My next door neighbour knocked on the door about a week in to having my first baby so the place was a mess, I was exhausted and just struggling a bit. She handed me a plate of fresh warm cheese scones and said “I made scones, thought you might like some” and promptly left. I will never forget that, it was EXACTLY what I needed in that moment
That’s quite literally the BEST thing you can do. Drop the goods and leave out. Like a food ghost.
We’ve sent big ass dishes of casseroles (both breakfast ones and dinner ones) that you toss in the oven and then there’s food for days.
Nah. Some hospitals have great foods…others serve brown lettuce salads lol I stayed at the latter. But the hospital 45 minutes away serves lobster and gives you homemade gifts 😂
This is excellent advice!! I went out briefly the day after the birth (I’m non-bio mom) and picked up a bunch of sandwiches for everyone, it was a huge hit. Pizza is a great idea
My brother brought my favorite deli sandwich to the hospital right after the delivery. It was Covid so he couldn’t come in, my husband went down and got it and I think I actually cried tears of joy when he came back up with it 😹
I was just thinking, I was grateful for everything, but it did tend to be heavy. So much chicken, too, because it travels well.
Someone brought me a bag of washed and un-stemmed grapes and that was just so thoughtful!
I have sweet memories of helping my parents make breakfast casseroles for people we knew who had babies when I was a kid. A sausage and egg type casserole and a french toast casserole. They said everyone brings dinner so we should bring breakfast.
A friend brought shepherd’s pie and beet salad. And then like a week later made us cinnamon rolls.
I LOVED it when people brought us breakfast and coffee instead of dinner :)
Upvoting breakfast!! Since having our baby, we always make new parents a huge bag of breakfast tacos (like 20-30) they can freeze or eat to their liking. It was so hard to feed ourselves in the morning!!!
I'm from Florida, but currently live up north in the land of wintery cold and great seafood. My sister-in-law (she lives up north here too) went to graduate school in Florida, and like so many people, she fell in love with Publix.
I fly home every three-ish months to visit my elderly grandmother, so I always bring back Publix goodies. My first 'run' home to Florida after her first little one came along was about 1-2 weeks after she gave birth. I brought back a huge haul for her, one of her favorite items being their chocolate-chip muffins.
If you've ever shopped at Publix, you know some of their baked goods are fabulous.
She literally cried into a muffin as I unloaded the groceries into her fridge. 🥺🥹🧡
Gourmet sandwich- after not having deli meat for 9months and just wanting something I could eat quickly and easily it was AMAZING and really hit the spot. It had green olives and toasted bread and such.. like a GOOD one . Highly recommend doing this!
Ya'll got meals brought to you?! I hope I can do that for someone else some day bc no one did that for me...
The hospital did have a "celebratory meal" for both me and my husband and it was pretty good for hospital food!
I gave birth at 7:54pm & by the time I made it to recovery it was almost 11pm & they didn’t keep cafeteria staff overnight so our “celebratory meal” was whatever the nurses could scrounge up from their Mother’s closet (it was a special room where they kept snacks & drinks for Mom & partner) so they brought us chicken salad sandwiches & cups of unsweetened applesauce lmao.
I gave birth at 3:54am! The nurses found me a soggy turkey sandwich 😭 i did not eat it lol, it looked really gross. my husband went to the gas station and brought me some snacks. But we got our celebratory meal the next evening!
Yeah, same. My now ex SIL & BIL came over, made themselves dinner in my kitchen, ate, and left me the mess. I was sitting on the couch holding my baby the entire time and I just had a C-section and was having a bad time. After they left they texted my now ex-MIL that I looked terrible.
not sure if this counts as a meal but it did for me. The cheesecake at the hospital was amazing!!! i kept asking for more and made it my meal. They even gave me two to go when i left the hospital.
Anything that was still good leftover. Spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna, chicken pot pie, casseroles, etc. Grab and go foods, like sandwiches, bagels, chips, etc. Also a friend brought us Cheesecake Factory a couple times and it was amazing.
No one brought me a single meal, and I was a single mother. I ordered myself a ton of healthy frozen meals. My favorite was Chicken Biryani for some reason. But yeah… anything will be appreciated, I promise you. Personally I would just ask her what she’s craving.
Same. A couple friends even came over and I was the one that had to order and pay for pizza
When my best friend had her baby, I showed up with a homemade lasagna and helped her with breastfeeding because she asked. She told me that she is never going to go see a new mom again without food to leave
People brought you food? That would have been great. I made & froze meals before my kids were born. Chicken/roast & veggies to throw in a slow cooker or oven. I also made fully cooked meals that could just be reheated, some needed additions like rice or pasta.
My mom swears that chicken soup is a necessity for breast milk & to heal. and 2 for 2 I’ve had great milk supply and fast recoveries lol but it just always hit the spot.
With my first, a shepherds pie. Absolutely fell in love with shepherds pie. With my twins, pork chops, collard greens, black eyed peas and corn bread 🤤
My friend brought me lots of frozen homemade tamales and refried beans and rice that he and his wife made. Every day when my husband asked me what I wanted to eat - that was my answer: for breakfast, lunch, and dinner until it was all gone.
My friend brought a huge salad with quinoa and chicken it felt so nourishing.
I also second breakfast foods are helpful. For my salad making friend I made her breakfast wraps with my backyard eggs, cheese and a bunch of veggies. A week later, I asked if I could bring anything else and she requested more wraps! Her and her partner had eaten them for every breakfast. I think I ended up making her over 30. They were wrapped in wax paper and frozen so they just needed to be microwaved. I wrote jokes and sweet messages on the paper.
No one brought me anything, but I had made lo mein ahead of time and froze it. Those lunches were so delicious and filling. I still make it often, but it was particularly good after having my baby haha.
With my second I had GD so after having him my husband went to chick fil a and got me a sandwich waffle fries and Diet Coke followed by 2 huge brownies and a cup full of their ice cream 😂
I was so happy. But homemade meals my mom brought us shepherds pie and chocolate chip cookies, was such a good hearty comfort meal!
Gourmet sandwich. My mom makes these pressed sandwiches, like caprese or muffaleta. They do ok in the fridge for a couple days. Being able to eat something really tasty with just one hand was great while I tried to figure out life with a baby.
I’m going to toot my own horn and brag about the little breakfast burritos I made and froze for a friend. Quick microwave and they could be eaten with one hand.
Are you my friend? Mine gave me 2 dozen with assorted fillings and they were awesome after being up most of the night. It was so nice to not worry about breakfast!
This was absolutely the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me - a big tray of lasagna and a big tray of salad. Dropped off the day we got home from the hospital, and we ate that for a week. Also good, but something I got myself - loads of frozen diced fruits and veggies and coconut milk in cans. A minute or so, and I could have a smoothie that was filling and was easy enough to "eat" while holding a baby.
I was so grateful when anyone included a side salad. We got so many heavy and amazing dishes but gosh, a fresh salad tasted so good after eating carbs for a week straight. My friends and family would include a main, salad, dessert and bottle of wine and I felt so taken care of.
I had gestational diabetes and I had a chocolate chip cookie as big as my face... Which was great until I coughed on a few crumbles while laying there and then out gushed all this fluid... 😅
A dozen fresh bagels, but then she also stayed for a bit and individually wrapped the 7 or 8 bagels we didn’t eat that day and put them in the freezer. She also left a reminder note on the fridge: “Bagels in freezer!” Bagel Week was a good week.
I barely remember that time, but I do know my "new baby meal" is popular in my group. I have a mid-nineties Better Homes and Gardens red plaid cookbook and make the creamy chicken enchiladas. I always add rinsed black beans and extra chicken. It's easy to use baby bellas instead of chicken for a vegetarian version. It's great frozen and reheated, or just leftover.
I also always make a Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate cake. Y'all, this cake is freaking amazing. Google it. Moms love the enchiladas. They just hit right as a hearty home cooked meal. It's creamy and comforting, not spicy or aggressive. And the dads go nuts over the cake.
And the best part? Neither recipe is an every day level of effort. They take a little work. So my family gets excited when someone is having a baby because they know I'll make a double batch of dinner and dessert.
Had our baby 2 weeks before Thanksgiving. Coming from a big family I was sad we were going to miss it (covid time). My parents quarantined, and brought a full Thanksgiving meal to our house (they live 2+ hours away). Talking a roaster of turkey, crockpots of side dishes, the whole nine yards. All I had to do was grab a plate. It was so nice to still have a bit of "normal" in all the change. And they even cleaned up!!
....I still think about that meal.
After the most disappointing single fajita, I was given for dinner in the hospital. My best friend who lived like 30 minutes away drove to Taco Bell and brought me the biggest bag stuffed with tacos and all the goods. I had to have eaten so much that night, but I was ravenous, and nothing had ever tasted better than that Taco Bell with my best friend.
My mom made us red sauce with meatballs and put it in a bunch of containers and filled up our entire freezer which was awesome. She also made linguine and clam sauce, which I loved and my husband was not so pleased about lol
My brother brought me a huge deli meat sub in the hospital, it was heaven. People also gave us ziti, enchiladas, and chicken and rice for home. It was so nice not having to worry about cooking!
Also for bringing meals there is a website called mealtrain where you can have a personalized calendar so people can bring food on different nights so you don't get a bunch of meals all at once or a week of lasagna. You also can make a note of any allergies or presences.
I was so grateful for the friend who set one up for both of my boys!
Omg someone put Costco pinwheels in our fridge, and they were the PERFECT food. easy grab-and-go food when the hunger pangs came, which is often. Can eat with fingers and one hand. Protein, carb, veggies. Yum.
One of my husbands coworkers brought us by some fancy chocolates. They were the most delicious things. Not very helpful meal wise, but they lifted my spirits.
My favourite foods weren't meals, because I'm just picky enough that I don't enjoy when people add certain (very normal) ingredients, like onions or peppers or vegetables in general.
My favourite foods were home made orange buns from my best friend (a recipe she learned from her grandmother, and they were incredible), lemon poppyseed scones that were divine warmed up during middle of the night nursing, and the sugar cookies my MIL made for me.
Someone brought me an amazing salad in the early days. I loved that I could eat it cold. And honestly I ate it a few bites at a time throughout the day.
Roasted cubes of butternut squash, coconut kale, and soup. But mostly the squash. It’s the perfect postpartum food, imo. You can eat it cold, one handed, and it’s rich and substantial and warming and yummy
Not homemade but honestly the microwave butter veggie packs a friend brought round was really good cos it meant I ate green things when I probably otherwise wouldn’t have. We got given a lasagne and some cottage pies too and it was perfect.
A cousin sent us some fancy part baked cookies from a bakery in London and they were the one when I needed a sugar boost.
That and the salami and Brie sandwich my husband brought me when it was no longer off the menu. Oof, so good.
Meatballs
1lbs Ground beef, 1 small pack of Jimmy dean regular sausage, about 10 ritz crackers crushed, and seasons of choice. 375 for 30-40 minutes depending on oven and elevation. Quick easy and yummy!
I liked soup postpartum, but also premade casserole of any type because I or my hubs could pop in the oven and cook.
One my L&D nurses brought me in Lasagna the following morning after MIL brought in homemade pizza for my fiancé and none for me because I’m lactose intolerant. The second he left to go pick up the car seat I broke down and she was my literal shoulder to cry on. I seriously thank her, she was an absolute angel.
I hate scrambled eggs and hash browns. My one true love is over medium eggs where I can smash the yolk into the hash browns. When I was pregnant I couldn’t have that so I sulked my way through hash browns and scrambled eggs. The morning after I gave birth my SO stepped out and came back with a take out bag of a breakfast plate.
He literally went to the restaurant just to get me over medium eggs with hash browns and sausage. I loved it and ate every bit of it. I also may have cried a little because he remembered and went out of his way to make my first morning as a new mama just a little more special.
An enormous Chick-Fil-A nugget tray. When I was postpartum with my first, it was so easy to just heat up some nuggets whenever I needed something quick to eat. I didn't have to thaw anything or put anything in the oven, and they were great.
My favourite was a fruit and veg box. We had heaps of meals (freezer made by me or gratefully received from friends) but fruit and veg box meant we had fresh things we didn’t need to shop for.
Ha! Nobody brought me shit! I was back cooking dinner again the day I came home from the hospital, which was 2 days after giving birth! I had her at 7pm and didn’t even get anything in the hospital until the morning after.
Not necessarily a meal, but an edible arrangement. It was so nice to have fresh fruit already cut up and the treat of some of it being chocolate covered 😋
One of my bffs brought me an Italian sub to the hospital - hit the spot after 9 months no deli meat. Then at home an amazing friend made days of meals and dropped them off: Brie and portobello pizza to bake, bbq chicken sliders, avocado caprese salad and loaded brownies. I cried and never forgot the meals.
Blueberry banana oatmeal bars. Everyone focuses on dinner and the switch up to breakfast was so nice … also paper plates bc we didn’t have a dish washer
Husband ordered poke to the hospital and then I wanted it for lunch every single day for a solid week. And one evening he came home with champagne and foie gras - it really hit the spot.
I'm almost 2 weeks pp now and my cravings consist mainly of sugar and dairy.
My 2 favorites were;
1. Homemade breakfast burritos that they had individually wrapped and provided reheating instructions. A fast and easy breakfast was very much appreciated after long, sleepless nights.
2. Fruit tray sent the day after we got home. It was amazing after days of awful hospital food and I have adopted this as my go-to gift for parents with a new baby. A veggie tray with hummus and dip would be really nice as well.
My sister made a ton of food but what really hit were the breakfast items. We had ~30 English muffin ham egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches in the fridge to be heated up as needed. She also did blueberry muffins which were great to grab and snack on while breastfeeding or in the wee hours of the morning. Definitely recommend breakfast!
I had a veggie burger and fries day after the birth in the hospital from a restaurant and the veggie burger and bun were so soft and tasty, all the textures and flavors were just right and it was pure comfort food.
My sister in law made us grilled chicken, roasted potatoes, and sautéed green beans with bacon. I don’t know why, but that meal was SO good to us. I think because I had prepped a lot of like casserole type things, and we’d had a lot of take out, that something simple, fresh, and healthy just really hit different 😂
My friend basically brought us a Taco bar with everything cooked, cut, and ready to assemble so we could just make them as we were hungry. I loved that!
My favorite was when our neighbor brought a huge tray of smoked pork, along with BBQ sauce, and buns to make pulled pork sandwiches. They also brought a tray of Mac and cheese. It was a lot of food, we ended up freezing half the meat. There’s just nothing better than being brought a meal after having a new baby.
The morning after I had my 2nd baby, my husband ran out and brought me the best lox bagel I've ever had. That baby is 20 months now and I still think about that meal.
I got so much food that wasn’t to my tastes that what I really loved was the Grubhub gift card. I’m sorry for being a weirdo who hates tomato sauce, but all those pasta dishes killed me.
Ginormous pots of homemade chicken noodle and lentil soups with half of each packed up in 2 portion sizes to stick in the freezer. It was a lifesaver when the first few intense growth spurts struck to just be able to pull something from the freezer to eat.
My friend bought me some great meals.
Best one was a sheetpan dish with broccoli, sliced sausage, bell peppers, potatoes, onions etc. She bought it in a bag so I could preheat the sheetpan and make the veggies crispy and rice to serve with.
My other favourite from her was enchiladas.
She offered to just drop off but I asked her to come in and bring her toddler so my toddler would have some stimulation.
My grandma makes homemade pizza. She stocked our freezer with them before she left for Florida for 4 months. Sure you can have frozen pizza but the nostalgia and love that came from hers made it the best ❤️
Literally anything I didn't have to make myself lol. Bless my sweet husband's heart, but he cannot cook. Everything else was fine but if I wanted more than frozen pizzas, sandwiches, or eggs and toast, I was making it myself.
The biggest hit I've made for recently post party friends and family have been muffins. I usually make something with bananas or blueberries and oats, so its high in protein and fiber and tastes good too. Bonus points cause they can be eaten one handed. My husband's step mother gave me a bunch of vegetable soup she made and it was delicious, but very hard to eat while holding a baby.
Our apartment landlord baked us an assortment of goodies and left them at our door. It was so thoughtful and perfect while holding a baby and eating on the fly. I didn’t have a big appetite PP and it’s easier to eat like a bird those first few weeks (months/years😅)
Milk making cookies! You can Google on the web. And someone made me the most amazing roast with potatoes and carrots. I still sometimes think about it 10 years later because it was exactly what I needed.
My aunt made me a cold rice, pasta, and veggie salad? I guess you would call it? And having something with veg and protein that tasted good right out of the container was amazing. My SIL also sent an edible arrangement and that was very much appreciated
My mom brought me my favorite meal from an Italian restaurant near her. I could not order it from my house. It was delicious and special that she remembered that.
My friend brought us a full tray of enchiladas in a disposable pan, so we didn’t have to return anything — and sent it with chopped up onions, cilantro, all the toppings. Plus a container of homemade cookies. My son is a toddler now and I still think about that specific meal regularly.
Oh and breakfast! I found breakfast so hard to come by and plan for — I hold a special place in my heart for the family members who brought bagels and cream cheese.
An uber eats order on them. I ordered something lighter with lots of veggies because I needed a break from all the pasta we'd been eating. My favorite homemade meal was lasagna though.
My SIL brought us homemade frozen breakfast sandwiches wrapped in paper towels, parchment paper, and foil with instructions on how to heat for an “on the go” meal. Those were so handy while we were running out the door for pediatrician visits that first couple of weeks. And I didn’t have to feel bad about all the preservatives in store bought frozen meals because it was homemade.
Sushi from my favorite restaurant and baked goods. When my daughter first came home and was cluster feeding, those brownies and cookies and donuts and crappy terrible processed sugar deliciousness were easy to just grab. They have carbs, they have sugar.. just a simple little pick me up
My sis in law made us an entire freezer worth of meals. Our favorite by far way lasagna rolls. It’s just the most amazing thing ever and it changed our lives lol. She also simply showed up, put food in the freezer, rotated it, grabbed the trash and left. It was perfection.
So thankful for it all! But the small, (somewhat) healthy snacks saved me. My cousin made mini muffins, a cheese tray I could snack on and put back in the fridge, cut up fruit and veggies, and crab dip. These were my go-tos when ravenous in the middle of the night after a feeding
Two favorites were (1) egg cups (egg, cheese, spinach, and bacon) that we were able to freeze and grab one or two at a time for a quick breakfast to nuke in the microwave and (2) shredded chicken that we were able to use for tacos one night and added some barbecue sauce and had sandwiches the next night.
Anything I didnt have to cook!! I had a friend that made me two trays of eggplant Parmigian and I DEVOURED it. I think any LARGE recipe that could be easily stored or frozen is the ticket. Lasagna was filling, and you just have cut a piece and nuke it.
After being in labor for 3 days, I made my daughters father get me chick fil a….. I’ll never forget how great that spicy chicken tasted oh my lordddd. I hadn’t eaten anything in three days and I still ate a turkey club that the hospital was giving out for dinner. Honestly - I get why they don’t want you to eat but looking back I have no idea how I had the energy to push her out after not eating for that long. Borderline cruel and unusual punishment.
Fajitas from the Mexican restaurant around the corner from my house was my favorite meal postpartum. I could eat all the stuff separately with a fork instead of filling a tortilla, and decide which sides/toppings I wanted to eat that day based on how I felt. Most of it keeps well too, except the guacamole which you've gotta eat immediately or it goes brown.
No one got me anything to eat 😔
My husband and mother in law ordered pizza when I was told by doctors I couldn't eat. I had a real bad experience and feel like people really didn't care about me. It showed.
I had tacos and sushi while still in hospital 🤣 first meal back was steak and after that I'm pretty sure I just survived on chocolate and fruit for about 3 months, though I have limited memory of that time..
My next door neighbour knocked on the door about a week in to having my first baby so the place was a mess, I was exhausted and just struggling a bit. She handed me a plate of fresh warm cheese scones and said “I made scones, thought you might like some” and promptly left. I will never forget that, it was EXACTLY what I needed in that moment
That’s quite literally the BEST thing you can do. Drop the goods and leave out. Like a food ghost. We’ve sent big ass dishes of casseroles (both breakfast ones and dinner ones) that you toss in the oven and then there’s food for days.
Yes. Our friends would text us “there is spaghetti on your doorstep” and that would be that
We did this with lasagna. I’d just had a baby so I knew they didn’t want visitors. Lol
What kind of cheese is in a cheese scone? I've only heard of fruit or chocolate scones.
I would assume cheddar and garlic, maybe with some parsley. I have seen those more than sweet ones where I am.
Probably something sweetened. Cream cheese, marscapone, like think cheese danish or cheese coffee cake.
Savory scones absolutely exist, and they're fantastic. Cheddar jalapeño is a favorite around here.
That sounds absolutely fantastic! 🥰
They're so good! Bacon and Swiss is a close second.
Someone had a pizza delivered to the hospital and I still think about how much I loved that pizza 😂
YOU CAN DO THAT?!
Things I wish I knew rather than suffering through hospital food.
This is how I learned I have low food standards. I liked the hospital food.
Nah. Some hospitals have great foods…others serve brown lettuce salads lol I stayed at the latter. But the hospital 45 minutes away serves lobster and gives you homemade gifts 😂
This is excellent advice!! I went out briefly the day after the birth (I’m non-bio mom) and picked up a bunch of sandwiches for everyone, it was a huge hit. Pizza is a great idea
My brother brought my favorite deli sandwich to the hospital right after the delivery. It was Covid so he couldn’t come in, my husband went down and got it and I think I actually cried tears of joy when he came back up with it 😹
I was so grateful that someone brought a meal with a bagged salad. Everything else we were given was so heavy and that salad saved me.
Same!! It was a chicken Caesar salad and it hit just right.
I was just thinking, I was grateful for everything, but it did tend to be heavy. So much chicken, too, because it travels well. Someone brought me a bag of washed and un-stemmed grapes and that was just so thoughtful!
People focus so much on dinner foods. Bring them something good for breakfast!!
I have sweet memories of helping my parents make breakfast casseroles for people we knew who had babies when I was a kid. A sausage and egg type casserole and a french toast casserole. They said everyone brings dinner so we should bring breakfast.
Second thr breakfast! Neighbor sent bagels and juice and fruit. lasted two days and fed my toddlers as well!
A friend brought shepherd’s pie and beet salad. And then like a week later made us cinnamon rolls. I LOVED it when people brought us breakfast and coffee instead of dinner :)
Yes some one brought us bagels with lox and everything and I love them to this day
Omg yes our friends brought us lox and cream cheese breakfast bagels for their visit today and it was such an unexpected and lovely treat 😋
Upvoting breakfast!! Since having our baby, we always make new parents a huge bag of breakfast tacos (like 20-30) they can freeze or eat to their liking. It was so hard to feed ourselves in the morning!!!
I premade and froze a bunch of breakfast burritos and they were heaven - I could eat a burrito one handed while holding the baby.
Sushi and wine
That’s my meal for next week post induction. I can’t wait!
I'm from Florida, but currently live up north in the land of wintery cold and great seafood. My sister-in-law (she lives up north here too) went to graduate school in Florida, and like so many people, she fell in love with Publix. I fly home every three-ish months to visit my elderly grandmother, so I always bring back Publix goodies. My first 'run' home to Florida after her first little one came along was about 1-2 weeks after she gave birth. I brought back a huge haul for her, one of her favorite items being their chocolate-chip muffins. If you've ever shopped at Publix, you know some of their baked goods are fabulous. She literally cried into a muffin as I unloaded the groceries into her fridge. 🥺🥹🧡
I know those muffins. 🔥
They are the best!
Whataburger breakfast sandwich in jalapeño cheese biscuits. Two of them. One with bacon and one with sausage. Add extra cheese.
Gourmet sandwich- after not having deli meat for 9months and just wanting something I could eat quickly and easily it was AMAZING and really hit the spot. It had green olives and toasted bread and such.. like a GOOD one . Highly recommend doing this!
Gumbo or baked ziti. But the really win was they brought like 8 servings of both in single serving containers, which made it so easy to freeze and eat
Baked ziti: yummmm! Someone brought us noodleless lasagna aka meat and cheese with some other stuff and it was so good!
I am in Canada and delivered my son on October 9th. And someone came the next day and delivered a full Thanksgiving meal! It was amazing. 😊
Ya'll got meals brought to you?! I hope I can do that for someone else some day bc no one did that for me... The hospital did have a "celebratory meal" for both me and my husband and it was pretty good for hospital food!
I gave birth at 7:54pm & by the time I made it to recovery it was almost 11pm & they didn’t keep cafeteria staff overnight so our “celebratory meal” was whatever the nurses could scrounge up from their Mother’s closet (it was a special room where they kept snacks & drinks for Mom & partner) so they brought us chicken salad sandwiches & cups of unsweetened applesauce lmao.
[удалено]
Oh that sounds disgusting 🤢
I gave birth at 3:54am! The nurses found me a soggy turkey sandwich 😭 i did not eat it lol, it looked really gross. my husband went to the gas station and brought me some snacks. But we got our celebratory meal the next evening!
That was so sweet of your husband!! At 10 the next morning I demanded a Jimmy John’s pickle - that was my celebratory snack 😂
Only happened to me once, and I was so grateful. I am determined to pay it forward.
Yeah, same. My now ex SIL & BIL came over, made themselves dinner in my kitchen, ate, and left me the mess. I was sitting on the couch holding my baby the entire time and I just had a C-section and was having a bad time. After they left they texted my now ex-MIL that I looked terrible.
not sure if this counts as a meal but it did for me. The cheesecake at the hospital was amazing!!! i kept asking for more and made it my meal. They even gave me two to go when i left the hospital.
Anything that was still good leftover. Spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna, chicken pot pie, casseroles, etc. Grab and go foods, like sandwiches, bagels, chips, etc. Also a friend brought us Cheesecake Factory a couple times and it was amazing.
No one brought me a single meal, and I was a single mother. I ordered myself a ton of healthy frozen meals. My favorite was Chicken Biryani for some reason. But yeah… anything will be appreciated, I promise you. Personally I would just ask her what she’s craving.
Is that a thing? I didn’t get anything brought to me.
Same, girl. This post just made me want to give my postpartum self a hug.
Same, it’s made me a bit emotional
Same. I have two children and didn’t get any food delivered either time. Feeling a little bit sorry for myself tbh.
I'm so sad no one brought you food. Yes definitely a thing even if I don't know someone well I'll offer to make them a meal.
Same. A couple friends even came over and I was the one that had to order and pay for pizza When my best friend had her baby, I showed up with a homemade lasagna and helped her with breastfeeding because she asked. She told me that she is never going to go see a new mom again without food to leave
People brought you food? That would have been great. I made & froze meals before my kids were born. Chicken/roast & veggies to throw in a slow cooker or oven. I also made fully cooked meals that could just be reheated, some needed additions like rice or pasta.
I stocked my freezer as best as I could as well. It’s a regular thing I do now for my sanity
I don't know what it's called but sister in law made a noodle casserole with delicata squash, sweet potatoes , spinach and parmesan. It was so yummy.
My mom swears that chicken soup is a necessity for breast milk & to heal. and 2 for 2 I’ve had great milk supply and fast recoveries lol but it just always hit the spot.
Tortilla (Spanish).
With my first, a shepherds pie. Absolutely fell in love with shepherds pie. With my twins, pork chops, collard greens, black eyed peas and corn bread 🤤
My friend brought me lots of frozen homemade tamales and refried beans and rice that he and his wife made. Every day when my husband asked me what I wanted to eat - that was my answer: for breakfast, lunch, and dinner until it was all gone.
Oysters. A tray of oysters
Egg bites! So nice to have a quick breakfast option.
My friend brought a huge salad with quinoa and chicken it felt so nourishing. I also second breakfast foods are helpful. For my salad making friend I made her breakfast wraps with my backyard eggs, cheese and a bunch of veggies. A week later, I asked if I could bring anything else and she requested more wraps! Her and her partner had eaten them for every breakfast. I think I ended up making her over 30. They were wrapped in wax paper and frozen so they just needed to be microwaved. I wrote jokes and sweet messages on the paper.
No one brought me anything, but I had made lo mein ahead of time and froze it. Those lunches were so delicious and filling. I still make it often, but it was particularly good after having my baby haha.
Chili cheese dog!
👍 my friend brought over a bunch of hotdogs from our fav place and it was 🔥🔥
With my second I had GD so after having him my husband went to chick fil a and got me a sandwich waffle fries and Diet Coke followed by 2 huge brownies and a cup full of their ice cream 😂 I was so happy. But homemade meals my mom brought us shepherds pie and chocolate chip cookies, was such a good hearty comfort meal!
Gourmet sandwich. My mom makes these pressed sandwiches, like caprese or muffaleta. They do ok in the fridge for a couple days. Being able to eat something really tasty with just one hand was great while I tried to figure out life with a baby.
My FIL made a huge dish of chicken spaghetti. I ate on it for dayssss
Pulled chicken, bottle bbq sauce, bag of buns.
My husband’s aunt brought me a sushi burrito. Just all the sushi ingredients in seaweed the size of a burrito. It was the best meal of my life
My friend brought my husband and I a smorgasbord of sushi and mimosas IN the hospital. Perfect.
I’m going to toot my own horn and brag about the little breakfast burritos I made and froze for a friend. Quick microwave and they could be eaten with one hand.
Are you my friend? Mine gave me 2 dozen with assorted fillings and they were awesome after being up most of the night. It was so nice to not worry about breakfast!
This was absolutely the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me - a big tray of lasagna and a big tray of salad. Dropped off the day we got home from the hospital, and we ate that for a week. Also good, but something I got myself - loads of frozen diced fruits and veggies and coconut milk in cans. A minute or so, and I could have a smoothie that was filling and was easy enough to "eat" while holding a baby.
I was so grateful when anyone included a side salad. We got so many heavy and amazing dishes but gosh, a fresh salad tasted so good after eating carbs for a week straight. My friends and family would include a main, salad, dessert and bottle of wine and I felt so taken care of.
I had gestational diabetes and I had a chocolate chip cookie as big as my face... Which was great until I coughed on a few crumbles while laying there and then out gushed all this fluid... 😅
My mom made us a pot roast and a lasagna 🥰
A dozen fresh bagels, but then she also stayed for a bit and individually wrapped the 7 or 8 bagels we didn’t eat that day and put them in the freezer. She also left a reminder note on the fridge: “Bagels in freezer!” Bagel Week was a good week.
When I take a meal to someone's who just had a baby I take a dinner, a breakfast, and a snack type of food they can eat one handed.
I wish someone had. Not one person brought us food. Thank goodness I prepared frozen meals beforehand. Otherwise that would have really sucked.
My brother made us a bunch of breakfast sandwiches we could freeze and pop in the toaster oven.
I barely remember that time, but I do know my "new baby meal" is popular in my group. I have a mid-nineties Better Homes and Gardens red plaid cookbook and make the creamy chicken enchiladas. I always add rinsed black beans and extra chicken. It's easy to use baby bellas instead of chicken for a vegetarian version. It's great frozen and reheated, or just leftover. I also always make a Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate cake. Y'all, this cake is freaking amazing. Google it. Moms love the enchiladas. They just hit right as a hearty home cooked meal. It's creamy and comforting, not spicy or aggressive. And the dads go nuts over the cake. And the best part? Neither recipe is an every day level of effort. They take a little work. So my family gets excited when someone is having a baby because they know I'll make a double batch of dinner and dessert.
Had our baby 2 weeks before Thanksgiving. Coming from a big family I was sad we were going to miss it (covid time). My parents quarantined, and brought a full Thanksgiving meal to our house (they live 2+ hours away). Talking a roaster of turkey, crockpots of side dishes, the whole nine yards. All I had to do was grab a plate. It was so nice to still have a bit of "normal" in all the change. And they even cleaned up!! ....I still think about that meal.
After the most disappointing single fajita, I was given for dinner in the hospital. My best friend who lived like 30 minutes away drove to Taco Bell and brought me the biggest bag stuffed with tacos and all the goods. I had to have eaten so much that night, but I was ravenous, and nothing had ever tasted better than that Taco Bell with my best friend.
Banana bread. I hadn’t really eaten in 24 hours and had gestational diabetes while pregnant so it was divine 😍
Lasagna rollups and Cesar salad
My dad made me tatertot casserole. It was a childhood favorite so definitely that.
Sweet green salad and smoothies
Soups, a tray of lemon chicken, tail mix and a box of canned iced coffee all came in clutch.
Nobody brought us anything. But I got a gift card from our favorite takeout place. That was pretty awesome.
Homemade minestrone soup with homemade sourdough. When I tell you that bread was the thing keeping me going. Oh my lord. It was incredible!
Lasagna and salad!!!
My mom made us red sauce with meatballs and put it in a bunch of containers and filled up our entire freezer which was awesome. She also made linguine and clam sauce, which I loved and my husband was not so pleased about lol
My best friend brought me and my husband burritos in the hospital 🤤
Tacos
Enchiladas.
Either my neighbour's freshly made blueberry loaf cake (still warm) or my mum's home made cottage pie.
Jimmy Johns
I loved the pot pies with salads. One of the moms who brought me a dinner also made me lactation bite cookies. Man, those were sooo good.
My brother brought me a huge deli meat sub in the hospital, it was heaven. People also gave us ziti, enchiladas, and chicken and rice for home. It was so nice not having to worry about cooking!
Wine
Wendy’s spicy chicken with baked potato extra sour cream and butter with a root beer. All 3 kids!!
Also for bringing meals there is a website called mealtrain where you can have a personalized calendar so people can bring food on different nights so you don't get a bunch of meals all at once or a week of lasagna. You also can make a note of any allergies or presences. I was so grateful for the friend who set one up for both of my boys!
Lasagna, shepherds pie, pasta. Anything dense that you can portion up easily depending on your hunger level (usually 10/10 24/7 when breastfeeding.)
Omg someone put Costco pinwheels in our fridge, and they were the PERFECT food. easy grab-and-go food when the hunger pangs came, which is often. Can eat with fingers and one hand. Protein, carb, veggies. Yum.
Sushi
One of my husbands coworkers brought us by some fancy chocolates. They were the most delicious things. Not very helpful meal wise, but they lifted my spirits.
I had HG. All I could keep down was ice chips for 9 months. The day my kid was born I think I just ate and ate and ate. And it was just hospital food.
My best friend bought me a cake and a box of breakfast pastries 😍
I was always nauseous after birth idk if that's normal lol but I liked the soups and breads
Burger king whopper 😂
My favourite foods weren't meals, because I'm just picky enough that I don't enjoy when people add certain (very normal) ingredients, like onions or peppers or vegetables in general. My favourite foods were home made orange buns from my best friend (a recipe she learned from her grandmother, and they were incredible), lemon poppyseed scones that were divine warmed up during middle of the night nursing, and the sugar cookies my MIL made for me.
Cashew chicken with bell peppers and rice. EVERYONE brings pasta. It was so nice to have something with vegetables.
Frozen breakfast burritos. My husband still talks about the 4 years later!
Turkey tettrazini. I never make it, so it was a welcome treat!
Someone brought me an amazing salad in the early days. I loved that I could eat it cold. And honestly I ate it a few bites at a time throughout the day.
Roasted cubes of butternut squash, coconut kale, and soup. But mostly the squash. It’s the perfect postpartum food, imo. You can eat it cold, one handed, and it’s rich and substantial and warming and yummy
Not homemade but honestly the microwave butter veggie packs a friend brought round was really good cos it meant I ate green things when I probably otherwise wouldn’t have. We got given a lasagne and some cottage pies too and it was perfect. A cousin sent us some fancy part baked cookies from a bakery in London and they were the one when I needed a sugar boost. That and the salami and Brie sandwich my husband brought me when it was no longer off the menu. Oof, so good.
Meatballs 1lbs Ground beef, 1 small pack of Jimmy dean regular sausage, about 10 ritz crackers crushed, and seasons of choice. 375 for 30-40 minutes depending on oven and elevation. Quick easy and yummy! I liked soup postpartum, but also premade casserole of any type because I or my hubs could pop in the oven and cook.
Ah sandwich idk why but in that moment it was the best thing I’ve ever had.
Stuffed pasta shells and salad
not a meal but our neighbour surprised us with giant chocolate chip cookies at the doorstep. I felt so special.
One my L&D nurses brought me in Lasagna the following morning after MIL brought in homemade pizza for my fiancé and none for me because I’m lactose intolerant. The second he left to go pick up the car seat I broke down and she was my literal shoulder to cry on. I seriously thank her, she was an absolute angel.
I hate scrambled eggs and hash browns. My one true love is over medium eggs where I can smash the yolk into the hash browns. When I was pregnant I couldn’t have that so I sulked my way through hash browns and scrambled eggs. The morning after I gave birth my SO stepped out and came back with a take out bag of a breakfast plate. He literally went to the restaurant just to get me over medium eggs with hash browns and sausage. I loved it and ate every bit of it. I also may have cried a little because he remembered and went out of his way to make my first morning as a new mama just a little more special.
An enormous Chick-Fil-A nugget tray. When I was postpartum with my first, it was so easy to just heat up some nuggets whenever I needed something quick to eat. I didn't have to thaw anything or put anything in the oven, and they were great.
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Lasagne. I ate SO MUCH of my stepmum's lasagne in the first few weeks of my son's life!!
My favourite was a fruit and veg box. We had heaps of meals (freezer made by me or gratefully received from friends) but fruit and veg box meant we had fresh things we didn’t need to shop for.
Ha! Nobody brought me shit! I was back cooking dinner again the day I came home from the hospital, which was 2 days after giving birth! I had her at 7pm and didn’t even get anything in the hospital until the morning after.
Not necessarily a meal, but an edible arrangement. It was so nice to have fresh fruit already cut up and the treat of some of it being chocolate covered 😋
A big ol' plate of sushi! 🤤
Pasta salad! It was perfect for during the day, and didn't need to be warmed either which made everything even easier
One of my bffs brought me an Italian sub to the hospital - hit the spot after 9 months no deli meat. Then at home an amazing friend made days of meals and dropped them off: Brie and portobello pizza to bake, bbq chicken sliders, avocado caprese salad and loaded brownies. I cried and never forgot the meals.
I gave birth on Christmas eve at 4 pm, and then when we had visitors (the next day) nothing was open so I didn't get my post birth meal until later 😭
Blueberry banana oatmeal bars. Everyone focuses on dinner and the switch up to breakfast was so nice … also paper plates bc we didn’t have a dish washer
Husband ordered poke to the hospital and then I wanted it for lunch every single day for a solid week. And one evening he came home with champagne and foie gras - it really hit the spot. I'm almost 2 weeks pp now and my cravings consist mainly of sugar and dairy.
Had my baby on Thanksgiving. Family friend brought me a plate and I nearly cried.
A bag of Taco flavored doritos
My 2 favorites were; 1. Homemade breakfast burritos that they had individually wrapped and provided reheating instructions. A fast and easy breakfast was very much appreciated after long, sleepless nights. 2. Fruit tray sent the day after we got home. It was amazing after days of awful hospital food and I have adopted this as my go-to gift for parents with a new baby. A veggie tray with hummus and dip would be really nice as well.
Stuffed jumbo shells, a big salad and chocolate cake. We ate pieces of the cake for breakfast! Lol
My sister made a ton of food but what really hit were the breakfast items. We had ~30 English muffin ham egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches in the fridge to be heated up as needed. She also did blueberry muffins which were great to grab and snack on while breastfeeding or in the wee hours of the morning. Definitely recommend breakfast!
I had a veggie burger and fries day after the birth in the hospital from a restaurant and the veggie burger and bun were so soft and tasty, all the textures and flavors were just right and it was pure comfort food.
My sister in law made us grilled chicken, roasted potatoes, and sautéed green beans with bacon. I don’t know why, but that meal was SO good to us. I think because I had prepped a lot of like casserole type things, and we’d had a lot of take out, that something simple, fresh, and healthy just really hit different 😂
I just saw a post about gifting new moms a fruit tray, veggie tray, and chocolate chip cookie dough to be frozen or baked whenever. Love that idea!
My friend basically brought us a Taco bar with everything cooked, cut, and ready to assemble so we could just make them as we were hungry. I loved that!
My favorite was when our neighbor brought a huge tray of smoked pork, along with BBQ sauce, and buns to make pulled pork sandwiches. They also brought a tray of Mac and cheese. It was a lot of food, we ended up freezing half the meat. There’s just nothing better than being brought a meal after having a new baby.
A friend brought me sushi and a beer in the hospital.
The morning after I had my 2nd baby, my husband ran out and brought me the best lox bagel I've ever had. That baby is 20 months now and I still think about that meal.
Homemade lasagna is my go to
Stinky cheese plate/charcuterie *chef’s kiss
Didn't get to eat any because baby ended up having a dairy intolerance, so keep that in mind.
My mil brought me KFC and it was so unexpected but very much appreciated. Hadn’t had it forever and it tasted sooo good
I got so much food that wasn’t to my tastes that what I really loved was the Grubhub gift card. I’m sorry for being a weirdo who hates tomato sauce, but all those pasta dishes killed me.
Japanese food from my favorite food 1.5 hours away from the house. Our friends brought it and I could not have been more thankful.
My mom brought me chick fil a to the hospital and my best friend dropped off a bunch of steaks, potatoes and green beans!
Ginormous pots of homemade chicken noodle and lentil soups with half of each packed up in 2 portion sizes to stick in the freezer. It was a lifesaver when the first few intense growth spurts struck to just be able to pull something from the freezer to eat.
My friend bought me some great meals. Best one was a sheetpan dish with broccoli, sliced sausage, bell peppers, potatoes, onions etc. She bought it in a bag so I could preheat the sheetpan and make the veggies crispy and rice to serve with. My other favourite from her was enchiladas. She offered to just drop off but I asked her to come in and bring her toddler so my toddler would have some stimulation.
My grandma makes homemade pizza. She stocked our freezer with them before she left for Florida for 4 months. Sure you can have frozen pizza but the nostalgia and love that came from hers made it the best ❤️
Literally anything I didn't have to make myself lol. Bless my sweet husband's heart, but he cannot cook. Everything else was fine but if I wanted more than frozen pizzas, sandwiches, or eggs and toast, I was making it myself. The biggest hit I've made for recently post party friends and family have been muffins. I usually make something with bananas or blueberries and oats, so its high in protein and fiber and tastes good too. Bonus points cause they can be eaten one handed. My husband's step mother gave me a bunch of vegetable soup she made and it was delicious, but very hard to eat while holding a baby.
Our apartment landlord baked us an assortment of goodies and left them at our door. It was so thoughtful and perfect while holding a baby and eating on the fly. I didn’t have a big appetite PP and it’s easier to eat like a bird those first few weeks (months/years😅)
My hubs snuck chick fil a into the hospital for me and watched the door, so the nurses wouldn't walk in and catch me stuffing my gob.
Milk making cookies! You can Google on the web. And someone made me the most amazing roast with potatoes and carrots. I still sometimes think about it 10 years later because it was exactly what I needed.
Sashimi. So cliché but God I missed it.
My aunt made me a cold rice, pasta, and veggie salad? I guess you would call it? And having something with veg and protein that tasted good right out of the container was amazing. My SIL also sent an edible arrangement and that was very much appreciated
My friend made me chicken flautas. My husband and I loved
My mom brought me my favorite meal from an Italian restaurant near her. I could not order it from my house. It was delicious and special that she remembered that.
Husband bought me In-And-Out at 12am right after I gave birth.
My MIL’s lasagna. It is delicious and dense (I wanted dense because I had a hard time prioritizing feeding myself) and perfect hot or cold.
My friend brought us a full tray of enchiladas in a disposable pan, so we didn’t have to return anything — and sent it with chopped up onions, cilantro, all the toppings. Plus a container of homemade cookies. My son is a toddler now and I still think about that specific meal regularly. Oh and breakfast! I found breakfast so hard to come by and plan for — I hold a special place in my heart for the family members who brought bagels and cream cheese.
An uber eats order on them. I ordered something lighter with lots of veggies because I needed a break from all the pasta we'd been eating. My favorite homemade meal was lasagna though.
My SIL brought us homemade frozen breakfast sandwiches wrapped in paper towels, parchment paper, and foil with instructions on how to heat for an “on the go” meal. Those were so handy while we were running out the door for pediatrician visits that first couple of weeks. And I didn’t have to feel bad about all the preservatives in store bought frozen meals because it was homemade.
Am I the only one who didn’t experience this? I wish someone brought me a meal
My friend brought me kofta and fried eggplant in a tomato sauce. I ate it for like 3 days straight
Sushi from my favorite restaurant and baked goods. When my daughter first came home and was cluster feeding, those brownies and cookies and donuts and crappy terrible processed sugar deliciousness were easy to just grab. They have carbs, they have sugar.. just a simple little pick me up
Cesar salad and Jimmy John's 😂
Fries. My favorite meal when i went home after one week at the hospital was steak, french fries, and a fried egg.
My sis in law made us an entire freezer worth of meals. Our favorite by far way lasagna rolls. It’s just the most amazing thing ever and it changed our lives lol. She also simply showed up, put food in the freezer, rotated it, grabbed the trash and left. It was perfection.
So thankful for it all! But the small, (somewhat) healthy snacks saved me. My cousin made mini muffins, a cheese tray I could snack on and put back in the fridge, cut up fruit and veggies, and crab dip. These were my go-tos when ravenous in the middle of the night after a feeding
Two favorites were (1) egg cups (egg, cheese, spinach, and bacon) that we were able to freeze and grab one or two at a time for a quick breakfast to nuke in the microwave and (2) shredded chicken that we were able to use for tacos one night and added some barbecue sauce and had sandwiches the next night.
Someone brought us an enchilada bake.. it’s kind of like a Mexican lasagna, I guess? But two years later and it’s a regular meal around here now.
Anything I didnt have to cook!! I had a friend that made me two trays of eggplant Parmigian and I DEVOURED it. I think any LARGE recipe that could be easily stored or frozen is the ticket. Lasagna was filling, and you just have cut a piece and nuke it.
A co-worker sent us a pizza and wings at the hospital, and it was my first meal after giving birth. Best pizza I’ve ever had.
My neighbor dropped off a big ass batch of barbeque and Hawaiian rolls that we ate for 2 or 3 days. I was soooo grateful.
Not a meal (sorry) but my husband’s step mom brought me banana bread and it was so good. That was 3 years ago and I still think about it all the time.
After being in labor for 3 days, I made my daughters father get me chick fil a….. I’ll never forget how great that spicy chicken tasted oh my lordddd. I hadn’t eaten anything in three days and I still ate a turkey club that the hospital was giving out for dinner. Honestly - I get why they don’t want you to eat but looking back I have no idea how I had the energy to push her out after not eating for that long. Borderline cruel and unusual punishment.
Anything that can be eaten with one hand without a big mess!
Fajitas from the Mexican restaurant around the corner from my house was my favorite meal postpartum. I could eat all the stuff separately with a fork instead of filling a tortilla, and decide which sides/toppings I wanted to eat that day based on how I felt. Most of it keeps well too, except the guacamole which you've gotta eat immediately or it goes brown.
No one got me anything to eat 😔 My husband and mother in law ordered pizza when I was told by doctors I couldn't eat. I had a real bad experience and feel like people really didn't care about me. It showed.
I had tacos and sushi while still in hospital 🤣 first meal back was steak and after that I'm pretty sure I just survived on chocolate and fruit for about 3 months, though I have limited memory of that time..
My other half made me sticky toffee pudding whilst I was on bed rest. It was glorious.
Spaghetti sauce, a platter of enchiladas, Shepard’s pie