you may remember that before our little guy was born i did a mega food prep. it has been very helpful for us in our beginning months of parenthood to have many meals in the freezer to pull out for dinner. and oh my, do i eat snacks during the day! i thought a little reflection might shine light on a few more postpartum meal prep tips and help incase i ever take on such work again {see my list of tips from while i was in the thick of it:: click here}
A few observations...
+ we really do prefer freshly made eggs... as it was summer time and our ladies were laying it down i made loads of mini egg bakes to freeze. these were the last things we are still eating. i don't think it is a problem, but maybe i wouldn't make so many next time.
+ make fewer gluten filled snacks... pre-pregnancy i wrestled with a gluten intolerance. breads, cookies, cakes, pizza all mess with my head and digestion. i would be able to get away with eating a little gluten treat maybe like once a week with very little problem. during pregnancy i could eat all the gluten filled gloriousness that i wanted - and i did!! this led me to believe that i could probably get away with it during breast feeding. this was only true for a couple weeks. now i am finding no gluten to be my best plan even though breastfeeding is going on.
+ make more 'whole 30 compliant' meals for the freezer... the first few weeks after delivery we had such wonderful people bringing us dinners and treats and snacks! it was beyond helpful! {for a few days after i had the baby i was either breastfeeding, pumping, sleeping, eating or exhausted. all of this meant that the cooking, house cleaning and pet care all fell to my husband who was getting less sleep than i was.} once i was out of bed and loved ones stopped bringing {basically} daily meals my husband wanted very nutrient dense food. he was depleted and many of the meals i had made were a little more comfort based than he was craving.
+ fully cook a few more meals... many of my meal prep plans included thawing a ziploc bag of a dinner for the crockpot. this required us to remember the night before to pull out a dinner. sometimes we remembered - but often we did not. having a few more "just reheat" types meal preps would have served us well.
+ i really liked these blueberry oat crumble bars but they didn't thaw as well as i would have liked. i probably would make them again, but maybe once i was back on my feet and not for the freezer. it is a very simple recipe and would work well for a naptime baking if you had the energy {they weren't listed as a freezer ready bar, i just tried it}
+ our favorites {linked to original source}:
sweet potato chili
beef roast and carrots {i will add more carrots the next time i make it}
italian sausage soup
chicken fajitas
lunch lady bars
i like the idea of a big meal prep during a busy season. or i'm considering it as a way to save more of our homegrown produce this summer... already portioned and used for a meal!
have a lovely week!
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