What meals do you like to give new Mummy friends?? Would like to make a couple for a friend of mine but not sure what. I'm a bit of a picky eater so not the best judge on things that everyone likes, LOL.
basically anything that can be heated in the oven, and eaten with one hand if necessary! (i hate micro reheated food - it never stays as hot, and you can only heat it once - if it's in the oven, you can heat it that way, then micro if absolutely necessary)
lasagne can generally be cut with a fork - pasta bake is easy too. slow cooked food in gravy/sauce that can be reheated easily.
we did curries etc frozen with rice already mixed through. not quite as appetising as fresh, but simple just the same.
i was lucky when DD was born as DH was working away, and this sort of food was second nature for us, and always in the freezer. we had those little tin trays with meals stored in them - he could reheat in his little portable oven thing in the truck, or i could put them in the oven myself at home. it was very simple stuff but very tasty and simple enough to manage. i'd probably aim for those sort of trays if you can - simple, single serve (in case mum and dad want different meals or something), and the tray for reheating is able to be thrown away without adding dishes for clean up.
homemade pasties or sausage rolls can be good for meals or snacks.
individual muffins or slice that can also be frozen is good too, especially if they have kids.
Do you know what I really liked having when DD was born ... cake! It was such a nice little luxury.
Otherwise I've made chicken, corn and leak pies, anything in a slow cooker - casseroles, curries etc
Oh and I love a meaty minestrone - with little chicken or beef meatballs and the soup is made quite thick so it is really filling and more like a casserole.
My normal offering is pasta bake (unbaked) in a disposable foil container. With some cut up veges. And I often make a batch of breastfeeding cookies or some other kind of filling, healthy-ish finger food.
Quiche is another favourite offering as it can be eaten hot or cold. And can also be eaten one handed standing in front of the fridge....
We just got through the last of our meals, it was a sad day lol. We were given shepherds pie, a chicken pesto pasta, spinach and ricotta cannelloni, meatballs in puttanesca sauce with pasta, gnocchi and pasta sauce, chicken and corn soup, Thai sweet potato soup, and marinated chicken drumsticks with mashed potato. It was all a blessing and delicious, so there's some ideas! Also, mil made us a bunch of bikkies and slices so we had yummy snacks
My GFs all filled my freezer at my Mothers Blessing - They cooked Pasta, individual savoury pies, macaroni cheese, Savoury Mince, Chilli con carne, zuchinni slice, chicken casserole.
When I did a cook up for one of my girlfriends I did spag bol, lasagne, butter chicken, beef and lamb casserole, apricot chicken and various soups. Having some easy and ready to go morning teas is good too - esp for b/f'ing mumma's who are starving like me - muffins/cake/slice (sweet and savoury) are great
I was happy with any type of main course. I found I usually find a moment to eat with a knife and fork so that wasn't so bad. Freezer to oven was a big deal for me so lasagne and quiche were real winners.
The things I really remember were the snack type things. Banana bread and chocolate cake were two favourites that I could graze on out of the fridge through the day.
I received enough meals after DS2's birth that we didn't cook for 7 weeks. Curries, stews, bolognese, soups, snacks, cakes.
We had A LOT of bolognese and pumpkin soup. It's the "default" freezer meal, so if you want to mix it up, perhaps avoid those. But it was lovely anyway. The soups were frozen in individual serves so I could have them for lunch - much appreciated given how hungry I was.
Vegetarian "no sausage" rolls were a favourite too, cause DS1 and I could eat them for snacks.
The things missing, if anything - milk and fruit. We had everything we needed for meals but kept running out of milk and fruit. Fruit was the best easy snack whilst bfing. Now when I do a care package for a mum, I include long life milk, tea bags, and fruit. But it's always nice to ask if they need anything at the shops on your way too.
My latest idea - homemade biscuit dough, frozen into a log so they can bake them when they want to.
ETA: it's worth asking if they have freezer space, and any dietary requirements.
Oh yeh! My BIL and sil bought us a bunch of groceries a few days after ds2 was born, milk, juice, bread, fruit, snacks, basic staples and stuff. It was very unexpected and very appreciated!
This is true about fresh food. My go-to gift for interstate people has become a home delivered box of organic fruit and nibbles (nuts, chocolate etc) as soon as possible. I called an organic place in the city where my sister lived as soon as she called me after the birth of her baby and they delivered it within the next couple of hours... the first thing she ate post-birth ended up being one of my delivered organic bananas
Just wanted to add that I really appreciated when people bought something for the kids especially, like cut up fruit and vege sticks and cooked sausages or sausage rolls or mini quiche etc. So that they could eat something healthy easily for lunch. I'm alright with me eating weetbix for lunch, but I'd feel guilty that the kids weren't getting enough veg.
My sil made a bunch of frozen pasta meals in individual serve containers. Loaded with veges and meat they were great lunches. But my favorite things were some vacuum sealed slowcooker meals. She put them together so all I had to do was defrost them and pour into the slow cooker for the day.
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Best meals for new Mum!
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