Best freezer-ready meal to give to a new mom?

[DocAMC]

They say they're always hungry, and not picky.

[mcel215]

I make Giada's Chicken Tettrazini and undercook the pasta (I use penne), and freeze. Tape the directions to heat after on top of the pan. It's easy and delicious. And if you want to save time, you can do it with a Rotisserie chicken or two.

Bill Granger's Carmel Chicken is great to make ahead. It has a wonderful sauce and all they have to do is cook rice and make a salad.

Same with Epi's Mahogany Beef Stew with Hoisin and Chicken Marbella. Again, either rice or noodles and voila, they are done.
Or you can just provide french baguette and that freezes well too.

[boyzoma]

+1 on the Chicken Tetrazzini. But I use Vermicelli pasta. I also saute and add some diced red bell pepper and diced cooked carrots.

[sunshine842]

the comments on the other threads about fruit and vegetables are spot on -- this is the time for nutrient-dense food...and filling is good. I remember feeling like I was going to starve to death within days -- breastfeeding takes a LOT of calories!!

Be mindful of spicy foods and things like broccoli and cabbage -- the chemistry of these foods in particular are passed on to the baby if she's lactating, and *will* upset a new baby's tummy...nothing worse than being completely exhausted and your newborn is gassy and spitting up.

[DocAMC]

Yes I remember always being hungry too! Keeping half of everything for my own family, I have decided on: banana blueberry muffins (baking right now), rice-topped shepherd's pie, meatballs, roasted veg, fruit salad, and an apple crisp. Oh and a few goat cheese & roasted red pepper tarts and a few asparagus cheese rolls that I made to have on hand. Thanks everyone!

[sunshine842]

YUM. Looks like you've got all the bases covered -- filling and substantial, comforting, easy to reheat, not too spicy, and very, very tasty.

[sarahcooks]

Just not lasagna, everyone brings lasagna!

[hill food]

true, but instead of doing a bigass pan you can do small individual servings rolled up in the pasta and frozen like small burritos and then it's just a pop in the microwave for a snack.

the idea of a big old pan of lasagna is sort of overwhelming.

[Aravisea]

Great thought - I was also thinking of a big tray of enchiladas, but maybe individual servings of 2-3 enchiladas each (made with the small tortillas) would be easier for them.

[Aravisea]

This is a pretty common inquiry - here's some other threads with good ideas:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/716113
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/596936
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/297319
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/468821

I'm cooking for a new mom myself right now :) - and I took them a big tray of shepherd's pie. They loved it. Planning BBQ meatballs next - meatloaf and meatloaf variants are bigtime comfort food for a lot of people.

[DocAMC]

Thank you! I guess my search skills are not up to par yet... much obliged!

[Aravisea]

The search function on the Chow page isn't very good - searching on Google seems to get better results. :)

[DocAMC]

Great tip - will do! Thanks again!

[greygarious]

In case you haven't figured this out yet - when you get the Chowhound search results, you can click on the "view" tab on the upper right of the results section. This will trigger a drop-down in which you can customize/expand your search.