What food to get in for coming home from hospital?

[Laurakiaora]

Hello.

I have a c section booked for the 31st. Trying to make a list of food to get in the days before so I have suitable stuff in for when we come home.

I have a few meals in the freezer that I've made (bolognese, kedgeree, sausage casserole etc) but not much and I don't have room for any more.

All I really have on my list so far is ready meals which isn't ideal and don't want to rely on takeaways.

Any suggestions welcome. Thank you.

We signed up for Hello Fresh for the first few months after DD was born and it was SO helpful. You get all of the ingredients you need delivered to you and can choose meals that take no longer than 20mins to cook, so it’s really convenient. Tasty, too! They ALWAYS have discounts so sign up under one email, cancel when the offer is up and then sign up with your partner’s email to get the offer, by the time that offer is up, you’ll likely have an email to the first person offering you more discounts. Full price is quite expensive IMO!

Frozen prawns and spaghetti

Things for nice omelettes

Good sandwiches fillings and soups

Jacket potatoes

Flapjacks, hobnobs, other oaty snacks

Nice squash to help you drink lots of fluids.

Good luck x

@SkyBlue20 I have a paused Gousto subscription I've been thinking about restarting as they've sent me an offer so may try them again and order some super simple meals. Thanks for reminding me!

@FarmBaby3 thank you, omelettes are a great idea.

Snacks. Alllllllll the snacks, to keep you going through night feeds.

Cheese and pate and crackers
Seafood and salad
Flapjacks
Fruit

We bought two weeks worth of meals from Cook. It was the best decision we made.

Yes! You cannot have enough jelly babies, individual flapjacks, brownies, samosas, Mars bars; anything densely calorific and consumable in half a second. I’ve got a leftover tub of Christmas Roses in the Snuzpod… (Baby sleeping in my armpit as per, obviously.)

Meals you can consume one-handed/that require no chopping/that won’t spill on the baby’s head too much. Flaky croissants and sausage rolls out; pasta pasta pasta in.

My second baby is 9 weeks and our freezer meals did us well for about a week for dinners (I had much more than this in the freezer but after a week I was up and about). I found the 360 Complete Meal replacement from Protein works incredible - 400 calories (you need loads for feeding) and full of protein, oats and flax etc all great for your milk. I got it because first baby I lost all appetite after birth and it slowed my milk coming in. I used it this time around for breakfasts or if I just needed something quick and easy to give me a boost. We filled our fridge with easy lunches - jacket potatoes, quiche, coleslaw, salad veg, soup and part baked rolls, ham, bacon medallions, cheese etc. I also made sure I had those Asian instant noodle pots in for a hot and salty hit! Plus oats, biscuits, fruit, cereal bars etc. We love those microwave sponge puddings so I got a stack of those and a few cartons of custard for the cupboard and they've been lovely on a cold evening while I'm cluster feeding!

Things you can eat one handed; that need minimal prep; high energy snacks

Fresh tortellini is good.

Think things that only require one hand so pasta, rice or things with mash

Easily thrown together stuff that you can eat with one hand.

Stuff with fibre. Dried apricots. Chickpeas. Soups.

but mostly chocolate. All the chocolate.

Things high in fibers to get the transit going again ...

I know you have already bought the meals, but did you know about the new parents discount?

www.cookfood.net/newparents-terms

I have a Cook really close to me but haven’t tried anything from them yet but considering getting some for when baby is here. Any recommendations?

I tried to stock up on a lot of 'quick' stuff, as breastfeeding made me super hungry, but I stocked up on things like:

Pasta (the bachelors ones and normal pasta for me to add sauce too)
Rice to use as sides
Noodles
Tinned foods (including veg etc, just for if you don't get chance to do a shop!)

Cereals - porridge pots, cereal bars etc
Crumpets, bagels, croissants

I use my slow cooker a lot, so I had stuff in to use in that! I had steak, chicken and stuff in the freezer to do casseroles, I also had tinned potatoes and corned beef to do corned beef hash, super easy and I could go back for seconds and it still be warm 🙈 also a few weeks after my first baby was born, I used this hack, and I still use it! I bought zip lock bags, and prepared loads of different stuff, so I had zip lock bags with 'chicken casserole' written on, and in that was enough chicken, veg, etc, for a few portions, then I could just get it out the freezer to defrost, and throw it in the slow cooker, made life so much easier!

I also tried to make sure the cupboards were stocked up with stuff that had really long use by dates, just so if we ran out of anything fresh etc, I had enough to go at!

I also stocked up on UHT milk, so that if we ran out and I wanted a brew, I didn't have to go the shop/get somebody to go the shop and wait, I had my emergency brew milk as a back up (still something I do!)

Also, the part baked bread that you bake at home, I adored eating those with soups etc in the postpartum period, really long use by dates, and lovely and fresh to eat, they only take 8-10 mins in the oven, but make soup feel a bit fancier than your normal loaf!🤣

Fresh sealed packs of tortellini with decent ready made sauces make a very easy meal.

Samosa easy to grab

My confession is a regular trip to a proper Cornish pasty shop, I'd buy 10 for a discount and to freeze them reheat them when needed.
They were really good, handmade packed with vegetables.

Definitely anything you can eat with one hand.

I would think about quick pasta recipes, eg tuna, lemon and rocket. Use penne not spaghetti.

Jacket potato with different fillings-sounds grim but Tesco tinned chilli is fine (discovered in covid era!), or with coronation chicken, or smoked mackerel and cream cheese and beetroot.

Tray bakes
Use a bag small new potatoes, chicken breast or sausages.
Then different veg each time eg
squash, red onion and apple,
or cauliflower, sweet potato and green beans,
or cherry tomato, peppers and aubergine.
Bake 40 min around 200.
Put hard veg in early and softer when 20 min left.
Add honey and mustard, tikka spices, harrisa whatever you fancy. Or basil or coriander at the end.

Chop meat when serving the rest can be eaten with a fork.

There is a dairy-based protein drink you can get from Tesco and Ocado called Nurishment. It comes in a can about the size of a can of soup. The chocolate one has 400 calories and 20g of protein and tastes like chocolate milk mixed with Baileys :) Perfect for a one-handed refuel.

For me it was eggs any style (omelettes, poached on toast, fried/omelettes in croissant, egg salad); roast chicken thighs with rice/potatoes and veg, homemade soup and protein shakes. Not a lot of difference from what I usually eat. Oh, and banana bread!

@OrcaBlondie Yeah I remember seeing the discount (it was two years ago now) but we never used it. Maybe next time :)

Recommendations: Garlic chicken curry, any of the pies, beef stroganoff and chicken alexander. All delicious!