Meal prepping before baby? Desperate need of help!

Question

Hi all you lovely third trimester mamas! I am due November 15th (and actually hoping he decides to hangout till at least 39 weeks). I am in the process of planning meals for after the baby comes. I will have family here helping me but honestly sometimes they can be a little intrusive and insensitive to my needs. My family seems to think my husband and I can just scoot out of the house for dinners out but I am hoping to minimize my sons outside exposure for at least 4 weeks (it is flu season after all!). 
To mitigate the probable disaster of the "what should we eat" fight (a favorite of my husband and I..) I am hoping to prepare easy meals for after the little guy arrives. The issue I am running into is that I am so accustomed to takeout and dining out that I have no idea where to start! My husband suggested having Buitoni pastas on hand and in the freezer for quick and easy dinners which I am fine with but I'm hoping to expand on some easy meal prepping ideas. Keep in mind I do plan on breastfeeding so I will need nutrient dense meals.. 
What do you ladies prepare or have on hand for breakfast? I was thinking smoothies which I drink now but are those packed with enough nutrition to keep my energy up? I could always add protein powder but honestly it makes me gag. I don't know how you ladies do it. 
Lunches I have literally no idea.. I am a natural snacker as opposed to someone who eats meals but my husband is convinced I don't get the nutrition I need for sustained energy from snacking. He is also a three square meal eater which adds to a lot of our fights. We both suffer from hanger. 
Dinners any suggestions please! I have a crockpot (that I got for our wedding and have never used.. don't judge me I lack confidence in the kitchen) and love soups and chilis but I live in Southern California where it is 10000 degrees still (seriously can I get a break from this weather). I am hoping November cools off to like 80 so I can enjoy some chili or soups. 
Any suggestions or advice is greatly appreciated!!!

Answer

Breakfast: 
Make quiche or buy them at Costco
Make egg breakfast burritos
Mini frittatas with different toppings in a cupcake pan.
I lived on french toast sandwiches with apples, bananas, or monte cristo. 
Lunch:
Grill chicken and freeze it:
You can make salads, fajitas, rice dish 
Panini w/ grilled chicken, avocado, dull pepper, and cheese 
Dinner:
Lasagna
Stew
Chili
Enchiladas
 
After I had my son, I threw everything in a crockpot and walked away. My life changed when I got an Ipot.

Answer

I never meal prepped 😬. I would always start cooking again the day I came home from the hospital. I'm a breastfeeding mama too, so I would suggest keeping around fruit, salad, veggie trays, protein bars, and of course plenty of fluids. For breakfast smoothies like you mentioned. Keep handy breakfast sandwiches or burritos, bagels and cream cheese, muffins, eggs are pretty quick, oatmeal, quiche. Umm lunch you may want to do a grilled chicken salad or sandwich, chicken salad or tuna, pasta salad, maybe some frozen pizza. Dinner...since you have a Crock-Pot you can do a roast or even a whole chicken. Pasta of all kinds would be easy to prep.

Answer

We just bought a big freezer for our garage so I can prep food for when our baby arrives! 
For breakfast, I make egg sandwiches and wraps and freeze them (wrapped in foil). They microwave great wrapped in a damp paper towel.
For lunches/dinners, I make triple batches of soup and freeze them flat in gallon size ziploc bags. I'm Italian so we always have homemade sauce and meatballs on hand in the freezer. So easy to just boil some pasta

Answer

There are super easy crockpot recipes on Pinterest. Including non soups so like chicken and veggies, chicken and dumplings, beef, pulled pork, I mean truly anything you can think of! A crockpot, especially a big one, is super helpful!

Answer

I went on a big grocery run last week for snacks and crockpot ingredients for a few different crockpot recipes that I actually like leftover. There are few things I like left over. I also plan on getting a few frozen meals and pizzas when it gets closer but if I bought those now we would eat them before baby comes. Pinterest has great crockpot recipes!

Answer

I have been gradually making freezer meals the last few weeks. I'm hoping to have 30 by the time I'm done. Tonight I cooked chicken enchliadas, instead of just making one I made three. Now I have two freezer meals. I have been doing that with all kinds of food. I plan on having a bunch of frozen veggies so I will have veggies with every meal. For breakfast I have little smoothy bags ready and frozen breakfast burritos.

Answer

The microwave is your best friend. Eggs and oats are go tos if you're nursing and both can be done in the microwave. Sandwiches are easiest for lunch. Whoever comes over to visit baby should bring a a freezable meal for you that you can thaw for dinners

Answer

Stuffed peppers freaze well, also be friends with the slow cooker. I froze all the prep stuff and bought fresh meets so my 13 year old can pop it in before school and dinner is done for them when it's time. McCormack fiesta chicken over rice. meatloaf in cupcake tins also freeze really well. I can't say this enough, sandwich meats are your best friend.

Answer

For dinners I think the crock pot is a great go to
There’s endless possibilities for what you can make and if you do make a soup or chilli you can have that for a couple days at least
Do some roasts perhaps too
Breakfasts and lunches quick easy preps
With my first I had an omelette every morning and just snacked from there 
I also always had a huge water bottle to make sure I was drinking enough as I was nursing
This time around I’m not sure yet what I’ll do
My husband is a chef so it’s a bonus to have him tend to dinners while I’m with baby
One thing that has caught my interest is I’ve seen advertising for ready made meals that come to your door and are super healthy 
I myself have never tried that route but curious if maybe anyone else has?
As far as prepping goes some meals don’t taste the same I find once cooked then frozen so that is where I find a harder time trying to think what would I make to freeze and how far in advance also?
I’d stay away from pre made dinners even though yes it’s convenient but also if your trying to get back into shape after baby and make sure your getting enough nutrients you want to stick to home made rather then box food

Meal prepping before baby? Desperate need of help!

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