Suggestions for freezer friendly meals to bring new mum

patsypantaloni

Hi all,

Not sure if this would be better here or in Food & Drink, so mods feel free to move

My friend recently had her second baby, her first is four and a half. I'm going to see her next week and would like to bring some tasty, freezer friendly meals that she can use to take some of the stress out of her busy days

She's very health conscious (doesn't eat much meat), and loves things like lentils and chickpeas. She's also breastfeeding so I gather that rules out spicy foods, and possibly other things but I'm a bit clueless on that front...

So anyway, if any of you have any suggestions for suitable recipes that you would have liked when you were just home with your newborns, I'd love to hear them!

Thanks

galah

first answer would be 'chocolate biscuits', but that's not going to cut it on the health front ;-)

What I absolutely love (and whih can be frozen) is Hugh Fernley Whittingstall's 'African Stew' from the Rivercottage every day veg book - lentils, chickpeas, squash, tomatoes and garlic (plus a few herbs n stuff) - it's relatively easy to make and very tasty! And breastfeeding nevr stopped me from eating spices and garlic - better to get babba used to the taste straight away!


The recipe is available on the net.

Or a nice veggie lasagne?

patsypantaloni

Thanks a million, that recipe looks perfect!

(and don't worry, there will be some treats included, she loves lemon cake so i'm bringing one of those too )

Suucee

Can you be my friend.
I wish mine were more like that. They all brought baby clothes and gifts and a few biccies. Which they then had to be served up with a cup of tea.
This time im not telling anyone when i get out of the hospital. Those first few days are mad enough without having to entertain friends and family.

icescreamqueen

You're a very good friend . I was going to say any food which contains as much iron as possible. I started to feel very run down about a month after giving birth due to the lack of sleep and lack of fruit and vegetables in my diet. Whatever you're making, I'd chuck in as much veg as you can.

A really handy food that I'd started to fall back on is jacket potatoes. I usually go for a walk every day with the pram which takes 45 mins. I quickly bung the potatoes in the oven with a little olive oil, pepper, salt and they're ready when I come back. They're very filling and you can vary the filling too. Quick and easy is the order of the day.

annamcmahon

Chickpea and chorizo stew, lentil curry, lasagne would be my choices. She can eat spicy food even if she's breastfeeding. It's a myth that you can't.
It's a really considerate gift btw. I was so fed up of been given biscuits but really appreciated real food. I always that when people brought biscuits they expected us to open they for them so they weren't really for us

Mooby

Hiya, Am a veggie and I breast fed - freezer friendly meals - lentil shepherd's pie - here's an easy recipe - I'd usually double the quantities http://ohwailywaily.com/2009/07/20/lentil-shepherds-pie/ Nice because it's an all in one dish. You could also make up a lentil bolognaise sauce and freeze it so she could just defrost and have it with pasta.
Even basics like a tasty homemade tomato sauce can be good standbys to have in the freezer.

patsypantaloni

Thanks for all the fantastic suggestions!

Toast4532

My cousin loves cottate/shepards pie, think she uses this recipe

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/775643/cottage-pie

She gets about 10-12 servings from it, which can be frozen and then cooked from frozen (takes two hours to cook from frozen though) or about 45mins if defrosted.

She said soup was so so handy too and really quick to heat up.

Spaghetti bolognese is another one but don't freeze the spaghetti as it will go mushy when defrosted, but the mince sauce is fine to freeze.

Lasagne is another one.

annamcmahon

She said soup was so so handy too and really quick to heat up.

Soup is great because it's filling comforting and if put in a mug can be eaten with one hand

dollybird2

Soup definitely! So handy and filling.
Pasta sauces are great also, handy to defrost & throw over pasta for a filling meal.
Vegetable bundles (partially cooked veg in soy sauce/tomato puree etc) are handy also to put with rice or noodles
Very thoughtful of you and I'm sure it will be well appreciated.

Neyite

Make up small spinach & feta pies ready for freezing, so she can bung a single serving in the oven when she needs to.

Spinach is packed with iron which another poster mentioned upthread. And its veggie (and delicious too)