Late pregnancy food shopping list...

[figginz]

I'm 38 weeks and want to buy a few easy store cupboard meals to get me through the first few weeks of newborn madness.

I know I should be a superwoman and batch cook all these amazing things like pies and lasagne and and and. But I can't really be bothered. And we don't have a microwave so reheating things like that would take forever, and I think I'll be more interested in getting food into me quickly.

So I was thinking along the lines of pesto/pasta sauce, frozen prawns, tins of tuna/beans etc, soup. (And obviously biscuits)

Is there anything more interesting I could get? I do love food. I know I could just wander round the supermarket in search of inspiration but I'm sure someone out there on mn has done this before

and thanks for any suggestions!

I look forward to this thread filling up!

I quite like stocking up on stuffed pasta - it's got a decent shelf-life and would go well with some of your pasta sauces. A jar of sundried tomatoes and a jar of artichoke hearts for some trendy tapas style snacks?

Dried fruit and nuts for snacks or even oatcakes?

I often think Morrisons has quite a good selection of tinned / jar options to if you wander round with a trolley...

Frozen pies? Frozen mash? Frozen peas?

Do you have a slow cooker? You can do all sorts in it and just leave it cooking all day so it's ready for dinner You can do spag Bol, casserole, curries etc.

No slow cooker but do have a fabulous le creuset casserole dish. So yes, you're right, long slow meals where timing is less important. Mmm. Red-braised pork, beef stew.

Also liking the idea of posh canned food eg artichoke hearts and stuffed peppers.

And frozen chips! My student food staple. How could I forget them.

I'm sort of wishing I was in France right now. They have all sorts of posh canned goods (eg cassoulet) and frozen fare (steak hache) that you can just heat up and tuck into.

Are frozen meals ok?

I really like Iceland salmon parcels

groceries.iceland.co.uk/iceland-2-salmon-parcels-in-a-dill-sauce-280g/p/49105

The other youngs branded fish ready meals are also not too bad...

Would love to hear other suggestions!

Other things we are eating these days due to me being constantly ill:

m.tesco.com/h5/groceries/r/www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=264389020

There are a few varieties, you can eat cold, lovely with a side salad.

Chicken kievs! I'm a big batch cooker and fwiw don't have a microwave either (just take frozen parcels out in the morning for the evening and then heat on hob) but take your point that you can't be bothered.

Chick kievs are my favourite guilty secret I bloody love them with oven chips and peas yum yum.

Filled pasta is ok but they do all start to taste the same after a bit (I speak from experience not prejudice!).

My advice in general is if you can afford to spend a bit more on - say - the m&s/ waitrose version of something rather than ordinary supermarket that would work well. That's defo true of filled pasta come to think of it.

Butchers often make their own meat pies too that are more like homemade and just need half an hour in the oven.

The only other ready meal that I adore and I always have it as a solo supper when DH out in the evening is the Waitrose own brand vegetarian moussaka which is amazing.

Happy scoffing and good luck with rest of preg.

A good butcher is a great idea - ours does fantastic stir-fry, marinated chicken, pies, casseroles, etc. It's a little more expensive but such great quality, and it feels so civilized going to a real butcher! I am also partial to Tesco fish pies that you just bung in the oven for half an hour. They're about 500kcal and huge, I couldn't finish my last one.

Though frankly there are some nights when nothing will do but actual home delivery pizza. Papa John's mmmmmmm.

Oh also. Last night I had to cook for 12 (at 33.5 weeks! Agh!!) so I just stir-fried some chicken, peppers and ready-chopped chorizo, and stirred a few packets of Uncle Ben's Mexican rice into it. Went over really well and only took an hour, would be half that time if you've only got your immediate family to feed - you could even use ready-cooked chicken from the cold meats section! Feels special if you have a few of those posh tinned veg around, or a pot of sour cream. Or some Doritos. Or...oh wow, is it lunchtime yet?!

Things like chilli / bolognaise / curry can be batch cooked and don't need to be heated in a microwave [just use the hob]

Jacket spuds were my staple in the early days last time. So versatile.

My Mum was fab and did us packages every few days and Dominos helped when we got really stuck

I've got cravings for curry a lot lately but I don't want to keep having to cook curries and it's too expensive to get take away (let alone unhealthy). My auntie suggested to me these tubs of fresh curry you can get in supermarkets.. like a ready-meal but they are healthier and you find them in the fridge section in plastic take-away style containers. Particularly good if you get M&S versions of stuff (although may work out expensive). At some places you can get a certain amount of them for £10 or similar deals.

Oh my days, since reading smogsville's post I've been daydreaming about chicken kievs. Garlicky goodness.

There are some great ideas on here. You're all making me so hungry. I might ditch the cleaning and admin I had planned for tomorrow and pay a little visit to the local butcher. Just to scope out the possibilities, you understand, not to stuff my face buy anything.

Thanks for the ideas!

Figginz - as a child of the 80s they take me right back. Once I lived with a dear friend who's quite the cook and used to make them from scratch with chicken supremes... What a shame for me that we both got married and don't share a flat anymore.

On the same theme - and not v healthy but what the hell - garlic bread! Just the bog standard one. Wow. Could eat it for breakfast.

Oh smogsville stop! Garlic bread. Mmmmmm.

I went to a pub about a year ago and they'd made their own chicken kiev... The garlic was generous. Extremely generous and extremely delicious. I am a bit sad now that I can't remember where the pub is.

This baby had better not develop an intolerance to garlic!