By far the biggest adjustment I have had to make as a parent is meal planning, preparation and cooking. Gone are the days of having bagels, lox and cream cheese after ultimate practice at 9:30 pm. Or a sandwich, or cereal, or whatever is in the cupboard because I don’t feel like cooking. Instead, I actually have to have things on hand to be sure Amelia has plenty of options for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And even though she’s a great eater, Amelia doesn’t like to have leftovers for days on end. Come to think of it, neither do I.
I am definitely not a recipe-follower. I’d rather just wing it or have a look at a couple of recipes online for guidance and then have at it. It makes for messy cooking. And plenty of dishes. And I am always running to the store to pick up some ingredient I don’t have on hand. But things usually turn out ok.
One of my only concerns about having a newborn in the house is finding the time to be able to prepare meals. When Amelia was a baby, there definitely didn’t seem to be time to spend hours (or even 30 minutes) cooking dinner, lunch or breakfast. I probably should start planning to make meals on the weekend that would just need to be heated up for weeknight dinners. But, that would require more planning. And shopping lists.
I don’t know if I’m cut out for that.
No one is cut out for lists and planning but it does
make things easier in the long run. Your time will
be much less. You need to recruit folks to cook for
you for the first little while. : ) Just a couple extra
meals a week that you didn’t have to make, can help.
I guess I’m a natural planner and list-maker but still found that challenging at the beginning with a child in the house. I think practice makes perfect though; it comes more naturally to me now, because over time I’ve developed a lot of strategies and generally adapted to quicker meals.
One thing that saved my life when LP was a newborn is freezer cooking. Towards the end of my pregnancy, I started making double batches of everything and freezing them. Then, my mom came over for a weekend and we went on a cooking extravaganza. We stocked both our freezers and it lasted for about two months at the beginning. We didn’t always feel like eating this type of reheated food, but it was great because we always had options.
I was EXACTLY like you until Gwen was born…I actually cooked a lot beforehand & we ate from the freezer for a while. Then I started writing weekly menus on Sunday (gasp) because hubby took over the grocery shopping and it has continued from there. It allowed me to try out new recipes cause I actually had the time to look through them! Looking back, it is actually a lot more relaxing now knowing I don’t have to run to the store all the time :)