Breastfeeding Moms Reap Health Benefits →

Another Green Baby Guide Duel: Don’t Make Meals for New Parents!

Posted by rebecca

11 Aug

I have a feeling I’m going to lose this battle, but here it is: I don’t like the idea of giving food as a gift for new parents. Joy loves the idea so much that she wrote a post with food ideas, and the comments were overwhelmingly positive. It seems that almost everyone enjoys giving freezable meals to worn-out parents and that worn-out parents enjoy receiving them.

Here I was, whipping up nutritious dinners just moments after giving birth.

Not me! Why not? Well, that takes us back to another classic Green Baby Guide Battle: I don’t like to buy food in bulk and prepare big batches of meals to store in the freezer. Joy does. Casseroles and other “frozen delights” just don’t appeal to me. Yes, I realize they are quick and convenient, but every time I’ve frozen something ahead of time, I find I am loath to defrost it and heat it up for dinner.

Another reason I don’t like getting food as gifts is because I am a bit particular. (For starters, I don’t eat meat.) I think my friends and family know this. Maybe that’s why I didn’t receive any tuna casseroles or beef briskets as gifts when our baby was born! The only food I remember getting were whole grain cinnamon rolls without frosting, made by my aunt. Now it just so happens that I love these particular cinnamon rolls and hate anything frosted, so I was very happy.

Here’s the last reason I disapprove of the whole freezer food phenomenon: I like to cook! Those first few weeks and months with the baby actually afforded me more time than ever to whip up tasty lunches and dinners.

I like the basic idea behind freezer food as gifts: Friends and family come together to help out a family going through a major life transition. So why am I even writing this post? Before I gave birth, I was told I’d barely have time to take a shower or brush my teeth, let alone concoct flavorful dishes from scratch. I dreaded the thought of weeks on end of freezer meals and was happy to find I was able to carry on as normal in this one small corner of my life. As I said . . . I’m pretty sure I’m alone on this one!

This post is a part of Works for Me Wednesdays over at We are THAT Family.

Filed under: Works for Me Wednesday

RSS feed for comments on this post

16 Responses for "Another Green Baby Guide Duel: Don’t Make Meals for New Parents!"

Becca @ My Perception of Life August 11th, 2009 at 8:47 pm 1
Fresh is always better, I understand completely! However, I have succombed to the efficiency of make-ahead frozen casseroles myself. Only on occasion. I do not eat anything pre-prepared, so cooking meals requires quite some time at my house and it’s just easier to split the recipe into into 2 small dishes and freeze one (it’s just me and my hubby).
Jo August 12th, 2009 at 4:21 am 2
My parents organised for a cleaner to come in and clean my house about 2 weeks after I got home after having my 2nd bub. It was brilliant! I’d prefer that to frozen dinners anyday
Llama Momma August 12th, 2009 at 4:46 am 3
Without the meals given to us by friends and neighbors, we would have eaten nothing but cold cereal and frozen waffles in the months following the birth of my twins.

I guess I was too hungry to be very picky!

Certainly, I would let your friends know that you don’t want food after you have a baby…they can save their energy for those who do.
JodieR. August 12th, 2009 at 5:26 am 4
Yes, I’m afraid you’re going to be alone on this one! I guess it depends how bad of a birth you have, and then if you’re up to cooking afterwards. Personally, I had third degree tearing, and I could barely walk for several weeks without crying. I could stand for short periods of time after the first couple days, however not long enough to slave over a hot stove, that’s for sure!!! My coworkers brought me three meals, and my mom cooked us several meals too. I actually only had to freeze one meal because the meals were spread out, and I didn’t receive them all at once.
I know what you’re saying about frozen meals; I don’t like them nearly as much as fresh! That’s why I was glad I only had to freeze one meal
Dorine August 12th, 2009 at 6:41 am 5
You are not alone! I’m with you, Rebecca.
Natalie - Go Green Baby August 12th, 2009 at 7:16 am 6
I would have to agree with you to some extent. I absolutely HATE leftovers and frozen meals. I am lucky enough to have a husband that loves leftovers so nothing ever gets wasted, but if it was just me, I am sure there would be a fridge/freezer full of rotten leftovers.

I am also quite picky about foods made by other people. I only like foods made by my husband, myself, my mother and restaurants. I always feel anxious when I am eating at a friends house or when other family members cook for me. I love flavor on my foods and I find when I eat food made by others I do not enjoy the flavor.

That being said, I do enjoy not having to cook! The ease of throwing a casserole in the oven is ever so wonderful with a newborn. My mom brought us down several pre cooked meals when DS was born and they were tremendously helpful. We are secretly hoping she will do this again when #2 arrives in September.
Kacie August 12th, 2009 at 11:57 am 7
Nobody sent me frozen meals after the birth of my son. I was kinda bummed. BUT — I had my own freezer stocked with meals and prep work: diced up veggies, pre-cooked meats, etc. I could throw those things together and make something “fresher.”

When a friend recently had a baby, we delivered meals that were made that day. No freezing for her!
Joy August 12th, 2009 at 1:30 pm 8
Our meals were mostly fresh, but we did receive a few frozen dishes from friends including homemade white cheddar macaroni and cheese, a rich chicken curry and kid-friendly waffle sticks. I think you must have to have a good sleeper or just one child (or both) to be able to cook in those early weeks. Both of our babies had to be constantly held in order to stay unconscious so we treasured those delivered entrees. It also helped us gain some great recipes for foods that were outside of our regular meal routine.
rebecca August 12th, 2009 at 2:07 pm 9
Wellll, I may have been exaggerating just a bit when I made it sound like we were doing nothing but creating multi-course gourmet meals throughout the entire newborn period. Audrey was actually an awful sleeper. But, like I said, I like cooking. I was really tired, but I felt like cooking was something relaxing I could do to get a little break from tending to a screaming baby. (I am not one of those people who have very many fond memories of those first few months. In fact, one of my only fond memories is the cooking!)
Terra Jones August 12th, 2009 at 2:56 pm 10
One thing I love about our church and surrounding friends is the support after baby comes (1st or 5th, doesn’t matter!) They are ready and waiting to bring meals. We’ve never had a frozen meal brought to our door – it’s always come warm. Some families have brought frozen breakfast stuff along with the meals (one mom is great about stocking you up with pancakes and waffles and it’s AWESOME)

However, I coordinate our church freezer meal swap, so frozen meals don’t bother me in the least So easy. So yummy. Perfect for our crazy schedule.
Amy August 12th, 2009 at 4:43 pm 11
Interesting perspective and I guess it’s like any act of generosity: give with the recipient in mind, not what the giver wants to do, right? : )

My son had major food sensitivities, so most everything we were brought was off-limits for me (nursing). I will say, though, a freezer full of food (thanks to my dad and stepmom) saved me from feeling bad about my husband not getting home-cooked food while I ate zucchini, rice and boiled chicken.

Good for you for finding a way to make it work!
Erin aka Conscious Shopper August 12th, 2009 at 5:20 pm 12
I like the meals after giving birth idea, but with all three of my kids, I wished they would have come a week or two later instead of the first week. The first week or two is when the baby sleeps all the time, and plus my mom was always there to help, so having someone else feed us was not really necessary – although we were still grateful. We didn’t get any frozen meals, just fresh. Maybe I should have popped them in the freezer!
rebecca August 12th, 2009 at 7:35 pm 13
I was obviously not speaking from experience since no one made us any meals when my baby was born. To clarify, I guess I thought that the meals would arrive fresh but that the idea was to put them in the freezer for later. I didn’t actually think people would drop a frozen block of lasagna on the doorstop!
karalee August 17th, 2009 at 12:23 pm 14
Actually, if someone dropped frozen lasagnas on my door step I’d be thrilled!!!

But I’m a mama of 2 crazy, non-stop boys (3 and 1), who works 40 hours a week… with a hubby who is a stay-at-home dad by day and your local friendly pizza delivery guy by nite. I have barely have time to pee much less make large, gourmet meals on a regular basis.

I LOVE to cook… but I seriously have to make the choice to spend time with my kids and save the gourmet type stuff for the time after they go to bed, before I go to bed (when I’m not doing laundry or paying bills, etc) – hence the freezer thing. I am constantly working on creative cassaroles and ideas to make things decently nutritional, edible AND freezable.

Who doesn’t LOVE freshly made meals over frozen… who gets excited to eat left-overs… but, when you’re busy and you still want to attempt something healthy with the narrow window of opportunity I have, you do what you have to.

I think the whole food gift thing is very personal, not something you want a stranger to drop on your step… but coming from somone who loves you and knows what you like and NEED, it’s worth more than anything – especially in those first insane, sleep-deprived weeks (months LOL) with a new baby!
Rachel December 16th, 2009 at 9:58 pm 15
I know how you feel! I am very particular about what I eat when it comes to food; no soy, no corn, no msg (and the zillion names it goes under) no canola oil, no high fructose corn syrup, no grains, etc, you get the point. I’m really into the whole “clean foods”, green smoothies and a high protein, high fat diet.

Since the family and friends are much more laid back when it comes to ingredient lists and food, I’d rather save everybody the trouble of making food I’m not going to eat, especially since I’ll be breastfeeding exclusively. If they want to drop off a CSA box or some fresh grass fed beef or lamb though… that’s another story!
Jennifer Lovitt March 5th, 2010 at 5:55 pm 16
I agree! We were lucky to have my parents come and cook at out home every other night or so for almost two weeks (I have a sneaking suspicion that it was mostly an excuse to spend lots of time with their first grandchild but I was nursing and starving and didn’t care haha!). One person brought a casserole and it was probably the most disgusting thing I have ever eaten. I can’t even remember what was in it but it seemed like the strangest concoction of everything nasty. People have very different tastes! I have had to lie about that casserole several times and the whole incident literally left a bad taste in my mouth.