mission: keeping a girlie happy and well-fed through postpartum / harder days.
Currently, I’m at about 4 months pregnant.
My journey up to now has been a very adventurous rollercoaster of emotions; trying to accept an unwanted pregnancy, making life-altering decisions at the age of 25, and trying to embrace change despite the fear of the unknown.
However, I’m thankfully at a more stable space mentally and emotionally and am ready to be a lot more logical, more go-getter and ready to start taking control of my narrative in the best way I can (the recurring theme of our community here)!
I may not be able to control how much sleep I get after baby arrives, but I can try control having good nutrition (as a girlie who’s the happiest with good sleep and good food, let’s try get half of the equation in-place!).
For that, I take you with me through all the steps I take to conquer my life and take control of what I can and one of those things as prepping postpartum freezer meals!
In this post, I’m going to girl-talk you through my WHOLE PLAN to keep my nutrition going through postpartum. If there’s one thing a girl like me KNOWS, it’s how to plan.
- what I plan to buy to keep a stocked kitchen for easy and postpartum freezer meals
- 5 types of postpartum freezer meals that are easy AND nourishing postpartum freezer meals (balanced meals)
- when should you prep postpartum freezer meals?
- how many freezer meals for postpartum?
- recipe links I will be using!
All of this will be based on trying to provide as much nutrient-dense foods as possible, in a phase, where we will need it the most! Proteins, vitamins, fibres (with some room for anything a bit less healthy too as a treat).
Basically, running through EVERYTHING you need, or at least how I choose to go about it.
do I need to meal prep?
This is a CHOICE, and don’t feel as if you “need to” or “should” do anything at all.
Some pregnancies can be hard, and even the thought of doing anything, or adhering to all the expectations on social media of what you “should” be doing during pregnancy is just not needed.
Let’s normalise the reality of most pregnancies which is:
- being a couch potato 99% of your free time (outside of a 9-to-5)
- not working out
- not doing our pelvic floor exercises everyday (even though I know it would be helpful)
- forgetting to take our vitamins on certain days (I know, I know…)
- not always eating the healthiest (we’re human too!)
So, that’s first.
But of course, if you do feel you have some energy or this is something you would LIKE to do, then of course it would be a good idea, but never a “need” because you are already doing the best possible, with your current capacity.
The reason I choose to meal prep ahead is because
- a) my energy levels are okay at the moment,
- b) my symptoms aren’t the roughest out there, so I’ve got a good foundation to DO IT, but also
- when I think ahead; postpartum might be hard,
- sleep deprivation might make time management to cook or make food quite hard,
- AS WELL AS just the mental load of navigating looking after a baby for the first-time in your life!
So, instead of thinking about meal prepping only on the seventh or eight month of my pregnancy, I would rather think about it for now so it is something I have already kind-of ‘figured out’ by then in terms of my strategy plan.
when to start prep?
I plan to start meal prepping some freezer meals for postpartum from now, where possible, to not leave it all for the end of pregnancy (where my energy levels will be unpredictable and might be more stressful to leave it for then).
- I currently have about 4 portions of veggie soup freezer-prepped for postpartum
For example, veggie soups which can hold longer in the freezer such as for up to about 4 to 6 months without losing too much quality in nutrients. (Of course it won’t be as fresh, but still better than resorting to chocolates and crisps in the cupboard which won’t be the best for postpartum recovery).
Foods with meats or that hold less in the freezer, I plan to make closer to the 6 to 7 month pregnancy-mark.
stocking your kitchen for postpartum
Besides freezer meals, I also already have a plan for what else to stock kitchen with for post-delivery days with baby.
Freezer meals will be great! But, it won’t be the ONLY thing I resort to.
- snacks
- sandwiches and easy sandwich-fillers
- already-made frozen foods
- quick energy boosts
- cheap takeout options that are accessible
- supermarket home deliveries for anything else
Realistically, freezer meals will be my dinners or lunches, but for breakfast or on days where I don’t think to heat up the freezer meals I want to have options so my nutrition never goes-by failed; for me, for my postpartum recovery, but also for my energy and for how I show up to the world with a new-born, partner, family, and life in general.
Actual examples of all of these for me (in the same order as above) would be:
- dark chocolate, crackers, popchips, cashew nuts
- sourdough bread slices, avocados, paprika chicken slices, sardine pate
- falafel, fish fillets, potato wedges, veggie gyozas, quick noodle packs (not frozen but ready in minutes)
- fruits, Greek yoghurt (and toppings like honey, nuts), eggs
- local cafes
- from pretty much any local supermarket, such as Tesco or Asda (in the UK)
My logic here is that each day will look different, as with anything else, and having different options means I will be well-fed and happy, whether it’s a sandwich one day, a Greek yoghurt bowl another, or a postpartum freezer meal.
5 types of easy and nourishing postpartum freezer meals
Here are 5 TYPES that make freezer meals for postpartum easy to make, and easy to pack-in the nutrients.
- soups
- bakes and pastries (like the famous Greggs chicken bake, but at-home! or Borek, feta spinach rolls, or frozen Croissants; I love these chocolate-filled ones from Pret/Tesco!)
- one-pot feasts (lasagnes, pasta bakes, enchiladas, casseroles)
- stewed meats
- breakfast buns (like the viral McDonald dupe of the breakfast bun all over Tiktok)
These are all batch-friendly meal types, that can easily pack-in a lot of veggies and protein of your preference!
If in-doubt as to what veggies to add, I’d say spinach is always a safe option for ALL of these meal types and will give you a lot of nutrient-dense support for postpartum recovery!
These are all meals that can be made in the same pot, with the help of tools such as air-fryers, crockpot / slow-cookers. Or if not, simply using a pot over heat for soups and stews, or oven for anything else.
how many freezer meals for postpartum?
So, we know that:
- we want to meal prep for postpartum
- we know WHAT types of meals and foods to stock-up for postpartum recovery to make it quick and easy for us
Now, we talk how many freezer meals we should prep for postpartum.
Well, this really depends on:
- how long your maternity leave is
- how often you plan to eat at home
- how much of your weekly meals you think will come from freezer meals (vs sandwiches, already-made frozen meals, takeaway or eating out)
- how much storage space you have in your freezer
Even with all of the above, you will never truly know since there is no correct number, but for me, the above answered is:
- 1-year maternity leave
- planning to be home most of the time (low expectations)
- maybe 1 meal a day will be a postpartum freezer meal, and not everyday
- enough for meals that I can place in bags, such as about 20 or so bags of soup plus about 4 big pots (like lasagnes) leaving some room for already-made frozen foods that are easy to put together (chips, fish fillets, frozen veggies) or other freezer meals I plan to prep (like bakes and pastries)
quick girl math:
I am purely guessing, but I am planning to go for a range of 30 to 50 meals, which I know sounds like A LOT, but for example 1 regular lasagne I would count as about 9 meals (9 good portions; between me and my partner).
- 1 lasagne would give me almost 1/5th of my target (if I am aiming for 50 meals)
So, it doesn’t have to sound as if you will be spending every last second in the kitchen if you try to opt for a strategy like mine for postpartum nutrition prep.
From advice online, such as this one from Savoury Feast, making too many freezer meals for postpartum might not be helpful since you might learn that you and your partner just aren’t the biggest fans of the freezer-meal taste but from my experience, frozen soups have always been quite tasty after cooked so I think it’d be okay for me. I might just add some extra seasonings when heating up, to bump up the flavours again.
It might actually be helpful to try making a freezer meal earlier-on in pregnancy, and just seeing if you think you would like it for postpartum, since then it would massively influence whether or not you would even prep freezer meals for postpartum.
recipe links!
Here’s a compilation of recipe links I will be following for inspiration; outside of my own!
- Roasted Vegetable lasagne (so yummy, and can add meat if you want!)
- Greggs-inspired creamy chicken bakes
- McDonalds-inspired breakfast bun
- Cheesy beef enchiladas!
- Roasted Red Pepper (Immunity) Soup (or anything else from “Em the Nutritionist” on Instagram because her recipes are equally healthy and so yum!)
That’s the whole rundown of my current plan for postpartum freezer meals, and general nutrition post-delivery with baby!
I hope it helps you have a clearer picture of an option for how you might want to strategise in earlier pregnancy, like me, to make nutrition a priority for the postpartum days.
♡
I’ll be logging updates throughout this whole journey as a mother-to-be, working to be an entrepreneur, but to also still preserve the girlhood within, to try and be her best self, and live her happiest life, so keep-up with me through the blog!
I release a new blog post every Friday at 1pm! (UK-time)
Let me know if you’re in a similar headspace (pregnant or not), being in our 20s is confusing, and taking control of our story is the only way we can take ownership of our happiness and live out our dream life.
I document my unwanted pregnancy journey at 25, taking control of my narrative, figuring out being a girl in my 20s, chasing my dream life, and conquering my boss babe dream of becoming a self-employed, entrepreneur / Blogger!