#StockedAndStoked Meal Prep with a Baby

Hello!

I’m back with another edition of #StockedAndStoked, where I take you through a snapshot of our fridge for the week! It’s been a while since I did one of these posts, they are by far one of my favorites to do (and I think one of yours too). If you’d like to see more, here are links to previous posts where I have covered our holiday fridge, summer fridge, spring fridge, and fall fridge.

About this post:

This edition is a little different, because, we have a baby! And while having a baby makes shopping and prepping require some more effort, I’ve found it be absolutely doable if I adjust my expectations a bit and make sure to rotate in some super easy meals.

While this is a shot of our fridge last week, please know that preparing, cleaning, and organizing our fridge is my art—and one of my creative outlets. This is by no means a visual standard we live by (although I try to keep it tidy), or how our fridge looks at any given moment on a weekly basis.

However, it encapsulates the prep goals I make for each week, even if they don’t seem to all happen at the same time, but rather over a few days—or when things run out on their own timeline.

I’ll list below here what is on each shelf, and then dive into more of the specifics for the meals we built below (with photos). But first, a few tips from what I’ve learned the past six months of preparing healthy meals each week with a baby (if you have some of your own please leave them in the comments below! Myself and others would love to hear from you).

Tips:

Tip #1 Seek out areas where preparations can overlap. Such as, while enjoying oatmeal in the morning and everyone is asleep, I know I can have bread in the oven baking or almonds roasting for almond butter at the same time. Have a pot of soup on the stove and know you’ll need rice the next day for dinner? Get the rice pot cooking alongside the soup at the same time. Blending nut milk in the blender? Blend up some hot cocoa mix directly after so you only need to wash the blender once. Baking granola in the oven? Keep the oven hot and have a tray of sweet potatoes ready to pop in afterwards to roast in the background while you’re doing other life activities.

Tip #2 Double, triple, or quadruple everything. I mean, everything. There is no sense in making a single serving anymore in parent life, haha! As you’ll see below, I make eight days of breakfast bars, eight days of dessert cookies, three nights of dinner, and four days of lunch at once. Pull out the big pots and use them. If you’re not wishing to eat something several days in a row, try freezing extra portions so an easy meal is just a defrost away. This has helped me oodles to not always feel like I’m about to run out of something.

Tip #3 It doesn’t always need to be completely made, think of the moving parts in a meal and try to prep a variety of ingredients. Such as with my lunch bowl below, I assembled it each day, but the individual parts were ready for me so it was minutes away. A starch/grain, variety of veggies, a legume, and a sauce. Sometimes just a toast topper or two for easy sourdough lunches are wonderful (my clutch lunch move most weeks!). Such as a large batch of tofu scramble to pop on top of avocado toast, or some hummus and veggies.

Tip #4 Divide and conquer. Most often Scott does the grocery shopping, I put everything away and do the prepping, while he comes in to do the dishes at the end. These can all happen over a course of a few days during pockets of time, but the divided tasks are really helpful for maintaining energy throughout the process. Seek help! Even a friend or family member who can step in for a day to alleviate one of these tasks (or simply play with your little one while you slay away for an hour).

Tip #5 Let something slide. For me, I’m use to soaking and cooking our beans from scratch. But I found that if I let it slide when it comes to hummus, and purchase canned beans for this one prepped item, I receive some reprieve and it is very helpful! Maybe this means purchasing hummus, or buying a pre-made pasta sauce, or maybe one night a week is takeout night. Find an area where letting something slide sits well with you and lean into it for some reprieve, you’re working hard and its okay!

You’ve got this!

I hope these tips help in some way! The hardest part for many is being able to see the vision for the week, I get this, try to do a little brainstorming and see what comes naturally to you. Write down some ideas and see what pieces together nicely for a manageable week. You’ve got this, and there is no shame in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a banana smoothie! Think in terms of whole foods and simplicity (and comparisons are silly, don’t do them, focus on what works for you, you’re doing great).

The Fridge:

Top Shelf

Almond sunflower seed butter, homemade sauerkraut, walnut pepita milk, double batch of hot cocoa mix, bowl of lemons.

Second shelf

Three servings black rice, three servings cauliflower curry, and fresh green beans.

Third shelf

Roasted sweet potato wedges, steamed beetroot slices, washed and chopped broccoli, crisped tofu cubes, batch of carrot cashew sauce, and a bulk container of medjool dates.