The Ultimate Guide to Postpartum Freezer Prep Meal Ideas
Bringing a new baby into the world is a joyous and life-changing experience, but it also comes with its challenges, especially when it comes to finding time to cook nutritious meals.
Part of the reason I wrote my book, The Food Doula Cookbook (and ensured the postpartum section was huge!), was because I saw how much my postpartum clients struggled with eating well (and eating at all) with all of the changes of having a new baby at home. And, I saw the consequences of that - more exhaustion, more brain fog, longer healing, and a harder time with life with a newborn.
Postpartum freezer meals are the ultimate lifesaver during this time, offering convenience and ready-to-go ideal nourishment for healing, recovery, breastfeeding, and mental health without any of the work while you are resting and bonding with baby.
In this ultimate guide, we will explore how to choose the right types of meals for freezing, storage tips, essential tools, and a wide array of meal ideas to keep you well-fed during the postpartum period. Yay for getting postpartum prepped!
What are postpartum healing foods?
Postpartum healing foods are foods that are excellent sources of the key foods and nutrients your body needs to support your healing, mood, energy, and breastfeeding requirements. Some healing helper foods include:
Fats: Such as coconut milk, ghee, salmon, egg yolks, and nuts and seeds, which are crucial for hormone production, energy, and mental health.
Protein: Important for tissue repair and muscle recovery. This includes sources like meat, fish, eggs, and plant-based proteins like lentils and beans.
Whole grains: Provide sustained energy and are a good source of fiber to support your energy levels and digestion.
Colourful vegetables: Packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that aid overall health and recovery.
Hydrating foods: Like bone broth, soups and stews, which help maintain hydration and are gentle on the digestive system.
Why stock your freezer with postpartum healing foods?
Pregnancy is a very nutritionally expensive task! Because so many nutrients are needed to grow a human, a postpartum mom is often very depleted in key nutrients. Being nutritionally depleted can lead to low energy, fatigue, irritability, low mood, hair loss, low libido, and difficulty recovering.
Eating nutrient-dense foods can support your recovery as your body works to repair tissues that were damaged during birth, shift to postpartum mode (the biggest hormone shift in your life), combat postpartum stress, and replete nutrients.
Additionally, what you eat postpartum can also be beneficial for breastfeeding (both your milk supply and the nutritional composition of the milk you make can be impacted by what you eat).
Choosing the right meals for freezing
When selecting meals to prepare and freeze, consider the following tips:
Nutrient density: Focus on meals that are rich in protein, iron, and other essential nutrients needed for healing. Foods like bone broth, slow-cooked meats, and protein-rich snacks are ideal to support this recovery process and your energy needs.
Portion size: Prepare meals in single-serving portions for convenience! Feel free to add in some large family-size dinner meals, but consider your nutrition needs for breakfast, lunch, and in the middle of the night, too! Single-serving portions are much easier and faster to defrost as needed.
Meal variety: Include a variety of meals such as breakfast options, snacks, and dinners. Energy balls, egg cups, and protein pancakes are excellent choices for quick, nutritious snacks, and come in handy when you’re ravenous between meals (healing, newborn care, and breastmilk production are a lot of work, and need lots of calories!)
Ease of preparation: Choose meals that can be easily reheated or require minimal preparation once defrosted to minimize the effort required when baby is here. Soups, stews, and individually portioned nutritious snacks are amazing options.
Should postpartum freezer meals all be warm meals?
You may have heard that warm, soupy, broth-based meals are ideal for postpartum, and they are! Here are some of the reasons why:
Digestion: Warm, cooked foods are pre-digested and therefore easier to digest. Warm foods require less energy for digestion in a time when energy is being diverted to other very important tasks (like healing, hormonal changes, and producing breastmilk). Warm foods can help prevent uncomfortable constipation by promoting bowel regularity.
Nutrient Absorption: Warm, cooked meals have their fibres already broken down, making some nutrients more bioavailable and easier to absorb.
Hydration: Many of the top recommended postpartum freezer meals you’ll find here (and in The Food Doula Cookbook or Ultimate Postpartum Nutrition Guide) are based in bone broth or coconut milk, both of which provide fluids and your key electrolyte minerals in a time when hydration is needed!
That being said, the most important thing is that you eat food, any food! In postpartum, getting in enough calories and enough nutrition is so important to your healing, recovery, and mental and physical health that all food is the right food.
If not all of your meals are warm and soupy, that’s absolutely okay. Being fed is the main goal! If you can prioritize warm, cooked meals in the first few weeks, that’s a huge win, and doesn’t need to continue long-term.
Storage tips for food safety
Proper storage is crucial to maintain the quality and safety of your freezer meals. Here are some food safety tips:
Cool before freezing: Always let your meals cool completely before freezing. Placing hot food directly in the freezer can raise the temperature, potentially leading to bacteria growth.
Portion Meals: Freeze meals in individual portions to avoid thawing and refreezing, which can compromise food safety.
Air-tight packaging: Use airtight containers or freezer bags with as much air removed as possible before sealing to prevent freezer burn.
Labeling: Clearly label each container with the name of the dish, date of preparation, and reheating instructions. This helps ensure you’re eating the meals within a safe time frame (sometime within 3-6 months of freezing).
Defrosting safely: Always defrost meals in the refrigerator within a day of when you intend to eat the meals or using the defrost setting on your microwave to prevent bacteria growth.
Essential Tools
Having the right tools can make your meal prep more efficient. Here are some essentials:
Glass or silicone containers: For storing meals in single-serving portions, I recommend Silicone Souper Cubes for your meals and snacks. They come in a large variety of sizes and are amazing for saving space! Save 10% with my code: fooddoula10.
Freezer bags: For storing snacks and individually wrapped items.
Labels and permanent markers: To label containers with important information.
Slow cooker or Instant Pot: For preparing large batches of meals with minimal effort.
75 meal ideas for postpartum freezer prep
46. Heal in a Curry
47. Pressure Cooker Daal Soup
48. Paprika + Cinnamon Pulled Pork
49. One-Pan Chicken + Golden Rice
50. Slow Cooker Butternut Squash and Ginger Soup
51. Warming Chicken Stew
52. Rainbow Sausage Bake
53. Veggie-Full Burgers
54. Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas
55. Quinoa Fried Nice
56. Lentil and Turkey Meatball Soup
57. Healing Fish Stew
58. Goodness Me Tomato Sauce
59. Slow Cooker Poached Chicken and Ginger Stew
60. One-Pan Chicken in Red Pepper Cashew Sauce
61. Miso Mineral Soup
62. Tuna Casserole
63. Falafel Patties
64. Pressure Cooker Beef Liver & Sweet Potato Stew
65. Everyday Bone Broth
66. Spaghetti and Turkey, Bacon, & Spinach Meatballs
67. Salmon Chowder with Bone Broth
68. Postpartum Curried Chicken and Sweet Potato Stew
69. Turmeric Beef Stew
70. Hidden Greens Meatballs
71. Rosemary Chicken Patties
72. Slow Cooker Shredded Buffalo Chicken
73. Moroccan Chicken Stew
74. Chicken & Black Bean Taco Soup
75. Lentil, Bean, & Turkey Chili
Postpartum Freezer Prep Breakfast Ideas
1. Sweet Potato Pancakes
2. Red Pepper Basil Egg Cups
3. Tahini Carrot Oat Cookies
4. Carrot and Date Muffins
5. Blueberry Yogurt Bars
6. Mini Crustless Sun Dried Tomato Quiche
7. Mini Banana Muffins
8. Preggo Protein Pancakes
9. Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins
10. Sheet Pan Pumpkin Pancakes
11. Peach and Raspberry Baked Oats
12. Cravings Breakfast Sandwich
13. PB+J Energy Balls
14. Spiced Sweet Potato + Quinoa Muffins
15. Almond & Oat Breakfast Cookies
16. Egg and Veggie Breakfast Burritos
17. Black Bean and Sweet Potato Breakfast Burritos
Postpartum Freezer Prep Snack Ideas
18. Pumpkin Oat Energy Balls
19. Amped Up Apple Sauce
20. Bedside Granola Clusters
21. Almond Chocolate Oat Bars
22. Double Chocolate Lentil Muffins
23. Tahini Cardamom Granola
24. Cinnamon Chocolate Banana Loaf
25. No Bake Chocolate Cashew Bites
26. Chia Yogurt Bites
27. No Bake Chocolate Almond Protein Bars
28. Chicken Breakfast Sausages
29. Berry Sorbet
30. Lemon + Ginger Carrot Muffins
31. Cookie Dough Bites
32. Banana Coconut Nice Cream
33. Sunflower Flax Energy Balls
34. Banana Coconut Protein Bars
35. Peanut Butter Date Balls
Postpartum Freezer Prep Lunch and Dinner Ideas
36. Slow Cooker Spiced Cauliflower + Sweet Potato Soup
37. Rosemary Chicken Noodle Soup
38. Vietnamese Beef Stew
39. Slow Cooker Spiced Carrot & Lentil Soup
40. Pressure Cooker Chili Lime Pulled Pork
41. Chicken Liver, Beef & Basil Mini Patties
42. Stout + Chocolate Chili
41. Pumpkin Chicken Curry & Rice
42. Creamy Sweet Potato, Edamame & Pinto Bean Soup
43. Chicken & Spinach Enchiladas
44. Golden Mama Healing Stew
45. Coconut Curry with Jerk Meatballs
Where to get the recipes
If the recipes above sound delicious to you and perfect for your postpartum freezer meal prep, good news!
These recipes are found across my 3 best postpartum nutrition resources:
The Ultimate Postpartum Nutrition Guide: This is the resource for you if you want a super comprehensive guide (and tons of recipes) for long term postpartum nourishment - for postpartum prep, healing, recovery, breastfeeding, and figuring out the real-life strategies to eating and meal prep with a baby at home. This is like having me as your coach, but at a fraction of the cost!
The Labour and Birth Nutrition Guide: This is the resource for you if you’re looking for a specific guide to walk you through exactly what to eat to properly and optimally fuel your labour, birth, and initial postpartum healing days (with recipes for early labour, active labour, and early postpartum).
The Food Doula Cookbook: This is the resource for you if you are looking for an all-in-one guide and (award-winning!) cookbook to take you through every stage of pregnancy and postpartum, too!
Stocking your freezer with nutritious, easy-to-prepare meals is one of the best ways to ensure you stay well-nourished during the postpartum period. By following these tips and utilizing the meal ideas provided, you'll be well-prepared to handle the demands of new motherhood.
Support for all your postpartum needs is crucial for your recovery and well-being. Don't wait until the last minute. Start planning your postpartum freezer meals now! Download the free Healing Postpartum Freezer Prep Guide for more in depth support on the ‘how to’ pieces covered here!