Diapers are great as baby gifts, but what if you want to do a bit more for a friend? Have you ever taken food as a present? I’m sharing some of my favorite easy meals to take to new moms.
These dishes are great to take not only to new moms, but to anyone who’s recuperating from illness, injury, or surgery. The important thing to remember is that other friends and family may be bringing food, too, so there a few suggestions I’d like to make:
- Don’t take anything that must be eaten within the next twenty-four hours.
- Don’t take anything in a container you want returned.
- Ask about allergies or food intolerance if you don’t know the family well. Or, better yet, just don’t take anything with tree nuts or shellfish just in case.
- Label whatever you’re taking clearly (with cooking instructions if necessary).
Not all of what I’m including are full meals. With a new baby in the house, especially if there are also other little ones running around, there will be a lot of middle-of-the-night snacking and sleep-deprived mornings when a quick breakfast-to-go is just what’s needed. All of these are freezer-friendly.
1.) Hot Browns
This is one of my family’s favorite meals, from my favorite recipe source, Beverly’s Back Porch. This is a nice one to take over in a foil pan already prepped and ready for them to pop in the oven that night if they like, but it freezes very nicely if they want to have it a month later.
2.) Beef Vegetable Soup
One of my friends brought this to me after I had surgery, and it truly was comfort food. She brought it in two ziplocks, and we ate one and froze the other for later – perfect!
3.) Banana White Chocolate Chip Muffins
Great to throw in the freezer and defrost a few when you need them at 3am.
4.) Chicken Burritos
Wrap individually in waxed paper so they can cook as many as you need.(Be sure and check out our Freezer Cooking post – these were a huge hit at my house.)
5.) Breakfast Pies
Plenty of protein in these, plus, they’re easily to eat on the go.
6.) Beef Roast
Almost embarrassingly easy to make. Want to make a statement? Add the rice bread below.
7.) Rice Bread
This bread turns the most ordinary lunchmeat or spread into something special. Also makes great bread bowls.
8.) Chicken Pesto Ravioli
Make yourself a batch of this while you’re making some for your friend. You can place this in a Ziploc bag (gallon size) or a foil pan for easy freezing.
9.) Chicken Chili
Not too spicy, I promise!
10.) Pancake Muffins
These are my latest discovery via Pinterest. We tried them plain, with chocolate chips, and with blueberries. All versions were delicious!
More Easy Meals for New Moms
Need more ideas? Don’t miss these posts!
Freezer Cooking -Getting Started
Easy Frozen Fruity Breakfast Burritos
Easy Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
Today’s guest post is from Angie, who blogs at The Jammie Girl. She’s also the author of Tight Budget, Tiny Kitchen, and No Time: How to Eat Well in Your First Apartment. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
Wonderful suggestions! These are also great for older people who live alone. I’ll be happy with any of them. haha Hope new mom and Catherine M. are doing well.
I agree this is the absolute best gift ever for a new mom! My husbands lab (including several bachelors) planned out a schedule so each person brought us a meal for a week. It was lovely!
It was SUCH a blessing to me, when the twins were born! My meal train is starting up today — one of my nurse friends will be stopping by in a few hours! Hooray!
What wonderful ideas and recipes! Thank you so much for sharing and for linking up with “Try a New Recipe Tuesday!” I look forward to trying some of them and soon. 🙂
Thanks for this. A friend of mine just had a baby, and I’ve been trying to get a few meals together to rake to her. 🙂
She’ll love any or all of these, I guarantee 😉
great ideas – I pinned this (not because I know anyone pregnant just because I get hungry.)
These are some of my go-to freezer cooking meals for my own family – that’s how I know they all freeze well 😉
I’ve always brought dinners to new moms, so I love your breakfast ideas!
I know one of my GFs is planning on bringing biscuits and gravy to me this week. YUM diddly!!
I agree that one of the best gifts you can give a new mom are freezer-friendly meals!! Great list, Angie!
I probably should have added that they are also great if your family is busy with soccer and ice skating and everything else, or if you’re house-bound because of moose or bear attacks 😉
Tee hee hee …. moose jokes are ALWAYS funny.
I want to try all of these. They sound delicious!
These look like great recipes, especailly that Kentucky Hot Brown. I’ve never heard of that before.
The Hot Brown usually can’t be found in restaurants outside of the Louisville, Kentucky area, and it’s delicious, so it’s a great meal to entertain with as well.
Bringing meals is an excellent way to support a family in a busy time! I noticed most of your ideas have meat, and I’ve noticed in my church that when the family needing meals is vegetarian, people who eat meat seem to have a lot of trouble thinking of things they could bring…so here are two ideas:
Honey Baked Lentils are easy to make, easy to reheat, and can be frozen.
Bean Burritos frozen with waxed paper between them are great for quick reheating–I ate many of them in the middle of the night when I had a newborn!
That’s a great point, Becca! I think Angie wrote this list with myself and her family in mind — her sons and husbands are carnivores, and would balk at the idea of vegetarian meals.
Thanks for linking up your ideas– I’m a fan of bean burritos, myself!
Great ideas, thankyou!
Bestest gift ever! Yes, this would be such an awesome gift for a new mom so she can enjoy and bond with baby without dealing with any stress of shopping and cooking for dinners:)
Thank you for sharing these great suggestions at Freedom Fridays. Have a super week!
Oh my goodness! These are great ideas! Thanks for sharing with us on “Strut Your Stuff Saturday!” We’ll see you next week! -The Sisters
Angie did a fabulous job with this post …. I’m thrilled to spread these awesome ideas!
Thanks for visiting!
This is great! Pinning it for later! I love taking meals to new moms and those who have been sick/had surgery! I am finally figuring out that this is something I can plan ahead for- have in the freezer ready to go for the next time someone is in need! And (light bulb!) why not make two, so I can use one for the next time I am in need of a quick meal!!!
glad I found your site!
Emily
http://www.weakandloved.com
That’s my favorite way to stock my freezer. It truly takes no longer to prep two of the same meal, so when the main ingredients for family favorites go on sale I always double up!
The ideas are awesome …. You’ve got a months worth of ideas here.
Thanks for coming by!
Girl, I love these. Forget new moms. I’m going to try a few of these recipes for my fam! Shared on FB too. Thanks for linking up for Big Family Friday!
Hooray! Thanks for sharing! They really work wonderful, and prevent the ‘oh Lord, what in the world is for dinner?’ panic.
Great to see you stop in!
What good ideas! I’m bookmarking this post for later use. 🙂
They are awesome as gifts, or for your own family!
Those are lovely, and awesome suggestions! I truly can not wait to try some of them!
I can attest to the yummieness of at least 8 of the 10 ideas here. Angie did a fabulous job!
What a great post, thanks so much for sharing. I always just make a lasagna and make enough for my own family. When making one, why not two?
Carolyn http://sillyhappysweet.blogspot.com
One of the first meals I received after Maeve was born was a delicious lasagna from one of my sweet friends. It was wonderful, and I learned that you can put spinach in it! Who knew!
Thanks for coming by!
and you can add frozen veggies witht he spinach which is what my kids love with alfredo sauce :p
Something else I always do is pack paper goods so they don’t to do dishes either. Someone did this for me with I e of my babes and I never forgot how thoughtful it was 🙂
Love these ideas. I am looking forward to trying the Breakfast pies. Thanks for posting them!
OMG making the white chili today, house smells amazing with the spices already, house is going to be smelling really yummy today as it simmers.
Thank you for sharing! The Hot Brown looks amazing. I don’t see the tomatoes in the picture. Do you usually take those seperately for them to add at the time they warm it up? Or do you leave them out altogether?
Thank you again for these great recipes,
Alicia
I am so excited. I am having spinal fusion surgery in Sept.and was planning to cook and freeze ahead for my family. These ideas are perfect!
As a veteran of four cervical spinal fusion surgeries let me offer another post you may find helpful: http://www.thejammiegirl.com/2011/03/surgery-prep/
I hope all goes well with your surgery!!
Thank you! I had emergency decompression last year so it is nice to have a little notice this go round! I like this link.
Thanks for the shout out! Glad you liked the pancake muffins! We love ’em at our house! 😀 Love this idea for these meals. Pinning! 😀
~Stephanie
We love them so much I’ve had to start buying Bisquick and pancake syrup in bulk!!
LOL! I know! I need to find cup cake liners in bulk! 😀
Hope the rest of your week is great! 😀
~Stephanie
If you don’t live near the person, if you have an extremely busy schedule and/or you don’t care for cooking, send a chef-prepared meal gift from The TLC Kitchen (meals can be sent anywhere in the continental United States). Visit http://www.theTLCkitchen.com to learn more about the meal gifts!
What a great idea! One of my best friends lives eight hours away and there have been many times I would have loved to take her a meal – now I can send one!!
This is a great list! The only thing I would change is to omit the ones with dairy in them. It seems so many of my friends’ new babies are milk intolerant and if they are nursing they have to cut it out. It sure limits what I can make though so I loved the dairy-free recipes you posted!
I’m very excited about these recipes. I’ve been looking for a few things to make for a friend who is delivering at the end of the month and I’m so happy I stumbled across your blog! I do have a few questions about the kentucky hot browns. Do you make your scaled milk in a pot on the stove and then chill it in the fridge? (I’ve never used scaled milk before). When you trim the toast, do you just cut off the crust? And the recipe says to make it on four individual platters, do you just make it in one foil pan instead? Thanks so much for your help.
You are right on all counts. There’s actually a typo in the post – it should say “scalded milk” which means just heat in a pan until ALMOST boiling. And yes, I freeze mine in foil pans. Enjoy!
Thank you for sharing! The Hot Brown looks amazing. I don’t see the tomatoes in the picture. Do you usually take those seperately for the recipient to add at the time they warm it up? Or do you leave them out altogether?
Thank you again for these great recipes,
Alicia
The only reason you don’t see them in the picture is that my husband and eldest son don’t like tomatoes on their Hot Browns, and this was one I made for us. Otherwise I’d add the sliced tomatoes before freezing.
Great ideas and recipes!! We have a very similar post over here:
http://sistersplayinghouse.blogspot.com/2012/05/tips-for-bringing-meals-for-new-mothers.html
You have a great list of recipes.
This is a great list! Be sure to check out http://www.takethemameal.com when scheduling meals for new moms. It’s free and super easy to use.
I had never even heard of hot browns before! Oh my! They sound delicious!!!
Thanks for all the great menu ideas…..
Happy St. Patties!! 🙂
x Crystelle