Here's my list of unfussy, easy-to-reheat, and just plain good postpartum freezer meals to lighten the load on new parents, along with a detailed pantry prep guide (with meal ideas) for on-the-fly convenience. See what worked and what didn't from a long-time food blogger.
Not shockingly it's taken me over a year to get this post out.
As a food blogger of 12+ years I thought hard about how I was going to approach stocking the freezer with postpartum meals. The impulse to go nuts with it and spend tons of time strategizing and optimizing cuisines, courses, and nutrition was there, but at the end of the day I just...didn't want to.
I decided to take a more relaxed route and stick to unfussy, good food that wouldn't turn to mush when reheated. Done.
Instead I discovered my time was equally worthwhile spent thoughtfully stocking my pantry, fridge, and freezer with ingredients and prepared foods that could easily mix-and-match to form fairly nutritious, tasty meals and snacks without needing to think.
So here's where I landed on both! All the meals I prepped, all the groceries I stocked up on, and how it all shook out.
Note: I recognize I was fortunate to be physically up for the task of cooking this much at the end of my pregnancy. That said, I absolutely did not have it in me to do monster cooking days from sunup to sundown (tbh I never do). I don't think I made more than two recipes on a given day, usually one or none over a several-week period. Stretching this process out a bit is big to keep things on the easier breezier side.
Jump to:
Postpartum Freezer Meals
- Baked pasta - Whether lasagna, baked ziti with meatballs, or stuffed shells with mascarpone (restaurant taste at home!), it all works. I freeze dishes like these in medium-sized trays, not large. More on that below.
- Meatballs - Specifically Italian sausage meatballs, but in the time since I've also gotten hooked on higher fiber turkey meatballs. Either/or! I like to vacuum-seal a couple of servings together.
- Sauces - Specifically blocks of Sunday sauce (I reheat these babies right from frozen) and sun-dried tomato pesto (just thaw in the fridge then toss with hot pasta).
- Cooked shredded meat - Making a batch of pulled pork in the slow cooker was a good move for easy-to-throw-together meals like quesadillas, sandwiches, salads, etc.
- Enchiladas - Clearly not authentic by any stretch, but I wrapped cooked pulled chicken (honestly I think I used rotisserie), onions, refried beans, fillings like that in whole wheat tortillas, divided them between smaller trays, then covered them with enchilada sauce and shredded cheese.
- Soups - Perfect frozen in blocks! I went with minestrone soup with ditalini but do your thing.
- Pizza dough - Pulling homemade pizza dough out of the freezer to thaw, press out, and top was clutch.
- Chili - Hearty comfort food, this is my forever favorite, no notes Instant Pot turkey chili.
- Egg bake - Super versatile. Slices of this chorizo and cottage cheese egg bake were eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
- Mac and cheese - Frozen in blocks, vegetarian protein mac and cheese reheated surprisingly well on the stovetop over low heat with a small splash of milk.
- Breakfasts - Baked oatmeal bars are easy to wrap and freeze individually, and my post has instructions on reheating from frozen. I also made a batch of cottage cheese pancakes.
- Quick breads - Individually-wrapped slices of Bisquick banana bread to pull out whenever.
- Random desserts - I worked ahead on four months of blog post recipes for a maternity leave of sorts, so I had a variety of sweet odds and ends in the freezer, including cream cheese thumbprint cookies and chocolate salami. We were so glad to have these on hand, as well as balls of frozen cookie dough.
I also pre-mixed up several batches of homemade taco seasoning but forgot to pull it out of the pantry for this picture.
Postpartum Pantry Prep & Meal Ideas
Intentionally stocking the pantry/fridge/freezer with nutritious ingredients that could transform into sub-15 minute dinners was a crucial piece of the puzzle.
Grocery Shopping Without Thinking
Wow, did I hate making a grocery list in those early days postpartum. Don't make me think! Here's how I made it easier on myself.
I figured out which ingredients would be helpful to have on hand, such as frozen chicken, then looked into the nutritional info of the brands and kinds available at my grocery store(s). I identified my top picks, which in this case for me would have relatively lower saturated fat/sodium. Repeat for everything.
I saved all my picks onto big lists on both the individual grocery store's websites and Instacart. For Trader Joe's items I just stocked up before I gave birth because no way was I stepping foot in that madness any time soon thereafter.
This made it really easy to click through, see what's on sale, and add to my shopping list or grocery pick-up cart without having to think. Because it can be SO surprisingly hard to think, even of simple things like assembling a grocery list or comparing nutrition labels.
Areas I Focused On
- Easier/faster base grains - quick brown rice, par-cooked farro (LOVE. I've only seen this at Trader Joe's), quick-cook steel cut oats, gnocchi to toast, not boil
- Frozen fruit and vegetables - Fruit for smoothies, yogurt, or oatmeal bowls, and veggies for quite honestly anything else. Steam-in-bag frozen vegetables were our BEST FRIEND.
- More nutritious versions of things - Breads, pastas, tortillas, waffles, and bagels (if I can't get a real deal NJ bagel, I go for Dave's cinnamon raisin) with more heft, like extra protein or fiber, whole grains, less saturated fat, less sodium, or no added sugars, etc.
- Quick proteins/mains - Fully-cooked chicken sausages (for easy air fryer sausage links), frozen fully-cooked chicken strips/nuggets with "better" nutrition stats (whatever this means to you), tofu, tempeh, eggs, frozen veggie burgers, canned seafood, picking up a rotisserie chicken
- Snacks - Low-sodium roasted almonds, ready-to-eat lupini beans, meat sticks like Chomps (also a big fan of Mighty Spark chicken teriyaki), lower-sugar instant oatmeal, no-added-sugar fruit cups, your favorite hefty snack bars (I like Kind breakfast protein bars)...snacks with oomph
Easy Semi-Homemade Meal Ideas
- Salad kit + frozen chicken nuggets (salad kit not pictured - I didn't partake in these while pregnant because of a few food safety recalls, but did bring them back postpartum.)
- Toasted english muffin + sardines + mustard/hot sauce - The best pantry lunch ever. I stock up on the lightly-smoked Wild Planet sardines every time I go to Costco, and the Thomas' multi-grain muffins each have 8 grams (!!) of fiber.
- Toasted english muffin + pizza toppings - My beloved fiber-rich english muffins make fantastic english muffin pizzas. We ate (and continue to eat) these often.
- Protein pasta + prepared basil pesto - My favorites are Barilla protein+ or Brami pasta with Buitoni pesto (in my experience refrigerated pestos are generally way better than shelf-stable). I did expend the effort on topping with freshly-grated Pecorino Romano, because that's always worth it in my world.
- Steel cut oats + frozen fruit + nuts - Good to batch prep, I love a combo of creamy stovetop steel cut oats with frozen wild blueberries (no need to thaw) and walnuts/pecans. My post has instructions for using quick steel cut oats to save time.
- Eggs + multi-grain bread - Toad-in-a-hole (egg-in-a-basket) style. Don't sleep on breakfast for dinner. French toast also fits the bill.
- Eggs + cheese + roasted vegetables - Scrambled or omelet-style, with roasted from frozen broccoli florets or air fryer frozen cauliflower or microwave-steamed veggies, seasoned as you like.
- Greek yogurt + hearty granola - Big fan of Trader Joe's PB protein granola.
- Frozen/refrigerated ravioli + good marinara + canned white beans - You know what good marinara means to you. I often stuck with low-sodium varieties from Michael's of Brooklyn and Victoria during this time.
- Better canned soup + grilled cheese on multi-grain bread - "Better" means different things to everyone. I always have a few cans of the Campbell's healthy request (with lower sodium/saturated fat), specifically in the chicken and sausage gumbo flavor.
- Whole wheat tortillas + rotisserie chicken + sauce - I love any and all quesadillas. Add your favorite cheese, canned beans, or vegetables as the cuisine fits.
- Your favorite protein powder + frozen fruit/veggie blend + milk - For a super easy smoothie. I love that this Wyman's mixed berry, cherry, kale blend includes the leafy greens for easy convenience.
- Multi-grain frozen waffles + nut butter + lil syrup - Though from personal experience I can tell you that swapping Nutella in for the nut butter hits the spot on occasion.
What Worked Well
- Splitting dinners - Preparing extra meals on top of cooking normal dinners felt like a tall order most days. Instead I often cooked one dish, like minestrone soup, set aside two servings for our dinner that day, then froze the rest. That made the process feel more manageable. Same for baked oatmeal - eat some, freeze some.
- Batch-prepping ingredients - I looked at the recipes I had planned for the next few days and chopped all of the onions, parsley, garlic, etc. at once. Storing them already portioned out (and labeled!) made future prep more streamlined.
- Being realistic about my capabilities - Did I envision stocking my freezer with my homemade beef and sausage lasagna? Yes. Did I have the oomph to make and assemble it in those last weeks? Not a chance. I pivoted to smaller trays of baked ziti with meatballs to deliver my favorite Italian-American comfort food flavors with less work.
- Keeping a list - Updating a note on my phone of what I made and how many servings were left saved us from searching around the freezer to try and see what we had available to eat.
- Considering serving sizes for reheating - I didn't want to reheat the same tray of something multiple times, so breaking up larger bakes (like baked ziti) into smaller containers was helpful to expeditiously get through it. Plus we wouldn't blow out on the same leftovers too many days in a row.
What I'd Do Differently Next Time
- Start a little earlier - I completed all of my cooking in the middle/middle-end of my third trimester. Next time I'd start a few weeks earlier to have extra time to be even more laid back with the process.
- Do even more freezer clean-out beforehand - Despite my best efforts, I still underestimated the amount of space I'd need in the freezer to store everything. Chipping away at this earlier would be a big help. Same for the pantry.
- Make more of some things - I ate my entire stash of cottage cheese pancakes before baby was even born, oops! Their convenience was too good to pass up in those last weeks.
Tools and Equipment That Helped
- Labeling stuff: Good old masking tape and a Sharpie marker to write the date on things if your containers aren't easy to write on.
- Pantry organization: Depends on the arrangement of your pantry, but a 5-inch tall wire shelf and three-tier risers make mine a whole lot more useful and efficient.
- Freezer molds: I bought a two-pack of two-cup silicone souper cubes (paid link) and wow did they come in handy. I froze leftover portions of things like soup (one cube per serving) and pulled pork (one cube for 2-3 servings), then popped the frozen blocks out of the molds to vacuum seal and label. Everything fit efficiently into the freezer, didn't hog up containers, and there was zero freezer burn.
- Smaller-sized foil pans: Love a nice big tray of something, but I didn't want to commit us to eating baked ziti four days in a row once it was defrosted. Splitting a big batch of something between 9-by-6-inch foil pans (available in multipacks) was beneficial to grab out just a few servings at a time.
P.S. My Favorite Date Recipes
If you're looking for ways to enjoy dates without eating them plain, here are two of my absolute favorite chocolate-y date recipes I spent a lot of time with near the end of my pregnancy. That smoothie in particular tastes like a Snickers bar - just so good.
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