I’ll never forget the first evening I was home alone with my brand new baby. We were both starving, and I didn’t have anything ready in the fridge. I thought I could quickly whip up a veggie stew—just chop a bunch of vegetables and throw them into the crock-pot. Easy, right? Except it wasn’t. It was 4pm and it was the witching hour, and my baby still wasn’t very good at breastfeeding and I didn’t know how to position her in any way other than the one where I sit in a very specific way on the couch. So I tried standing and nursing her with one hand, while chopping vegetables with the other hand. We both ended up crying, and only one of us had our dinner. Instead of a nourishing bowl of veggie stew, I ate toast and trail mix. I do not want any other brand new mom to have to resort to eating toast and trail mix for dinner, ever.
Adding some sort of meal service to your registry is a game changer for early postpartum. Not only does your family still need to eat, but you need nourishment–especially as your body heals from pregnancy and birth. Additionally, if you’re breastfeeding your baby, you’re going to need to be well-fed in order to keep yourself healthy and to help with milk production (breastfeeding hunger is a real thing).
Thinking about meals while you’re still pregnant might seem unnecessary, but I promise, getting yourself set up with a plan for feeding yourself and your family will help immensely once your new baby arrives. Planning for food often gets overlooked because folks aren’t really aware of how tricky it can be to do anything, let alone shop and cook with a brand new baby.
So before you find yourself too hungry, consider planning your postpartum meals—and don't forget to add them to your BeHerVillage registry.
Let your loved ones feed you
Premade meals from your visitors
If you’re having visitors come by after you give birth, it’s completely reasonable to ask them to bring you a snack or meal. Even if it’s not something you’re going to eat right away, having easy and ready-to-go food in the fridge for you and your family is one less thing you have to think about preparing or cleaning up after. When I had my first baby, one of my visitors came by with a massive tray of meatballs and sauce– enough for me to eat for three days. It was so amazing to have that ready to go, and it was really delicious.
In home meal prep from your loved ones
Another option to get food from your loved ones, is to ask for them to do a little grocery shopping for you, and when they come back to your home ask them to prepare a few things for you so you can eat it when you’re hungry. With my first baby, one of my family members bought all the ingredients to make a massive fruit salad. They used my kitchen, did all the washing, chopping and cleaning, and I was left with a huge bowl of fruit to eat whenever I wanted.
Drop-off meal delivery
If you’d rather not have visitors stay for long but you still want the love and nourishment from a homemade meal, you can use a service like MealTrain.com– you set up a meal train, ask for specific days/times you want meals delivered, include your meal preferences, and your loved ones can sign up to bring you meals on the days that work for them. This way you’re getting delicious meals made with love on a schedule that makes sense for you. You can schedule this in advance or as needed.
Eat locally, but at home
Your favorite restaurants, delivered to you
If you have a favorite meal from a favorite place, you should definitely eat it after you’re home with your new baby. Whether you’re asking a friend to pick it up for you, using a gift card and ordering directly from the restaurant, or using a meal delivery service like UberEats, or DoorDash, it’s an easy way to make sure you’re being fed with food you like to eat.
Because the BeHerVillage registry is so flexible, it’s easy to create a custom service to ask for the cash (which goes directly into your bank account) to pay for your meal, a delivery fee plus a tip!
Hire a professional
Subscription boxes and meal kits
There are lots of local and country-wide services that allow you to order healthy meals that ship to your home or for local pickup. Some services offer fully prepared meals, while others like HelloFresh ship the ingredients to your home along with instructions on how to create a tasty meal (a job you can delegate to a visitor, your partner or a postpartum doula).
Postpartum specific chefs and meal prep professionals
One really cool service we’ve been seeing more and more in our BeHerVillage registry guide are locally-based chefs. While the services vary person to person, many of these chefs are offering in-home meal preparation, bulk meal delivery options, as well as “stock your freezer” style services to ensure that local families are being well fed by local chefs during their postpartum period. This is a great opportunity to support small business owners in your area while feeding your family!
Other ways to make sure you’re eating well in the postpartum period:
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Online grocery shopping & delivery
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Fun snack boxes like those from Thrive Market
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Making bulk meals to store in your freezer while you’re still pregnant
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Finding some healthy and filling one-pot, or blender recipes to have on hand
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Making a list of your favorite foods/snacks to hang in your house so your visitors can take a hint
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Make friends with your neighbors and I’m sure they would love to send you some leftovers!
You need to make sure you’re feeding yourself after you’re home with your baby, it doesn’t matter how.
Your body, your mind and honestly your soul needs the nourishment of good food. Whether you’re having your partner make you some meals, ordering from UberEats, or hiring a chef to stock your freezer– it’s best to start planning now for how you’re going to eat when your new baby arrives.
There are lots of options for meal services on the BeHerVillage registry!
Search our registry guide to see if there are any services in your area. You deserve to eat well after your baby arrives!
Get the support you deserve
Be Her Village helps parents like you fund the support they deserve. Having a baby and looking for support? Create a registry for support and receive gifted funds directly to pay for your support team.
Are you a birthworker? Use Be Her Village so clients can pay for your support. Create your free profile and become the best baby shower gift a parent will ever get.