With my first baby, I took birth prep very seriously. I did all the exercises, read all the books, did all the research, and took all of the supplements to prepare for labor.
I made some freezer meals and snacks. However, I mostly planned to eat easy meals that my husband would be able to easily assemble while sleep deprived. Things like boxed pasta with jarred sauce, mac & cheese, and other very easy, convenient foods. We also received many gift cards to local restaurants from generous friends. As far as I was concerned, we were all set.
In those early days postpartum, I struggled a lot. Breastfeeding was hard. Recovery wasn’t as smooth as I had hoped. The transition to life with a newborn was a real shock. Any food was truly a blessing. Every bite was an act of love from someone who cared about me. I am forever grateful for that love!
But after learning more about how nutrition impacts postpartum recovery and breastfeeding, I want to do better about showing myself and my next baby that same love and care. With our second baby, I’m determined to channel all my nesting energy into stocking our freezer with extremely nutrient-dense meals. Birth prep is important, but postpartum meal prep is just as important, if not more so!
Of course, birth is unpredictable. But one thing is for sure: it’s an extremely physical task in the middle of two of the most nutritionally-demanding times of a woman’s life: pregnancy and breastfeeding. You wouldn’t expect a marathon runner to do their best on survival foods. The same should apply postpartum!
How to Freeze Food for Postpartum Meal Prep
With postpartum meal prep, it’s all about making sure the freezer meals are easy to thaw and reheat when the food is needed!
For anything that’s not already pre-portioned and self-contained (like a meatloaf muffin), I’m using Souper Cubes to make individual meal portions. It’s partly just in case I want a different meal than my husband and/or toddler. However, they’re just generally great for being able to heat up smaller quantities of food. No hassle of partially defrosting or trying to break pieces off a larger block!
I’m also freezing larger portions in gallon-size freezer bags. My best tip is to freeze the bags flat for easy, compact storage and quick defrosting!
Ingredients I’m Prioritizing for Postpartum Meal Prep
Of course, calories (and a lot of them!) are important postpartum. Especially for breastfeeding moms, but also for any woman recovering from birth! But calories shouldn’t be the only focus – your body needs nutrients to properly heal and nourish your baby. Here are the ingredients I’m prioritizing in my postpartum meal prep and why:
- Bone broth: Bone broth is such a rich source of collagen, gelatin, and minerals. It’s a recovery superfood! The collagen and gelatin are especially great for healing tissues that may have stretched, torn, or cut during pregnancy or birth. It’s also easy to digest and helps with hydration!
- Hidden liver: While I’m not sure I’ll want to eat liver and onions postpartum, I can sneak hidden liver into lots of different meals to give myself variety while still getting all the nutritional benefits of eating liver!
- Meat: High (animal) protein meals are a must! Again, recovery requires a lot of protein. I’m prioritizing meats slow-cooked on the bone (like shredded chicken and shredded pork shoulder) for the extra collagen and gelatin, as well as ground beef for the ease of mixing in hidden liver and for the extra iron. Meat is so nutrient-dense, so I’m making it the focal point of every meal in the postpartum period.
- Legumes: Properly prepared legumes are great sources of iron (though less so than meat), folate, and fiber. They have plenty of carbs (essential for breastfeeding, but also for any recovering mama) as well as some protein, especially when paired with whole grains.
- Well-cooked vegetables: Raw veggies can be hard to digest. However, vegetables have lots of great nutrients and fiber. Luckily, cooked veggies are much easier on the body, especially when digestion is a bit slower postpartum!
Meals I’m Making for Postpartum Meal Prep
As you might guess from the ingredients I’m prioritizing, most of my postpartum meal prep has focused on soups, chilis, and curries. I’m also largely focused on lunches and dinners (I’ll touch on my breakfast plans at the end). Here’s what’s filling up my freezer:
Ground Beef + Hidden Liver Meals
The meals in this section are great any time in the postpartum period, but especially in the first week after birth. With my first birth, I experienced a postpartum hemorrhage, which made recovery much more difficult. I certainly hope not to experience that again!
However, even without a hemorrhage, birth often comes with significant blood loss. Bio-available heme iron and B-12 (found abundantly in liver and beef in general), as well as folate (found in beans), are the essentials for building new blood, so that’s what I’m focused on with many of these meals.
1. Healthy & Hearty Beef Chili
This classic beef chili is full of all the good stuff, with bone broth, hidden liver, lots of beef, and legumes. It even has cooked bell peppers (for vitamin C, to help with iron absorption) and corn (a grain to complete the proteins in the legumes)!
2. Cincinnati Chili
This midwestern classic has become a real comfort food for me. I’ve really come to love the warm spices! I’m also making some fresh-milled homemade spaghetti to keep in the freezer to go with it. When it’s time to eat, all we have to do is reheat, pile the shredded cheese high, and enjoy!
3. Beef Heart Chile Colorado
Beef heart, ground beef, and hidden liver slow simmered in a bone broth & pepper sauce make this Chile Colorado an incredible iron-boosting recovery meal. It’s so high in all the nutrients I need for recovery, I’m thinking this just might be the first meal I request after birth!
4. Beef Bolognese
A callback to my postpartum meals from baby #1, but make it nutrient-dense! This hidden liver beef bolognese is packed with slow-simmered veggies and bone broth, with no added sugars or other junk found in jarred pasta sauce. Pour that on top of some homemade fresh-milled pasta – talk about pasta night done right!
5. Meatloaf Muffins
No joke, I made a TRIPLE BATCH of these little guys. I love these hidden liver meatloaf muffins for both meals and snacks, and I figure that my husband and toddler will likely want to enjoy a bunch of them too. It’s a great way to quickly get a little protein and nutrient boost. Plus they can be enjoyed one-handed!
Chicken & Pork Meals
I often use shredded chicken and shredded pork somewhat interchangeably. Feel free to make any of these recipes with whatever protein you prefer!
1. White Chicken Chili
I’ve got lots of beef chilis in the freezer, so I figured I’d mix it up with a little white chicken chili to keep things interesting and fresh. Especially with a baby due in the dog days of summer, this chili feels just a little lighter, which I think may be welcome on particularly warm days.
2. Spring Greens Chicken Soup
This powerhouse green soup is full of cooked spinach and peas for a folate boost that’s easy on the digestive system! It’s also loaded with shredded chicken and bone broth for all the protein.
3. Coconut Cashew Chicken Curry
With fresh cilantro and fresh basil, this curry is extra bright and summery! Even if I’m not up to harvesting from our garden in the early days, this delicious curry will remind me of all the wonderful fresh flavors to come when I get back to my normal routine. Served with brown rice, it’ll also be a great meal for supporting milk production.
4. Chicken Tikka Masala
I love a good curry and this chicken tikka masala fits the bill (and is super easy to make)! The flavors only get better with time, so it’s a great freezer meal. Make some brown rice (or naan) to go with it and this is the perfect postpartum comfort meal.
5. Chicken Enchilada Casserole
While you could theoretically make this enchilada casserole and freeze it, I make all of the various parts and freeze them separately so I can assemble it fresh when I want to make it. That means I have the tortillas, filling, and reserved sauce all made and frozen separately, so that all I (or my husband) have to do is assemble it (with some shredded cheese) when we want it.
6. Mexican Pork & Black Bean Soup
This soup is so thick and creamy, thanks to the blended base of bone broth, beans, peppers, and onions! Plus the pork, extra beans, and corn give it texture. The best part is that I know my toddler will happily eat it because there are no visible veggies (aside from corn, which he loves)!
Meatless Meals
I plan to eat without any restrictions for at least the first week postpartum, focusing especially on hidden liver meals. However, depending on how my recovery is going, I hope to be able to quickly resume my observation of the traditional Christian abstinence from meat on Fridays. Regardless, my husband will need to eat something meatless on Fridays, so at least he will enjoy these until I can begin enjoying them with him.
1. Shrimp and Mushroom Soup
This soup feels luxurious to me! The subtle French flavors and creaminess from the sour cream make this a delight to eat. I know I’ll feel pampered when I eat it! The only change I make to the recipe when freezing is that I do not add the sour cream. I’ll stir that in when I reheat it!
2. Mackerel Soup
This is a great high-protein option that has lots of cooked veggies. Mackerel is also high in healthy omega-3 fatty acids like DHA, which is passed to baby through mom’s breastmilk and depends on maternal intake and nutrient stores (largely in the brain). I definitely didn’t eat enough omega-3s last time and could feel the drain on my brain, beyond normal “mommy brain.” Eating more fish to protect my cognitive function is yet another goal this time around!
3. Wheatberry & Chickpea Soup
Whole grains and legumes are both great for supporting a healthy milk supply for breastfeeding moms, and this soup is packed with healthy, whole food sources of carbohydrates! It’s also loaded with cooked vegetables for fiber and nutrients. It’s a bit lower protein, but still has bone broth for animal-based protein and the wheatberries and chickpeas together make a complete protein. Pretty good for a meatless meal!
What about postpartum breakfasts and snacks?
If I’m being honest, I’m an eggs-for-breakfast girl. Chances are, in the early days, my husband will quickly scramble or fry some eggs for me to enjoy, perhaps with a slice of well-buttered fresh-milled sourdough bread. Once I’m up and about, that’s easy for me to do as well – about as easy as digging something out of the freezer and heating it up! However, a great freezer breakfast option is this crustless quiche, which can be cut into single-servings and frozen for a quick heat-and-eat breakfast later on.
For snacks, I plan to have homemade peanut butter on hand (or at least have ingredients on hand for my husband to make more as a refill), as well as bread and maybe some sourdough discard seed crackers. Tuna dippers are also a great high-protein snack I’ll probably stock our freezer with. If I’m being honest, I’m not a huge snacker. That means that if I’m hungry (likely in the early days of breastfeeding), I’m more likely to heat up a smaller portion of one of the meals I listed above or a couple of hidden liver meatloaf muffins.
However, all that being said, I do plan to make some breakfasts, snacks, and treats (both lactation-specific and normal) while waiting for baby to arrive once my lunch/dinner meal prep is done. That’s largely because I know I’ll need somewhere to direct my nesting energy – might as well make some extra good food to enjoy later on!
What were your favorite meals to prep for postpartum? Please share in the comments below!
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