Postpartum freezer meals. Really necessary?

Ecoden

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I'm a ftm and want to do the freezer meal thing but being due in 5 days, I'm out of energy And the thought of making a bunch of meals/cooking all day sounds terrible. I'm also working until the day I go into labor so I don't know if I even have time. My mom will be here for the first couple weeks so she'll cook then but mostly I'd be making them for after she leaves.

Anyway, I'll totally make it happen if people think it was really helpful to do.
 
To be honest, I did it with my first and after the first day or so I didn't fancy any of the stuff I'd made. With my second and with this one I haven't bothered. I still have my two kids to run around after so I imagine that all being well with the birth I'll be back up and active fairly soon, and even if I'm not then my DH has two weeks paternity leave so he can cook for us. I think if you were on your own, your OH was working long hours and it was down to you to do the cooking then it might be handy but other than that I really wouldn't stress to much about it. There's always the chippie after all!
 
To be honest, I did it with my first and after the first day or so I didn't fancy any of the stuff I'd made. With my second and with this one I haven't bothered. I still have my two kids to run around after so I imagine that all being well with the birth I'll be back up and active fairly soon, and even if I'm not then my DH has two weeks paternity leave so he can cook for us. I think if you were on your own, your OH was working long hours and it was down to you to do the cooking then it might be handy but other than that I really wouldn't stress to much about it. There's always the chippie after all!

Thanks so much. I also have a feeling that I would get sick of whatever I made. DH is a college teacher so he can't take time off but he'll be off for summer about 2 weeks after my mom leaves so I won't be on my own for too long. I see a lot of pizza delivery in my future lol :)
 
Ya know, it's not something I have done for my last 2 pregnancies but I can see the value in it now.
Since your a ftm though, I'd be more inclined to say not entirely necessary. If it's just you and hubby eating meals then I'd say you don't need to make meals in advance because you can snack or eat whatever you want right? Big meal, small meal whatever lol
For me with 2 kids to worry about I'd be beside myself happy to have freezer meals already made lol
 
It depends on the kind of person you are. I found them helpful for days I was feeling really uninspired! But I find them helpful for that at any time not just post partum!
Having your mom there to cook will be a great help anyway and you could always her to double up on some meals and freeze half for you.
 
We didn't bother. My husband is the cook in our house so he just carried on as normal. He normally batch cooks anyway , so dinner is usually the next days lunch .
 
I had DS unexpectedly at 33 weeks, so I did not have any prepared. We survived (although we ate a lot of takeaway and stuff...).
 
I never bothered as I would just as soon eat peanut butter toast for supper than to go to all that trouble, but this time around since I have 2 kids to feed I probably will.
 
I planned on doing it with DD, but I never got around to it. I worked up until 38 weeks (induced at 41+6), but it was so hot and my hips hurt so bad that I said screw it. I honestly can't remember how we handled dinners after DD was born, but we got by (probably on take out and processed crap that was easy to cook).

I'm undecided for this one. If I get accepted into school for the fall (I'll start 3rd week of August), then I'll probably make time to do it. While I'll have classes during the day and DH will be working during the day, it might be easier on us with DD and a newborn. There are days now we struggle just because we're both so tired, and then trying to get DD's stuff ready for daycare the following day on top of trying to cook, get dishes done, have DD hanging around our feet and demanding to be held, and then adjusting to life with a newborn, I'll probably make time for it this time around.

If I don't get accepted, I probably won't bother.
 
My SIL made some for me each time, and I was very grateful to have them. Just 3-4 meals worth each time, but it was very helpful. Not sure I would have bothered doing it myself, though.

I think if you will have your mom there for a few weeks, it might not be as necessary. But if you can manage even 2-3 meals, I do think it's worth it. Not needed, but nice. :)

The other thing we did was get paper plates and plastic cutlery so we didn't have to bother with dishes for the first week or so. That was also VERY nice (we don't have a dishwasher). And getting those is far less time consuming than making freezer meals!
 
I made freezer meals last time and for me personally it was helpful. I did have some friends help me one time and I did a big session by myself another time so I had a lot of meals that lasted a few months actually (since I did cook from time to time so I only used them when necessary).

My situation was different though in that I didn't have someone that was going to cook for me like a parent although DH would help but only when he got home from work. Also, I'm vegetarian and the vegetarian take out options in my neighborhood are sorely lacking so I wouldn't have wanted to eat the few choices all the time.
 
I have a lot of paper plates and cutlery and have been planning on making Freezer meals but I just can't seem to get the motivation to do it... maybe I'll see if my SIL would like to make some with me so it's not so boring and lonely feeling haha.
 
I'm a FTM as well and I do plan on making some freezer meals. Not too much, but I definitely want a big batch of spaghetti sauce with lots of veggies in there and maybe some stews. I'm not a big fan of cooking as it is, and as I plan on breastfeeding, I don't want to rely on takeout too much.
 
We did with our first. We'll probably do the same again this time. I have to eat gluten free so there are no take out options for me. Dh is a teacher so he will have 2 months off with us this time and that will be really helpful but I still think it will be much easier to have some faster options too.
 
This is my third baby and I've never seen the need for it. Especially now with more help than I've ever had. I asked the hubby and he said he didn't think it was necessary either.
 
I don't think so. We lived in a house with limited space even for a fridge, so our freezer was literally about the size of a shoe box. We couldn't have stored more than a meal in there.

What I did do was stock up with about 3 days worth of easy store cupboard type meals - chickpea curry (curry paste, tin of chickpeas, potatoes and onions which we always have around, rice), pasta (dry pasta, sauce in the jar), etc. That way we had easy meals to cook that literally took no thought or much prep that were non-perishable and could just hang out in the cupboard until we needed them. I had a home birth, so literally my daughter was born at 2pm, the midwives cleaned up and left by about 5pm, and my husband was down in the kitchen making rice and curry by 6pm. If you're planning a hospital birth, you'll likely be in there at least a day, so you'll eat a few meals there. Your partner will probably gladly go get a sandwich or pizza or McDonald's somewhere when he's not with you. So you'll have some time to adjust before you need to start worrying about cooking anyway.

But something I also did was I planned the entire week's worth of easy meals for the week after and made a shopping list which I saved as a delivery order for our local supermarket. Then once our daughter arrived and I knew we had our 3 days of easy meals already in the cupboard, I ordered those groceries. We didn't have to run around the store or even leave the house. And we still had another week of easy meals we could cook fresh. Realistically, unless you are on your own completely or your partner doesn't get any paternity leave, the first couple weeks you do a lot of just sitting around holding baby. You may feel exhausted and overwhelmed, and especially for the first few days, you might not want to be in the kitchen doing any cooking, but it's not like you're both so busy that no one has time to cook. You both might be exhausted and not really up for cooking anything too elaborate (and especially cooking for and entertaining others - if people want to visit, tell them they have to bring lunch with them for everyone and then clean up before they leave). But you can definitely find time to boil some pasta and make a basic meal. And in fact, once I was back on my feet (was definitely sore for the first few days/week), spending some time cooking while my husband had baby snuggles was a welcome relief was it being 'all baby, all the time'.

You'll have your mum around and if she's anything like mine, she probably loves to cook and clean up (mine literally brings her own cleaning supplies when she visits because she loves cleaning!), so you may not need it straight away, but I definitely second someone's suggestion to get disposable plates and cutlery, at least for when she leaves. We generally managed to cook just fine and we both love cooking, but clean up is always more of a pain and we didn't always get around to it as quickly as we would have liked. So the kitchen frequently looked (still does now with a toddler!) like a tornado hit it. If you can be cruel to the environment for a few weeks and just use stuff you can chuck, it the bin, I'd do it! You'll find more of a routine eventually, but the first two months with a new baby is very upside down and inside out. I wouldn't bother with much housework if you can help it.
 
We didn't bother. Hubby cooked for the first couple of weeks when off work (he's a better cook than me anyway) and then I just cooked. I was upto cooking a few days postpartum but I always find baby wants to eat just when I need to cook dinner!
 
Thanks everyone (OP here). I love the disposable cutlery idea, at least for a little while. Great tip ladies! I don't think I'm going to do freezer meals based on your feedback plus I really don't want to LOL! It is just DH and I and my mom does like to cook and clean for us so that will probably cover us. DH also just asked his mom to come help after my mom is gone too and she's also lovely so it sounds like we're covered. For days I'm not covered, I'm lucky in that I live in a place where there's actually a lot of healthy takeout (vegetarian, GF, salads, etc.) options here.
 
I always thought it was a good idea, but never really managed to get it done and didn't find it hard to cook dinner every night after the first few days. Granted, they were not grand meals lol - but nothing I made ahead and froze would have been terribly grand either. You can always ask your Mom to double up a few meals to freeze or once you are doing dinner double up now and then so you have something for the busier days.
 
Well, I would agree with mostly everyone. lol

I am putting a few up because I remember just having days that I wanted to not have to think about what to make. I have a young daughter now that I will need to feed, so I'll be happy to have the meals ready at the end of the day.
I am trying to make a few different types of casseroles so I don't have too much of the same tasting thing.

Having said that, with your mom coming, I'm sure she can help you put some up if you feel the need after your baby comes. You will also know more how you're feeling about casseroles or freezer meals postpartum. I know I felt different before and after my first baby.
 

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