When it comes to prepping for baby — there’s a lot that needs to be done. One of the most important things that can get overlooked during the business of crib building, diaper buying, and baby clothes washing — is prepping meals for yourself and your partner postpartum. So as a new mom myself, I am here to help you and share my very own postpartum meal prep guide!
We don’t have any family nearby so we couldn’t count on anyone to drop off dinner once our daughter was arrived. So, knew that if we wanted to eat well during those first few weeks, we were going to have to plan ahead and do it ourselves. At 37 weeks, I started filling our freezer for my postpartum meal prep!
As a Holistic Health and Nutrition Coach I wanted food that was nourishing, comforting, easy to reheat, and packed with nutrients essential for postpartum. I focused on meals with plenty of protein, fiber, and nutrient-dense ingredients. I also wanted to prep foods that felt warm, grounding, and easy to eat during those first few weeks of recovery.
What I wanted from my postpartum meals
Protein was one of my biggest priorities. After giving birth, your body is recovering from a pretty incredible physical process, and protein plays an important role in tissue repair and recovery. It also helps keep you full and provides amino acids that your body needs for all of the rebuilding and healing that is happening postpartum. And if you’re breastfeeding, your nutritional needs don’t simply go back to what they were before pregnancy, it actually increases! Your body is using energy and nutrients to produce breast milk, so making sure I had plenty of satisfying, protein-rich foods available was key!
I also wanted to be intentional about iron-rich foods. Giving birth involves blood loss, so getting enough iron during the postpartum period is something worth paying attention to, particularly if you’ve experienced more significant blood loss or have been told your iron is low. This was one of the reasons I included the liver Bolognese in my meal prep. I wanted to have an iron-rich meal already prepared rather than having to think about how to incorporate more iron once I was home with a newborn.
Fiber was another big priority for me. Postpartum constipation is very real, and between changes in digestion, less movement, dehydration, and the medications or supplements some women take after birth, things can feel a little sluggish. So including plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, seeds, and other fiber-rich foods in meals and snack is key!
I also gravitated toward warm, nourishing, and easy-to-digest meals. I personally love the idea of warm and grounding foods during postpartum, and I knew that things like kitchari, casseroles, and other softer meals would sound especially good to me during those early weeks.
Ultimately, I wasn’t trying to create a perfect postpartum diet. This isn’t the time to be tracking calories or worrying too much about getting everything exactly right. The most important thing to me was simply making sure I was eating enough and giving my body the nourishment it needed to recover. I wanted to make things as easy as possible for my husband and myself so that once our daughter arrived we could focus our time and energy on her.
9 meals I prepped for postpartum
1. Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Chicken enchilada casserole is one of my favorite because it’s so easy and it makes a lot of leftovers! We ate this for dinner plus two lunches.
This is the ideal postpartum freezer meal because so matter how tired you are in those last weeks of pregnancy (aren’t we all?) it’s very low effort. It’s simple a layered casserole with chicken, tortillas, cheese, and enchilada sauce, and packed with the nutrients you need. To increase the fiber and protein in this meal I also added in a can of black beans and sliced red bell pepper to the layers!
Recipe: Chicken Enchilada Casserole
2. Liver Bolognese
I’ve come to realize not everyone includes liver into their diet?! I am a HUGE liver fan not because of the taste (it’s not amazing let’s be honest), but rather for it’s powerful nutrition benefits. It’s one thing I recommend to all women trying to conceive because it’s just so important.
Now for postpartum, it’s extremely beneficial to help replenish key nutrient stores! Think highly absorbable heme iron, vitamin B12, vitamin A, and choline. Which you’ll find help your energy and healing after birth — win!
I followed the Bourdain Bolognese recipe from Riegl Palate, which includes chicken livers along with the other meats. I know liver isn’t everyone’s favorite, but if you’re someone who already likes it or is looking for an easy way to incorporate it into a meal, this was a really good option. The chicken livers add depth to the sauce without making the finished Bolognese overwhelmingly liver-y.
We ate a lot of liver in the year before trying to convince and I swear it made a difference!
Recipe: Bourdain Bolognese
3. Teriyaki Chicken & Broccoli
This meal simply requires buying a bag of frozen broccoli, some instant rice, and throwing some chicken and marinade straight into a bag! When it comes time to cooking you can roast your chicken in the over, or on the stove! This was one of the first meals we made postpartum and it was just perfect.
Recipe: Chicken Teriyaki with Broccoli
4. Kitchari
My education in nutrition also covered Ayurvedic eating, which is a holistic nutrition practice originating from India that focuses on balancing your unique dosa — Vata, Pitta, or Kapha. Kitchari is a traditional Ayurvedic meal that is nourishing and very easy to digest, plus it has fenugreek which is great for milk production!
I also liked that it was easy to portion out and freeze, so I could have individual servings ready whenever I wanted one.
Recipe: Kitchari
5. Dairy-Free Egg Sandwiches
These were one of my own recipes, and honestly, they ended up being one of the smartest things I made for postpartum. I wanted an easy breakfast that I could take out of the freezer, heat up, and eat without actually having to make breakfast. I also wanted something with plenty of protein because I knew I would be hungry in the mornings.
Makes 12 sandwiches
Ingredients
For the egg bake:
- 12 eggs
- Big handfuls of spinach (the more the better!)
- 1 cup cashew milk
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 large red bell pepper, diced
- 3 Impossible “beef” patties, cooked and sautéed with onion
- Dairy-free cheese slices
For assembling:
- 12 English muffins
- Dairy-free cheese slices
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350°F and grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish.
Cook the Impossible “beef” patties with diced onion until cooked through, then set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, cashew milk, salt, and pepper. Stir in the spinach, diced red bell pepper, and cooked Impossible “beef” mixture.
Pour the egg mixture into the prepared baking dish and bake for about 20–30 minutes, or until the eggs are completely set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. The top should be just barely starting to brown.
Let the egg bake cool slightly, then cut it into 12 squares. Assemble each sandwich with one egg square, a slice of dairy-free cheese, and an English muffin.
Wrap each sandwich individually in foil and place them in the freezer.
When you’re ready to eat one, transfer a sandwich from the freezer to the refrigerator the night before to thaw. I like reheating mine in a panini press, which makes the English muffin crispy and the cheese nice and melty.
These were such a good thing to have ready during those first few weeks. Having a protein-rich breakfast that I could pull out of the freezer and heat up without actually cooking anything made my mornings so much easier.This is definitely a recipe I want to give its own post because it was so useful during those early weeks.
6. Protein Waffles
I loved having these in the freezer because they gave me another easy breakfast option that I could pull out whenever I didn’t want eggs or an egg sandwich. The recipe is made with cottage cheese and is designed to be high in protein, and the waffles can be frozen for later. No protein powder needed!
I found that having a few different breakfast options ready to go was much better than making one huge batch of the same thing. Even when you’re hungry and don’t have much time, it’s nice to have a choice.
Meal prepping with my little gal in my belly was so much fun!
Recipe: Cottage Cheese Waffles
7. No-Bake Protein Lactation Bites
This is my own recipe I created during pregnancy because I couldn’t find any that I liked, and they have been a postpartum staple ever since! They don’t require any baking, are easy to store and freeze, and you can grab whenever you are hungry.
In the first two months postpartum, my husband would prep me my breastfeeding tea every night, along side two of these lactation bites that I could enjoy while I nursed my daughter to sleep. It was such a kind, and loving ritual.
In these early days I especially liked having snacks that I could eat with one hand because there are only so many situations where sitting down with a plate and any utensils is not realistic with a newborn.I made a double batch ahead of time and kept them ready in the refrigerator and freezer so I, or my husband, could always reach for.
Recipe: No-Bake Protein Lactation Bites
8. Banana Lactation Muffins
Another of my own recipes I created because I couldn’t find a recipe that checked all of the boxes I wanted postpartum: lactation support, fiber, and nourishing ingredients your body craves after birth. They’re made with ripe bananas, flax seeds, brewer’s yeast, Greek yogurt, flour, coconut oil, egg, cinnamon, and a few other simple ingredients.
I froze them so I could take out a few at a time instead of having 20 muffins sitting on the counter and needing to eat them all within a few days.
Banana Lactation Muffins
Makes about 20 muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups sugar of your choice
- 1/4 cup flax seeds
- 1/4 cup brewer’s yeast
- 3 ripe bananas
- 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 6 tablespoons melted coconut oil
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons milk of your choice (I use cashew milk)
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350°F and prepare a muffin tin with liners or cooking spray.
Mash the bananas in a large bowl, then add the sugar, Greek yogurt, vanilla, melted coconut oil, egg, and milk and mix until combined.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, flax seeds, brewer’s yeast, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until everything is just combined.
Divide the batter between the muffin cups and bake for about 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let the muffins cool completely before storing or freezing them.
I’ll eventually give these their own recipe post, but for now I wanted to include them here because they were such a useful part of my postpartum meal prep!
One note on the name: I call these lactation muffins because of the ingredients traditionally used in lactation recipes, but I don’t consider them a guaranteed way to increase milk supply. I mostly made them because they were an easy, satisfying snack that I enjoyed having around.
9. Chia Seed Pudding
The last thing I made unintentionally the day before I gave birth (yay for great timing) was chia seed pudding!
I liked having an easy option in the refrigerator that I could grab for breakfast or a snack, and it was another simple way for me to include fiber in my diet. This was also a good reminder that postpartum meal prep doesn’t have to mean cooking everything weeks in advance and putting it all in the freezer. Having a few things that could be prepared ahead and kept in the refrigerator was helpful too.
Recipe: Chia and Flaxseed Pudding
Postpartum meal prep takeaways
- The biggest thing I learned is that you don’t need to make everything complicated. If you’re preparing for a baby, I don’t think you need to spend days making dozens of elaborate freezer meals. Pick meals you already know you enjoy, make larger batches when you can, and freeze portions for later.
- I would also make more breakfast and snack options than you think you need. Having something easy to eat in the morning or something I could grab when I was hungry was essential in those early days. Most of the time my husband cooked us dinner from scratch and that worked perfectly with our days.
- I think it’s worth making at least a few things that you can eat with one hand. It sounds like a small thing, but there were plenty of moments when I was holding the baby and realized I hadn’t eaten anything in hours. Having a muffin, protein bite, or breakfast sandwich that I could easily grab made a difference.
And finally, don’t feel like your postpartum freezer needs to be filled with food that looks like the healthiest version of your life. Make food that you actually enjoy eating and tastes good. Postpartum is a time when you’re recovering, adjusting to a completely new routine, and taking care of a tiny human. If a meal is nourishing, but also comforting and delicious, that’s a win.
Your postpartum meal prep checklist
If you’re getting ready for your own postpartum period, these are the meals I would put on my list:
Freezer meals
- Chicken enchilada casserole
- Liver Bolognese
- Teriyaki chicken and broccoli
- Kitchari
Breakfast
- Dairy-free egg sandwiches
- Protein waffles
- Banana lactation muffins
- Chia seed pudding
Snacks
- No-bake protein lactation bites
- Banana lactation muffins
- Easy fruit and other grab-and-go snacks
I hope you enjoy and let me know what you decide to make postpartum, or what your favorite was!
You might also like:
