For me, nesting has manifested itself in the form of squirreling away home-cooked foods in the freezer, as well as hand-making things for the baby. Lately, any time I set out to cook something nourishing that I think will freeze well, I make a double batch. That way, we can have half right away, and I can store away the rest, labeled and dated, in the freezer for postpartum. Then in the evenings, when it’s getting dark and I’m settling down for the night, my hands crave for a small project to work on, whether it’s knitting or sewing. Today I’ll tell you a little bit about both - what I’ve cooked and what I plan on cooking, as well as some of the tiny things I’ve made.
“Cauldrons of soup, pots of fragrant teas, bowls of steaming rice - everything on the table during the first forty days is comfortingly round.” -Heng Ou in ‘The First Forty Days’
Postpartum Meal Prep
I’ve been reading Heng Ou’s lovely book The First Forty Days, which is all about the tender six or so weeks after the birth of a baby. The book discusses the importance of rest and nourishment during this liminal period, and how in our modern day, parents are often caught off guard without the support system for either. A supply of good food is one of the main things that presents itself as a struggle to maintain, and all during the time when there’s so much healing and integration happening for the whole family. These are some of my motivations behind leaning heavily into freezer meal prep. It’s also just been really joyful. I’ve had so much fun selecting seasonal ingredients to cook with at the farmers market, as well as researching some extra-nourishing, specialty pantry items. Below are my plans so far. Some things I’ve made already, others I’m still hoping to prepare. This list might be helpful beyond postpartum as well, if you’re just really into meal prep, or cooking for someone recovering from being sick, or really for anyone in need of lots of nourishment.
Soups
Various ancient healing modalities like Ayurveda and TCM talk about the importance of keeping warm postpartum. Wool socks, hot water bottles, toasty drinks, and easy to digest, warm foods are said to promote a mother’s healing and set her up for success when nourishing her baby. Thankfully, soups, especially pureed soups, freeze amazingly well. So far, I’ve made a zucchini and corn soup (above). This past weekend at the farmers market, I got my hands on the first winter squashes and sweet potatoes, both of which make beautiful blended soups. I also plan on making red lentil-based soups with warming spices. Red lentils are one of my top comfort foods of all time.
We did a pureed soup guide on the blog years ago.
Broth
Similarly to soup, having some warm broth to sip on sounds like a heavenly thing during any period of adjustment. It can be enjoyed as is, or with some miso stirred in, for a quick and super flavorful miso soup. I plan on making one huge pot of broth and freezing it all in tall glass jars. I’ve been collecting ingredients for this broth for weeks now. Any food scraps that are good contenders for a flavorful vegetable broth go into a paper bag in the freezer: onion skins, carrot peels, squash seeds, shiitake stems, leek tops, celery tops, fennel tops, stems of all kinds, etc. etc.
I’m also going to fill out this broth with other, more targeted ingredients known for their nutritional powers, like garlic, ginger, turmeric, dried mushrooms, kombu seaweed, and jujube dates.
Vegetable Bakes
So many veggie bakes freeze well. So far I’ve made this cauliflower bake, also planning on making this root vegetable one, and an autumnal lasagna of some sort.
Also, veggie patties or veggie burgers are great for freezing. I’m planning on making some beet-based ones with beautiful farmers market beets this week.
Bread
I’ve been making some whole grain breads (photo above), dividing the loaves in half, then enjoying half fresh, and freezing the rest (sliced!). I soak the grains overnight, too, to make the breads more digestible. So far I’ve made my seeded buckwheat bread and the black sesame rice bread from Whole Food Cooking Everyday (been loving this book for meal prep!). This week, I plan on making a buckwheat beet bread with coriander and walnuts. My hope is that these will make for quick, nourishing snacks or meals, topped with avocado, nut butter, or hummus.
Snacks/Treats
I’m focusing on snacks that pack a punch and can double as treats, using the least amount of sweetener possible (a personal preference). So far, I’ve made these hazelnut dukkah bars (using *black sesame seeds instead of regular) and some mesquite granola. Also in the plans: matcha butter balls (pictured above), some sort of ‘truffles’ (maybe these), my mom’s chocolate hemp bars with prune caramel from our first book, The Vibrant Table.
*I bought a bulk bag of black sesame seeds after reading about how renowned they are in TCM for their wealth of minerals. I’ve been trying to incorporate them anywhere I can.
Birthday Cake
I’ve listened to multiple birth stories, where the mom bakes a *birthday cake* to keep herself busy as labor approaches. I love this idea. We’ll see how it works out. If I get the chance, I’d love to make my mom’s chocolate orange cake from our second cookbook, Simply Vibrant.
Other
Jars of a few different kind of plain beans/lentils, frozen in their broth, will be super helpful to have to assemble quick meals.
Various nut butters in the fridge, which make for the quickest, most satisfying snack.
I’ll be making black sesame gomasio, a Japanese sesame salt, using black sesame instead of regular. I’m envisioning us sprinkling it on all our soups.
Making sure to have lots of warming spices on hand, not only to add to all our cooking, but also to brew as tea.
Local pears and apples are so good right now, and I hear that apple sauce freezes well. It’ll be great to have on hand, to spoon on porridge or yogurt, or to have as is as a simple treat.
Made
Few things are as satisfying to make as tiny items for a new baby. There’s so much sweet anticipation and tenderness that goes into every piece. The small scale also makes projects go much faster (especially knitting!), which is extra gratifying.
Clockwise from the top: garter stitch cardigan, whole cloth hand stitched quilt, stuffed rabbit made with quilt scraps, kimono sleeve sweater, bonnet.
More on the quilt, this project was both incredibly simple and quite time consuming. I’d never made a quilt before, and was giddy when I realized how simple it was to make this kind of quilt, even as someone with no experience. It’s a whole cloth quilt, so there’s no complex patchwork involved, and it consists of two layers of fabric with some batting sandwiched in between. The beauty and charm comes in with the hand stitching, which holds all the layers together and gives a tactile dimension to the whole thing. This kind of hand stitching can be seen in both Bengali/Indian kantha cloth and Japanese sashiko embroidery. I can’t wait to apply to this technique to clothes as well, especially jackets/vests (both adult and baby).
I used a combination of this tutorial and this one to get my technique down.
Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you here next week.
- Masha