Figuring out how to prep and plan for healthy meals during the whirlwind of welcoming a new baby has always been one of the most stressful parts of pregnancy for me. From my own experience and lessons learned, I thought I’d share these tips that have worked well for our growing family:

  • Prep frozen meals in advance, cutting/preparing a bunch of chicken for the freezer – I know that sounds gross, but I will elaborate.
  • Have some easy to grab snacks – check out my favorite No-Bake Energy Balls recipe below!
  • Purchase ready-to-heat meals from HomeCooked in Paoli, PA. They’ll even deliver to your doorstep.

For freezer meals, I use my Instant Pot to make this Tuscan Chicken recipe and this Greek-Style Lemon Chicken recipe. It’s also helpful to have Bolognese or other ready to heat sauces like that in the freezer. And now that our oldest is a toddler, we can never have enough frozen Mac and Cheese from Trader Joes on-hand!

My husband and I have many go-to recipes that call for diced/cubed chicken and we also love chicken cutlets. We will purchase, slice, pound or cube a large amount of chicken and then store it in Ziplock bags in our freezer. This significantly reduces our prep time on the days when we are cooking.

No-Bake Energy Balls

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 cups old fashioned rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup ground flax seed
  • 1/2 cup raw honey
  • 1/2 cup nut butter (I like peanut butter)
  • 1/2 cup chocolate (I like mini chocolate chips)
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut
  • 1 tbsp chia seeds
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • Optional: about 4 tbsp brewer’s yeast 
  • Optional: 1-2 tbsp of hemp seeds for added protein

Instructions:

  1. Mix all ingredients together and form into 1 inch balls
  2. Place on parchment paper or plate and let sit in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours

A couple notes: 

  • Wet hands when rolling into balls and it won’t stick as much.
  • I often double the recipe and use my standing mixer to help mix. I then freeze half the balls for later.
  • Optional to add brewer’s yeast for lactation – sometimes this also keeps my husband away from eating them all if I call them “lactation balls”.
  • My toddler loves these, so I’ll make some smaller ones for him to have. Be sure not to serve honey to any child under one year old!
  • If I add brewer’s yeast and/or hemp seeds, I will add a bit more honey and peanut butter so they aren’t too dry.