until cooked. I then serve it with rice.

vege lasagne

400g of pumpkin - cook until tender and then mash
bottle of tomato based pasta sauce
150g angel hair pasta - cooked until tender
500g silverbeet or spinach - cook until just wilted and mixed with ricotta cheese - use the small tub around 200g or something.

layer pumpkin, 1/2 pasta sauce, angel hair pasta, the rest of the pasta sauce, ricotta and spinach mix and then grated cheese on top.

Put it in the oven until warmed through and cheese is melted.

in our church we always organise a meal rota for new mums. favourites are: lasagne, spag bol, chilli, chicken casserole, toad in the hole. a load of nice fruit is also an excellent idea, as is the nice squash if she is BFing. some people include a bottle of wine too! makes me want to have another baby just to have 2 weeks of delivered home-made food!

i expect any 'one pot' food will be good to just reheat

gosh - i hope someone does this for me in sept

Chicken cassersole and mashed potato.

arfishy forgot a step.... the vege one is still one of my new recipes.

Put pumpkin with a dash of vege stock ( i use salt reduced) and a chopped leek. Stir until smooth and the stock is absorbed.

Then make that your first layer.

Something I could eat with one hand.

Stews, casseroles, shepherds pie, that sort of thing.

Fish Pie
Lasagne

Thank you all, this is great.

I think I'll deffo do Eids' vege lasagne, sounds great for a b/f mum. And the salmon - will it be enough to portion it and put it into those steamable freezer bags raw and tell her to pop them into the microwave? I don't eat fish so am not an expert with this sort of thing.

Great idea about the squash too, I'd forgotten how desperately thirsty I used to get.

How would the pate in ice cubes work Bree? Do you mean in the fridge or freezer? [easily confused]

I'm going to go back through the list again. Lots of mince based ideas, good for shovelling in with a fork one-handed. She's a very healthy ex-veggie, so she probably won't want anything too stodgy (she is already back to size 8 3 days after birth I was a WHALE.)

I do a super healthy veggie soup which I'll also make up.

something that can be eaten with a fork only; like shepherd's pie without the mash (iyswim); risotto (mushroom/ pumpkin/ bacon/ chicken etc)

I found I had to drink soup out of a cup so soups not too thick.

My mum came round with a huge pot of "pig fry" the day after I came home with ds, as I'd really craved liver (why i have no idea as I've not really touched it since!) and i couldn't have it whilst pg. and it was fabulous - chunks of pork, liver and kidney in a really rich onion gravy. Yum!!

My sil brought round a home-made carrot cake and it was delicious aswell!!!

my pal brought round nice nibbles for the fridge, home-made macaroni, pots of bolognese sauce and a couple of steak pies for the freezer. it was one of the nicest presents i got, i must say.