As some of you know, I am trained and certified as a Post Partum Doula and have provided services to new mamas in Edmonton for over 4 years. If you have never heard of a post partum doula before- we are basically mothers for new mothers! We help by creating comfort and ease for parents welcoming in a new baby into their family by providing evidenced based information and support on infant care, feeding, sleeping and perform light household cleaning. One of my biggest roles as a PPD was to prepare meals for new families in their homes. With my nutritionist background and love for food, I am passionate about creating nourishing meals that help with recovery, milk production and energy.
These recipes are perfect for new mamas, especially those with food allergies to common food allergens! These recipes are gluten free, grain free, dairy free, and mostly vegan! It is also the end of November here, so the recipes are seasonal, too.
We were able to create so many meals in such a short period of time (45 meals in 6 hours!) because we mostly prepped (no pre cooking!) the majority of them. We tripled each recipe so that all of us were able to take home a meal for our own freezers.
Some tips on crazy quick meal prepping...
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Assign each person to a task. Ally was our designated can opener (so many cans when using plant based proteins!) while Katie and I chopped all of the produce.
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Break out allllll the bowls. Prep each recipe into a large bowl.
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Get all the ingredients into each of the bowl for the individual recipe. spice it all at the end!
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Have a designated "divvy-er". While Ally added each ingredient to every bowl, I spiced, and Katie "divvy-ed" the bowls of food into 3 individual bags for each of us.
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If you have a deep freeze, ideally you would freeze these all in glass containers- but if you only have a small freezer at home, prep your meals into large freezer ziploc bags and lay flat in your freezer to save space!
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Bake your goodies at the end! we made a few snacks/breakfast items that we were able to sit and enjoy afterwards (just a few bites!) to celebrate a job well done.
So here is what we made!
Butternut Squash + Coconut Soup**
Curried Cauliflower Rice + Kale Soup**
Salmon and Teriyaki Greens (see notes below!)*
Kale + Sunflower Pesto Pasta Sauce
Grain Free Hemp Breakfast Cookies
*To make this, we just purchased a large wild salmon filet and cut into chunks. we added broccoli florets, snow peas, sesame seeds and carrots with a jar of teriyaki sauce- all divvy-ed into bags to make a sheet pan meal! The salmon can be easily subbed out for tofu or chickpeas.
** I never add the liquid portions to the soup when I am meal prepping. If the recipe calls for broth or water, I add it when I go to cook it. In these cases, I will be using home made bone broth using free range chicken bones. Bone broth is super high in protein and collagen- amazing for recovery, energy, and mood.
*** We sub out the gluten free flour with coconut flour.
I hope that this gives you some meal prep inspiration! Even if you dont have a baby on the way, these meals will help give you some peace of mind that you have a healthy meal that you can pull out for a quick and nourishing dinner, especially during this busy time of year!
Cheers!
LM