Tips to Eat Well and Spend Less during pregnancy, the first postpartum weeks and beyond, as well as a few things we’re loving as winter turns to spring in 2012.
I have this sense of urgency lately where I feel like I should be doing something else, but there always seems to be a different task or obstacle standing in my way. It feels a lot like nesting, this desire to organize my entire life with the snap of my fingers, Mary Poppins’ style, and then move on to the more important things.
Nesting, incidentally, is our body’s way of telling us to get all those things done, for soon there will be a small baby occupying our time, and those things will either seem far less important or they will fall by the wayside.
This month in the Eat Well, Spend Less series we celebrated the arrival of three new babies to our group, rounding us out at a joyful 35 kids between the lot of us. We marked this occasion with a focus on food for mom, baby, and beyond.
Kitchen Planning When You’re Pregnant
Amy at Kingdom First Mom shares how to plan your kitchen and pantry and cook ahead while you’re pregnant. From dealing with nausea to taking advantage of second trimester energy, she shares her frugal tips for keeping the kitchen functioning while you’re busy growing a baby at the same time.
Cooking for a New Mom
Over on Denver Bargains, Carrie shares just how nice it is to have someone deliver those meals when you’re a new mom. A new mom herself, she lets you know the best things to deliver to new parents.
Good Eating and Welcoming a New Baby
From fun family traditions at the arrival of a new baby to ideas on how to continue to get meals on the table, Jessica shares her experience as the mom of six on feeding her family during this transition period.
The Postpartum Diet
Baby Clara is sure to be one well-fed little girl. Her mom, Aimee, is busy making sure of it even now as she recovers herself. Focused on eating healthy and getting the right kinds of foods in her own body, as a nursing mom, Aimee will also be ensuring that Clara is getting what she needs as well.
Food for New Parents
I explored the importance of having freezer meals ready to go, a pantry stocked to make easy and last-minute meals from, as well as offering up a list of produce suggestions to keep on hand for those postpartum days that are easy to eat and that store well…just in case you should forget about them while you’re snuggling your newborn.
A No-Work Kitchen After Baby Arrives
When Tammy’s baby, Channah, arrived a month early, she wasn’t necessarily prepared just yet . She shares her tips on how to reduce the kitchen workload and still enjoy that newborn phase that seems to pass every so quickly.
A Homemade Baby Food Prime
As babies grow, they’re going to start needing and demanding more. Check out Mandi’s tutorial on making and stocking up on homemade baby food over on Food Your Way.
Feeding a Baby Real Food
Katie’s baby made his entrance back in August of last year, so he is ready to start the solid food routine. Katie shares her baby-led weaning that puts an emphasis on real, whole foods and avoiding processed food and how it works for her.
What We’ve Been Loving
Spring has officially sprung around these parts, and here at our house we’ve been wintering off, cleaning out the cobwebs and embracing the sunshine. A few of our most recent loves:
Simple Provisions | We started having non-homogenized (cream line) milk delivered to our front steps. Our neighbors have been joining in, and in addition to the milk, we’re able to get fresh baked bread, organic meats, maple syrup and Ames Farm honey delivered as well. I feel a bit as though we’re embracing the era our neighborhood was built in, and I’m perfectly okay with that. It saves me an extra trip each week, and delivery is free with a $20 order.
Grass-Fed Beef | After reading the piece on the benefits of grass-fed versus conventionally-raised beef that Cooking Light did, as well as the recent pink slime headlines, I’m loving our freezer full of meat more than ever. Having a ¼ cow is also a great way to encourage us to eat meatless more often, so that we ration our beef throughout the year until next year’s shipment.
10 Diet Foods that Will Make You Fat | As part of eating a whole foods diet, I avoid diet food completely. I recently did a load of research, looking into the exact reasons why diet foods actually serve to help you gain weight, increase cravings, and slow your metabolism rather than helping you lose weight.
How to Hard Boil an Egg | You’ll see tomorrow that I put these hard-boiling tips to good use. I looked at the different ways people say to get the perfect peelable hard-boiled egg, as well as let you in on my favorite. (Julia Child’s method for just 12 minutes resting.)
Why I Take My Kids Grocery Shopping (and Think You Should, Too) | I share why our family shops together, detailing what I think it provides my children in life lessons, education, and experience. It’s not perfect, but shopping with my kids is something I plan on continuing to do as they grow.
Do you have any tips for eating well for pregnancy, birth, andbeyond? Also, be sure to check your inbox to see if you won the Pioneer Woman or the Parents Need to Eat Too giveaways!
Food is one of the best after-baby gifts (in my opinion!) and even if you’re not making it from scratch, it’s still a blessing to the mom who didn’t have to plan the meal or get the items from the store.
Great tips! My boys eat like men, well they are as big as men except for the 7 year old and I’m so thankful that we can produce our own meat (beef) and I grow as much in the garden as I can. Can’t wait to get started on it this year!
I don’t have a baby, nor do we think we want one for a few years, but I am always fascinated and in complete admiration of you moms who raise kids, cook, and blog. I really don’t know how you do it. Although, I am going to make a committment to do the same, too.
I actually don’t prepare a lot of meals in advance, because cooking dinner after work is my stress-relief. I think that people who unwind by watching tv should re-think that practice, and cook instead. I understand cooking is not relaxing for everyone, however. I keep cost down by eating mainly vegetarian. I buy in bulk, and I prepare simple meals. If you notice, old recipes often don’t call for as many ingredients as today’s recipes. I stick to the oldies! 🙂
Great points! I, too, think of cooking as relaxing, which makes it hard for me to see why people avoid it so. Now, if someone would just come clean up after the kids eat the cooking for me. That’s the part that stresses me out. 😉
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