Postpartum Meal Prep Guide

This postpartum meal prep guide is full of all sorts of ideas! Meals you can freeze, quick meals to throw together, things we keep in our freezer, and snacks to have on hand. These are just some ideas based off of what we’re doing and have prepped ourselves! I hope this is helpful for anyone who needs it, whether you’re having a new baby, in a busy season of life where you’re wanting more prep, or anything along those lines! We never prepped meals before our other two boys, but this time we realized how big of a help it would be for us if we did!

This is a long one, but I really hope it’s helpful! So let’s go ahead and get into it!

FREEZER BREAKFASTS:

Baked Oatmeal/ Cups– This will always be my number one favorite freezer prep. I did actually make baked oatmeal before the other two, but this is the easiest breakfast to have on hand in my opinion. You can make huge batches and freeze in slices. If you have other kids as well, baked oatmeal is usually a hit with them too so it’s something the whole family usually likes. I have a TON of flavors on my blog. All of them can be made into muffins too if you prefer that. My favorite way to enjoy baked oatmeal is usually with a dollop of yogurt, some peanut butter, fruit, and sometimes chia or flax seeds!
Easy Freezer Breakfast Burritos– These were new to us and we love them so much. Such a fun thing to have in the freezer when you’re craving something more savory and easy to eat with one hand.
Freezer Friendly Breakfast Sandwiches– These are probably my second favorite thing we prepped in the breakfast category. I love a breakfast sandwich and it’s so nice having it ready for you. Only downside is they do cook better when they’ve been thawed overnight so remembering to do that is hard, but they’ll still work if you forget.
Easy & Fluffy Sourdough Pancakes– I always freeze leftover pancakes! So easy to pull out and quickly thaw on the counter or toast in the toaster. Sometimes I’ll make pancake toast and top with peanut butter and honey. You can do this with any pancake!
Blender Spinach Oatmeal Pancakes– One of the few ways T will eat oatmeal! Only if he doesn’t know haha. I love making these because they’re loaded with nutrients and a filling and yummy breakfast for the boys. I froze a ton of these to make it easy for them, but I also love them too!
Energy Bites– I have lots of different energy balls on my blog, but these are convenient for all for a quick snack and especially when that nursing hunger is crazy!
Crockpot Steel Cut Oats– I love crockpot steel cut oats so much. It’s hearty, filling, and so good. You can freeze leftovers in individual portions and then thaw and cook. This is also a super easy thing to throw all in the crockpot once baby arrives for breakfast all week long and minimal effort.

OTHER QUICK BREAKFASTS:

Yogurt Bowls- Yogurt bowls are so fast to throw together as long as you have the ingredients on hand! My favorite combo is Fage 2% or 5% greek yogurt, Purely Elizabeth or Homemade granola, fruit of choice, peanut butter.
Toast- The holy grail! Quick, easy, simple, no thought or prep to it! Just toast up your favorite kind of bread and top with whatever: peanut butter & banana, avocado, etc! Add eggs (hard boiled are super convenient) or just eat toast!
Egg Bake– I haven’t made one of these in forever but it’s one of those breakfast you have to make but then will feed you for days! It’s so yummy and one of my favorite ways to eat eggs. It’s basically just a quiche in a loaf pan. Pair with toast, potatoes, whatever you want or eat as a quick snack!
Smoothies- Smoothie are quick and simple and you can even create little smoothie packets to store in the freezer and blend. These are also a great snack! My favorite combo is vanilla protein (we love Clean Simple Eats & you can use the code DADDIO for 10% off), frozen blueberries, frozen bananas, spinach, almond milk, & nut butter.
Overnight Oats- I know not everyone loves overnight oats, but I personally do! I have lots of different varieties!

FREEZER LUNCH & DINNERS:

Chicken & Veggie Green Curry– This is such and easy and healthy one to have on hand. Loaded with lots of veggies and chicken & make sure you have some quick rice to throw together or freeze a portion of rice to thaw and heat to eat with it! There’s an option to make this in the crockpot as well making it a super easy meal. I do prefer making it on the stove, but the crockpot is still delicious! We also have a Red Curry option too!
20 Minute Egg Roll in a Bowl– This meal would be super easy to just throw together after baby is born, but it also freezes wonderfully. When we made it, we doubled it and froze half to easily thaw for a quick dinner. Don’t forget to serve it over rice too!
Soups– Soups are probably one of the best things to freeze! We have so many soup recipes on our blog so I just linked to that category in general. All of them freeze great. We recently got these souper cubes for freezing, and they are the greatest freezing tool ever. You can use them for WAY more than freezing but you freeze things in certain portion sizes and then you can thaw just a bowl of soup rather than a ton of soup. They’re phenomenal.
Easy & Cheesy Beef Enchiladas– I mean what says comfort like enchiladas? They’re cheesy, filling, and so satisfying! These are ridiculously easy to prep, again make a batch for dinner and then freeze the other half while you’re at it for a super quick dinner! We also have Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas and you can use the same freezing steps for this one.
Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas– Another Mexican meal, but another very simple prep. This one is so simple because you freeze everything raw, and then you cook it when the time comes. The cook time will come together VERY quickly and feels good to have a nice prepped meal. You can also freeze our One Pan Shrimp Fajitas with the same steps!
Crockpot Chicken- This is SO convenient to either make fresh or make and freeze some. You can throw this chicken in just about anything: in a sandwich/ wrap, on a salad, in a rice bowl in tacos or enchiladas, soups, etc. To make this, I used 4-5 large chicken breasts and seasoned them with sea salt, pepper, garlic powder, olive oil, and a splash of chicken broth. Then I cooked them on low for 5-6 hours until they easily shredded. I cooled them completely and stored the shredded chicken in quart freezer bags in 2 cup portions and laid them flat for easy thawing and storing!
Cooked Quinoa- I made a huge batch of quinoa and froze it in 2 cups portions to pull out whenever we need an easy grain!
Cooked Jasmine Rice- Whenever we made jasmine rice with meals, I’d always freeze portions in a quart freezer bag and lay them flat into the freezer for easy thawing and storing.

OTHER QUICK LUNCHES:

Pesto Caprese Pasta Salad– The easiest pasta salad ever. You can use any pasta that you love and add a side of chicken sausage for protein or eat it as is. It comes together so quickly and can be made in huge batches.
Quick Buffalo Chicken Wraps– We love these wraps! You can use any shredded chicken but to make it super simple, just buy a rotisserie chicken and assemble the wraps with buffalo sauce and you’re good to go!
The Best Chicken Salad– My favorite chicken salad ever. I love things that you can make a lot of and then benefit from all week long! You can also change up how your serve this which is fun, like a sandwich, wrap, salad, with crackers, or sweet potatoes, etc.
Our Favorite Tuna Salad– Another favorite! Just like the chicken salad as far as serving but with tuna.
Easy Greek Chicken Pitas- This is one that works for both lunch and dinner! The hardest part is just marinating and cooking the chicken. Otherwise it’s literally just assembling the pitas which is so easy! Would be great to make a big batch of chicken and then have this for days!
Turkey Wrap/ Sandwich– I mean it’s a classic for a reason and always a favorite. I love any sandwich! PB&J’s are always easy and delicious too!
Snack plate– I love a snack plate! Basically a grown up lunchable or a mini charcuterie board. So quick to throw together especially with any random things you have. Protein (like turkey, hard-boiled eggs, cooked chicken), crackers, veggies, fruit, hummus, cheese, nuts, etc! Always a winner.

OTHER QUICK DINNERS:

The Easiest Meatball Subs– All you have to do is throw meatballs in a crockpot with sauce. Dinner is served basically haha. Just put the meatballs on a sub, add pesto if you want, melt on provolone, and you’re good to go. You can also serve the meatballs over pasta!
Greek Meatballs with Tzatziki & Veggie Medley– This one is super easy and can cut lots of corners! Just make the meatballs which take 5 minutes to throw together) and pair with pitas or rice, store-bought tzatziki & hummus, feta, cucumbers, tomatoes, olive oil, DONE.
Easy Pepperoni Pizza Baguettes– Pizza is a top food in this house so changing it up is always fun! This pizza baguettes are a winner and the kids loved making them by theirselves too!
Sheet Pan Sausage & Veggies- This is a very easy and yummy meal! Also, buy pre-chopped veggies to make it extra simple and leftovers would be great for lunch.
Easy Crispy Lemon Chicken- A very simple meal that can be made so quickly and served with any sides you want!
Sheet Pan Sweet Potato Nachos- These are another really simple one! I love making the nachos over sweet potatoes, but honestly if chopping all of those feels like a lot, just do it over chips or even sweet potato chips!
Tacos- We eat tacos almost weekly over here! We just cook ground beef in homemade taco seasoning (on this blog) and then serve in tortillas, over rice, in quesadillas. Of course all the fixings too like romaine, cheese, salsa, greek yogurt, chips, corn, etc!
Pasta with Meat Sauce- This is such an easy meal! Brown meat in a skillet with salt and pepper. Add in jarred pasta sauce (our favorite is Rao’s) and serve over your favorite pasta with a side of broccoli or any veggie!
Breakfast For Dinner- Everyone is always happy with this option in our house! Whether we do pancakes, eggs, bacon, breakfast sandwiches, it doesn’t matter. It’s easy & always delicious.
Anything From Our Blog– Honestly we have so many additional recipes on the blog and the majority are pretty quick and simple so hopefully that helps give you ideas!

SNACKS TO HAVE ON HAND:

Perfect Bars & GoMacro Bars– We usually get our Perfect Bars from Costco & our GoMacro’s from Trader Joe’s.
Energy Bites– I shared this one above because they’re easy to freeze, but I love having these on hand for everyone for a snack because they’re so easy and tasty.
Yogurt & Granola- Our favorites are usually Fage or Siggi’s for Greek yogurt, and Purely Elizabeth or this homemade recipe for granola.
Veggies, Crackers, Hummus, Cheese– To save yourself time, you can buy pre chopped veggies. We love the multigrain crackers from Trader Joe’s or pretzel chips. Our favorite hummus is Boar’s head & there are so many good flavors. We love all the cheese, but any good cheddar for snacking!
Bananas/ Apples with Peanut Butter
Meat Sticks- We love the Chomps ones and find them at Trader Joe’s!
Baked Goods- I love snacking on a baked good, especially banana bread! But I have so many fun dessert recipes on my blog!
Leftovers- Any other good snacks are just leftovers in general, the same items from breakfast, or whatever you like to snack on!

THINGS WE USUALLY HAVE IN THE FREEZER:

Frozen Fruit– We usually have things like blueberries, bananas, and sometimes other berries, mango, & pineapple.
Frozen Veggies- This just makes it easy from when we don’t have fresh produce and want to add a green to dinner or something! We love things like green beans, broccoli, and/ or mixed veggies.
Tortillas- We buy Trader Joe’s organic whole wheat or a giant pack from Costco
Shredded Cheese- So nice to have this around. You can even use it straight from frozen in most meals!
Chicken breasts & Thighs
Ground turkey & Deli Turkey
Ground beef & Sometimes Steak
Chicken Sausage and/or Pork Sausage– We love the Aidell’s chicken sausage from Costco.
Bacon and Breakfast Sausage
Bare Chicken Nuggets– T would eat chicken nuggets for dinner every night if we let him! These are so good and honestly taste close to Chik-fil-a, especially in the air fryer! Thomas & I eat them too! They’re also delicious on a salad if you’re looking to get in more greens.
Potstickers– Such an easy thing to make for a snack or a dinner with a side of edamame or something fun!
Frozen Pizza- We always get frozen pizza from Costco, but just stay stocked on your favorite! Honestly we genuinely love the Kirkland supreme cauliflower crust pizza. You can’t even tell it’s cauliflower at all and it’s a fun change up. Then we always just have the cheese or pepperoni in the freezer for the kids!
Breads– We usually always have extra breads in case we run out! So things like: a sandwich loaf, sliced sourdough, english muffins, etc.
Frozen Baked Goods- I literally freeze basically all leftover baked goods! They’re delicious and easy to thaw and enjoy when you want a nice homemade treat.
Frozen Cookie Dough- It’s rare that’s I don’t have my best salted chocolate chip cookie dough in the freezer! Perfect for when you want just one cookie or a few cookies at a time, because let’s be honest, they’re best fresh!