Sometimes a new baby can leave parents with little time between them to cook – or eat. And while there’s no shame in take out, it can get expensive. Here are a few other tips to put together a meal…
Prepare everything in the morning when babies tend to sleep longer stretches. This works best with crock pot meals and one dish casseroles. In the evening when babies are often fussier, the most you’ll have to do is move the dish from fridge to oven to table.
Keep a lot of one handed foods on hand. Hard boiled eggs, cut fruit, cheese sticks, granola bars. If baby is fussy and you’re having to do the walk and bounce routine, you can at least grab enough to stave off real hunger.
Soup, soup, soup. Make a big pot. Not only is it hard to burn if you get distracted with baby, you can also eat it from a mug if you find yourself one handed again.
Making double portions and freezing half can also work well. You may want to freeze in single servings instead of a whole dish. It will thaw faster and will be more versatile (snack…meal for one…meal for two…)
And don’t try to go it all alone…
Leave a cooler on your front porch and let folks who love you drop off meals without dropping by to interrupt your nap. Don’t be afraid to put a sign up to this effect. “Thank you for visiting! Mother and baby are sleeping, but feel free to leave meals here. Thank you and we’ll see you next time!”
Websites like www.mealtrain.com can help you dear friends organize your dinners for days and weeks. Let them. Heck, beg them.
If your peeps don’t like to cook, let them send you restaurant gift cards. If you’re reading this and still pregnant, register for them. After baby comes, you may find you love free burritos much more than another owl-print onsie.