Postpartum food? - Page 2 « Back to Group Discussions

[Just1More]

That's so funny.  I've never been high, unless you count one unpleasant afternoon where I must have gotten a contact high from the kid I sat next to in astronomy class...the kid who smoked pot behind the school after lunch.  That was one of the worst headaches I've ever had.  It's hilarious to me to think that that fog of sleep deprivation is like a high.  People do that on purpose?!?! lol.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sosurreal09 

With DD we did not have stairs and I cooked dinner the next day! It was easy. Depends on the birth you have too. I had her drug free and it was an easy birth so I felt great. I know many women who get epidurals etc have a harder recovery. C-section obviously takes time to heal as well.

A new baby nurses like very 30 mins though and it's hard to plan anything and you are in SUCH a sleep haze you feel like you are high as a kite.

And, about the guts falling out.  After my first was born, the one where I started doing everything right away, I did feel things falling inside of me, literally falling.  My midwfie after my second said that it was my organs going back into place and a sure sign I was doing too much.  I forgot about that.  My second, though, I ran up the stairs at the hospital the afternoon after he was born, no big deal, and continued to have a pretty busy life, with no ill effect, and no falling feelings insdie.  (I did have anemia, though, and would have severe dizzy spells and extreme exhaustion, and he was a screamer and it was HARD.)  But my insides were intact. :)

[forestmushroom]

I find meal trains to be a little stressful... do you invite  them in? Do you get dressed to receive the meal? I don't know.  I think it is super nice, but we turn this down now... Its just too much for me to remember that so and so is dropping by on a certain day and time...

We've made some freezer meals, and will make some more as the time approaches...

But mostly will just have simple ingredients on hand... eggs, potatoes, etc. for frittata, quesadillas, panini, salads, hard boiled eggs... I am hoping to eat a ton of fresh food since it will be may, too!  Fresh, raw food.... that takes little preparation, yk?  Just wash and chop. 

But I have to say, my husband does most of the cooking now so I am not too worried about it.   And we live a block from a market, and 3 blocks from a farm stand, so he can walk there with the kiddies. 

I am worrying about how much time to take off from working... I don't know why I can't just decide to take X amount of weeks... I guess I will say 3 weeks and then take more/less if necessary... I wish I wasn't so addicted to working! 

[BubbleMa]

Originally Posted by Just1More 

And, about the guts falling out.  After my first was born, the one where I started doing everything right away, I did feel things falling inside of me, literally falling.  My midwfie after my second said that it was my organs going back into place and a sure sign I was doing too much.  I forgot about that.  My second, though, I ran up the stairs at the hospital the afternoon after he was born, no big deal, and continued to have a pretty busy life, with no ill effect, and no falling feelings insdie.  (I did have anemia, though, and would have severe dizzy spells and extreme exhaustion, and he was a screamer and it was HARD.)  But my insides were intact. :)

Yikes!  :(  My ex's grandma had to have all her lady bits removed because they were falling out (and she only had two kids!).  And then I keep seeing commercials for these transvaginal mesh lawsuits.  They make me cringe.  I definitely don't want that to happen to me.  I'll be staying in bed as long as possible!

[SaguaroMoon]

Ouch! I definitely don't want to take a chance of hurting myself. My pilates for pregnancy book suggested starting gentle pilates again the day after birth (!) - while I look forward to getting my body back in shape and becoming more fit again, I'm fine with basically not moving from bed much the first couple of weeks (maybe I'll take a few short morning walks with the baby the second week). Some cultures encourage the new mom to pretty much stay put for the first month, while others care for her.

As far as food: DH & I just bought a  very energy efficient chest freezer. We justified this cost by deciding that it would eventually pay for itself in the long run; even when I'm not pregnant, I'll go through times when I desperately do not want to cook, but then I'll go through other times when I am a COOKING MACHINE!!! (the day before our wedding, I made 8 quiches and 96 muffins for our guests!). So, hopefully I'll fill the freezer often enough that we'll only eat out very occasionally, when we've actually planned it. Here is my list that I hope to prepare & freeze before the baby gets here:

5 broccoli potato puddings

5 quiches

5 scalloped potatoes

6 quart jars dal & veggies

6 quart jars tepary bean chili

6 quart jars carrot peanut soup

6 quart jars potato & greens cream soup

12 loaves of bread

96 muffins (chocolate chip, cinnamon raisin, apple spice, and orange cranberry)

8 pint jars cookie dough

As it will be summer, I'm sure I'll also be eating a lot of of raw fruits & veggies. I'll also have DH keep plenty of yogurt on hand - it's been one of my favorites this pregnancy.

[sosurreal09]

Originally Posted by Masel 

My daughter is allergic to milk, eggs, peas, and peanuts. Do you want to the name of some commercial products that have worked for us? They can be found in the regular grocery store around here, not the speciality places.

I kind of see this thread as a reminder to mammas to take it easy on themselves in the days childbirth. 

Sure!

RE guts falling out. I felt like that a little with DD, the cramping was horrific though!

Yeah I would say my sleep deprivation makes me feel kinda high! Your just so out of it!

I'm pretty sure I did not leave the house until DDs 6 week appointment when I had her. Heck I didn't even think about leaving the house between nursing and sleeping alone!

[Ruby2]

Can you share your broccoli potato pudding recipe, SaguaroMoon? It sounds delicious. 

Crock pot oatmeal is a great idea too. I just read a friend's fb post about making beans in the crock pot, which sounded smart. I bought a bunch of beans but didn't look up the directions yet. I love having cooked beans in the freezer. 

So far I've stuck some leftovers into the freezer, and one pan of chicken enchiladas. I let the enchiladas cool overnight in the casserole dish then scooped them into smaller plastic containers for freezing, because I don't have many baking dishes either. 

DH's specialties are - spaghetti sauce from a jar with garlic and ground beef added, frozen perogies sauteed with green peppers and onions, and ground beef tacos. I'm okay with all of those things. He can only take a week off though, so I'm on my own for breakfast and lunch after that. Last time I ate lots of granola bars and cheese sticks. This time, for easy foods I'm thinking  apples, celery and carrots dipped in peanut butter, yogurt with frozen or fresh fruit and granola, hummus (we eats LOTS of hummus from the store, not as healthy as homemade, but not horrible), and my favorite perfect food (okay, more perfect if it were local!), avacados. 
 

Originally Posted by SaguaroMoon 

Ouch! I definitely don't want to take a chance of hurting myself. My pilates for pregnancy book suggested starting gentle pilates again the day after birth (!) - while I look forward to getting my body back in shape and becoming more fit again, I'm fine with basically not moving from bed much the first couple of weeks (maybe I'll take a few short morning walks with the baby the second week). Some cultures encourage the new mom to pretty much stay put for the first month, while others care for her.

As far as food: DH & I just bought a  very energy efficient chest freezer. We justified this cost by deciding that it would eventually pay for itself in the long run; even when I'm not pregnant, I'll go through times when I desperately do not want to cook, but then I'll go through other times when I am a COOKING MACHINE!!! (the day before our wedding, I made 8 quiches and 96 muffins for our guests!). So, hopefully I'll fill the freezer often enough that we'll only eat out very occasionally, when we've actually planned it. Here is my list that I hope to prepare & freeze before the baby gets here:

5 broccoli potato puddings

5 quiches

5 scalloped potatoes

6 quart jars dal & veggies

6 quart jars tepary bean chili

6 quart jars carrot peanut soup

6 quart jars potato & greens cream soup

12 loaves of bread

96 muffins (chocolate chip, cinnamon raisin, apple spice, and orange cranberry)

8 pint jars cookie dough

As it will be summer, I'm sure I'll also be eating a lot of of raw fruits & veggies. I'll also have DH keep plenty of yogurt on hand - it's been one of my favorites this pregnancy.

[poppyseed2012]

Yes please SaguaroMoon, I was thinking the same thing!
 

Originally Posted by Ruby2 

Can you share your broccoli potato pudding recipe, SaguaroMoon? It sounds delicious. 

[SaguaroMoon]

Originally Posted by Ruby2 

Can you share your broccoli potato pudding recipe, SaguaroMoon? It sounds delicious. 

Sure! It's one of our favorites:

Broccoli Potato Pudding

3 medium potatoes
3 broccoli stalks (florets & stems)
2 T butter
1 medium onion
2 eggs
1 T fresh lemon juice
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 cup grated or sliced Jack cheese

Chop potatoes and boil in water until tender. Drain and set aside. While potatoes are boiling, chop onions. Heat cast iron pan over medium heat, melt butter, and saute onions until translucent. Drain potatoes and set aside in mixing bowl.

Preheat oven to 350°. Chop broccoli, peel & chop stems, and steam until tender. Blend onions, eggs, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and ½ of the sliced or grated cheese in a blender until smooth. Add half the broccoli and blend, then add the rest of the broccoli. Pour broccoli mixture into mixing bowl with potatoes. Mash broccoli mixture and potatoes together until homogenous. Grease square baking pan and pour in mixture. Arrange the remaining ½ of cheese over top. Bake for about 30 minutes; cheese should be golden.

[forestmushroom]

Now I want pudding....

[persephassa]

we'll probably do like forestmushroom, meals from simple ingredients on hand. i don't eat meat, so there isn't much point to freezing whole dinners.  we need to go to trader joe's and get some prepared food stuffs and snack things to have on hand. otherwise, i think we'll just have bean & cheese quesadillas, salads, avocado melt sandwiches and sweet potato fries, smoothies, pasta, pasta salad, tostadas, steamed brocoli & baked tofu w/ brown rice, pizza (i'll make dough & freeze it), fruits, egg salad sandwiches, cashew butter & honey sandwiches, etc. i make our vegetable odds & ends into soup stock, so there's already a bunch of that in the freezer... my mom is going to come and help out (i hope they baby is born before she comes and not after she leaves, omg!!), so she can make some things, she kind of sucks at cooking but she should be okay with simple things, plus my husband can cook stuff, too.

i love this taco box idea: http://www.thekitchn.com/new-baby-taco-box-167963

& i would love a beer ;)

now i am going to make a potato galette! 

[Sky]

I did not get to read all the posts but I agree with a meal train. DD2 as you know is a preemie and that was not expected so we had nothing planned my mom came for a week and then my sisiter came for a week and my MIL is coming for the next week Me and DS are staying in ABQ while Sång (song) is in the NICU and they have cooked and helped watching DS when I go to the NICU but really I was up and about the next day after the c-section! but is was nice to not cook. I went back to Taos for a few days and made a few meals for the freezer, lasagnga, chilli homeade with beans, and two hearty soups. My DD loves many raw vegan stuff and we do eat meat fresh local and lots of veggies and fruit so DH has been able to figure that out and also some moms in my DD class have meal trained food over about 2x a week. Anyway sorry i'm rambling, need to go pump LOL sorry for typos ot time to correct them.

[Addie]

Originally Posted by BubbleMa 

We have a small freezer too, and only one casserole dish.  So cooking a bunch of stuff ahead of time is not practical.  Plus, the thought of cooking a bunch of stuff right now sounds like torture.  I barely cook dinner as it is.  There used to be this little store near us called Kasserole King.  They sold premade (uncooked) casseroles that you could bring home and freeze or cook.  I thought that was so clever!  I planned on getting a couple of those, but they closed a couple months ago.  :(

I like to get pre-packaged stuff from Trader Joe's, because it's cheap and healthier than what you find at the regular grocery store.  If you don't have a Trader Joe's, just get stuff from the regular grocery store.  Hot dogs and chicken nuggets for a week or two won't kill you.  :)  I would just make sure you have some frozen veggies and fruit on hand too.  And some yogurt, eggs, nuts, etc. for snacking.

Just wanted to add - for anyone else dealing with this problem as well - I read the greatest tip recently. When you're making something casserole-ish to freeze, line the pan with aluminum foil before you fill it. Wrap the foil over the top and stick it in the freezer. Te next day, pull it out and lift the casserole out by the foil. Wrap it with more foil and stick it in a big ziploc bag. you get your pan back that way, the casseroles are easy to store, and when you're ready to eat one you just pop it back in the tray.

Do quiches freeze well?

[Mama2Rio]

our list includes freezing: a variety of pasta sauce (tomato, vodka, pesto and tomato and bean sauce), a variety of muffins, waffles, and vegetarian chili and a variety of veggie burgers.

i'm trying to think of things i don't have to stick in the oven because i don't turn my oven on in May if i can help it! it's too hot in AZ at that point. DH will be home for a few weeks and he's a cook anyway, so we're not going to hurt for good food, but i don't want him to worry about cooking either.

we usually make hummus every few weeks, so i'll probably have that made and plan to keep fresh fruit and veggies on hand, i'm thinking maybe making popsicles from fresh juice since we have a juicer.

[forestmushroom]

Originally Posted by Addie 

Just wanted to add - for anyone else dealing with this problem as well - I read the greatest tip recently. When you're making something casserole-ish to freeze, line the pan with aluminum foil before you fill it. Wrap the foil over the top and stick it in the freezer. Te next day, pull it out and lift the casserole out by the foil. Wrap it with more foil and stick it in a big ziploc bag. you get your pan back that way, the casseroles are easy to store, and when you're ready to eat one you just pop it back in the tray.

Do quiches freeze well?

I've heard they freeze well and have gotten the frozen ones from trader joes -- they are okay... but haven't ever frozen them myself. 

This is what we do--with the foil, and it works really well!  Makes to super easy, you just pop the frozen foil food into the dish, and bake!.

[BubbleMa]

Originally Posted by Addie 

Just wanted to add - for anyone else dealing with this problem as well - I read the greatest tip recently. When you're making something casserole-ish to freeze, line the pan with aluminum foil before you fill it. Wrap the foil over the top and stick it in the freezer. Te next day, pull it out and lift the casserole out by the foil. Wrap it with more foil and stick it in a big ziploc bag. you get your pan back that way, the casseroles are easy to store, and when you're ready to eat one you just pop it back in the tray.

Do quiches freeze well?

That's a great idea!  I also thought of buying some of those foil baking dishes, but like Mama2Rio said it's too hot to be using the oven much.  It's already in the 80s here.

[sosurreal09]

I hate the food allergies! I cold live off fresh veggies and hummus but sesame is an issue...

My church called and said they could set up a food train but with my DDs allergies it's a no-go. Said maybe they can just do shopping instead. I told her fresh fruits/veggies would be good anyway (besides ones DD is allergic to).

[Kamiro]

wow. It hit 57 here today and I sent the kids out to play cause its a 'nice' day. LOL

I made oatmeal raisin cookies and choc. chip cookies last night. Also some beefies in blanket.

Basically, wrap a beef hot dog in some crescent roll dough, cook for 15 minutes and viola...unhealthy but something hot and done quick.I made broccoli potato soup also. Don't ask for the recipe. It involves lots of evap milk, cream cheese, and butter...though the base is organic and vegetarian.

I think I am going to stock the house with stuff to make these kinds of food...and you know how I have been wanting a cheap laptop or dvd player for postpartum with baby? Well thats atleast a hundred dollars and I figured it might be better for me to buy this 8 qt pressure cooker and juicer I've been looking at.. That would only be like $120 and would be money better spent. It will help make beans and potatoes and the like super quick, and a juicer I can make smoothies with.

I do love pressure cookers.

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by BubbleMa 

That's a great idea!  I also thought of buying some of those foil baking dishes, but like Mama2Rio said it's too hot to be using the oven much.  It's already in the 80s here.

I'm using the foil pans.  Less cleanup afterwards, since I can recycle them.  You can also get cardboard ones that are compostable.  I wouldn't freeze my pyrex dishes.  They'd never survive.  And I got rid of everything else years ago. 

As for the oven - if you use the smaller foil pans and have a toaster oven, you can avoid heating up the whole kitchen.  For us though, we don't have a microwave, so without a toaster oven (which we don't have room for, as much as I may want one), any cooking is heat producing.  Mostly I try to use the oven once every few days, and eat cold/leftovers in between times. 

[forestmushroom]

Originally Posted by cristeen 

I'm using the foil pans.  Less cleanup afterwards, since I can recycle them.  You can also get cardboard ones that are compostable.  I wouldn't freeze my pyrex dishes.  They'd never survive.  And I got rid of everything else years ago. 

As for the oven - if you use the smaller foil pans and have a toaster oven, you can avoid heating up the whole kitchen.  For us though, we don't have a microwave, so without a toaster oven (which we don't have room for, as much as I may want one), any cooking is heat producing.  Mostly I try to use the oven once every few days, and eat cold/leftovers in between times. 

we don't have a microwave and I almost bought one. I love frozen bean, rice and cheese burritos but making them in the oven is silly. It takes too long and that is something I like to eat when I am starving!  I guess we will just keep some beans in the fridge and make burritos that way...

I'd like to try the cardboard ones! Sounds cool.  Yeah, glass going from freezer to oven sounds explosive! 

[Astraia]

I'm doing foil pans! I think it will mostly involved baked things or things that I don't want to cook full time in the oven in late May, so I can let it thaw and then just reheat (rather than cooking raw food from frozen).

I'm liking a lot of the recipes I'm seeing for freezer crockpot meals. Assemble the crockpot dish in a ziploc bag, label with any extras you can't freeze (sour cream, usually), and then on cook day you just dump it in the crock pot and voila.