Easiest Method to Stock Up on Freezer Meals for Postpartum

This is the most streamlined process to developing a plan for making freezer meals for postpartum. When I was pregnant with my first baby I was so overwhelmed trying to figure out how to prepare my kitchen for when the baby came. I spent a lot of time just making a plan for what I wanted and needed to do. Do not make the mistake that I did! Freezer meal prepping is really so simple.

By the time I got to prepping for my second postpartum, I had things figured out a little better. I created this exact method to plan out my meals. I followed this process and planning became the easiest part by far. Of course, we all know how rough it is to be a hot kitchen 34 weeks pregnant. But still! Having a very simple plan made the process much less painful. After stocking my freezer the second time, I’ve figured out several more ways to simplify the process so I can give you easy button options at each step. Here are the steps:

Meal Count

I’m going to sound like a broken record here but do not overcomplicate this! Take an inventory of how much energy you have and what you predict postpartum will look like. Once you have an idea of those things, you can decide if you want enough meals to last you for a week, 2 weeks, if you just want to have breakfast prepped, whatever. Come up with the number that will help you the most without adding a lot of stress with the extra cooking.

EASY BUTTON: Only plan for dinners for a week.

The easiest strategy would be to focus on dinners because that’s the biggest point of stress in the kitchen by far. So plan for dinner. Then you can decide how long, but I would definitely say give yourself a week. Even if you plan on only making 4-5 meals to get you through that week, it will be worth the trouble now for the peace and rest you’ll have then.

Meal Selection

You know how many meals you want to make and what category (breakfast, dinner, snacks) they are. So now we need to pick recipes. Go for the tried and trues here. As much as I appreciate fancy meals and would love to have a private chef cook for me after I’ve delivered a baby, that is not reality! Meals need to be simple to make and simple to eat.

EASY BUTTON: Get your recipes from your family catalog of meals.

If you don’t really have a set list of recipes or are having a hard time deciding what would be easiest here are a few dinner ideas as a jumping off point:

• Breakfast casserole
• Spaghetti
• Chicken noodle soup
• Tacos
• Pancakes

It does not have to be complicated. In fact, it will be most comforting to have your normal foods on hand that are familiar in a period of adjustment.

Freezer Organization

The key to having an easy experience with stocking your freezer meals for postpartum is to make sure you can fit it all BEFORE you start. Before both of my prepping sessions, I had to clear out a big chunk of my freezer so I could put all my freezer meals in there. Extra space is even better. I definitely had some leaks trying to cram a bunch of stuff in. One of the worst things in the world is when you go to all the trouble of making freezer meals and then you have to wait to be able to freeze things or things don’t fit or something like that.

EASY BUTTON: Give yourself at least 1 shelf dedicated to freezer meals.

Schedule Food Prep

If you are wanting this to be a low stress process, I would highly recommend that you skip batch cooking and plan to make double of your current meals and complete the process as you go about normal life. DO NOT try to get all of the cooking done in one or two days. Just don’t do it.

This was the hardest lesson for me to learn through my freezer meal prepping. I did not want to accept that batch cooking is not something that I like to do. Now, if I didn’t have children interrupting or I wasn’t constantly being blocked by a basketball strapped to my abdomen I might enjoy it. But 32 weeks pregnant, especially in the summer, that would not be my pick. I enjoy having things done immediately. But I can confirm that delaying the completion of this project by a few days or weeks is MUCH better than getting it all done at once.

EASY BUTTON: Cook your freezer meals for postpartum alongside your current weekly meals and just freeze half. Don’t try to batch prep anything.

Please just listen to me on this one. I wish I’d listened to me on this one.

Gather Your Supplies

Once you have your plan for what you’re doing and when, you just have to shop and cook it! If you’re batch prepping this is more of a headache because it kind of becomes a separate list from your normal groceries. But if you’re just making double this doesn’t even have to be a thing at all. Just order your groceries like normal, maybe get a little extra than usual. Picking meals that are part of the usual rotation will make it to where you can probably sometimes just use what you have on hand.

EASY BUTTON: Just get a little extra of your normal groceries and PICK IT UP, do not go shopping in the store.

If you’re not already at least doing grocery pickup late in pregnancy, I don’t really know what you’re doing. Here is your permission to start picking up your groceries from now until at least after your baby is a month old, if not until the end of time. I don’t do grocery delivery because my husband won’t let me go that far, but if you can get away with it I’d say go for it. You’re doing a great service to your family by stocking these freezer meals for postpartum, so feel free to take whatever shortcut you can.

Cook & Freeze

You’ve made it! Now don’t start making it hard on yourself. Use disposable containers and be sure you label everything. With instructions, too! This will make it the easiest week postpartum when it comes to meals. Also, make sure you stock up on disposable cutlery and dinnerware. If ever there is a time to avoid washing dishes, postpartum is it.

EASY BUTTON: Use disposable for everything and label everything, even if you think you don’t have to.

I cringe thinking back now to my postpartums and how much time my husband spent washing dishes. Although I am so thankful for him doing that, nobody needs to be doing that for this season of life. I never took this advice and I definitely wish I had. Keep the focus on as little chores and normal work as possible and just rest and soak up this exciting new time!

MORE RESOURCES…

• Grab my Postpartum Freezer Meal Plan Checklist for a printable version of this blog post so you can follow along as you prep!
• If you want a complete, done-for-you meal plan you can check out my 2 Week Postpartum Freezer Meal Plan.
• For a more in-depth explanation of creating your own postpartum meal plan, take a look at this freebie I created that walks you through exactly how to make a freezer meal plan completely custom.