Hellobee Boards

I'm also curious about this. Last time I doubled some recipes without trying them first, that was a mistake! I planned out meals for the last two weeks before I was due and printed out all the recipes and then the baby didn't come till two weeks after that! Having the recipes helped my family be able to cook for me though.

This time I am going to stock up on breakfast food for DH and DS. I'll mix up the dry ingredients for baked oatmeal and write down the directions for the rest. People brought us a lot of suppers but not snacks and breakfast.

Having lunches for DH was really helpful once he went back to work a week later so I'll do that again.

I'm stumped on meals though cause last time I had a winter baby (soups and casseroles) but this time I'm having a summer baby and I hate soup in the summer. I might freeze some lighter meals and stock pile ingredients for our favorite easy meals and make sure the recipes are printed. I'm also going to stock up on my toddler's favorite snacks.

I did it differently second time around because I didn't have time or energy to cook much. Last time I started my maternity leave two weeks before baby was born so I had plenty of time to cook and stock the freezer- though I ran into the same problem as @brownepiano: in that I didn't want the casseroles and heavy things in the summer so much.

This time I had a winter baby but SAH with a toddler so not much time. I doubled some recipes which has helped. I wish I had more healthy-ish snacks though- homemade muffins that aren't loaded with sugar and the like. I did stock up on the toddlers snacks and foods though.

I also wish i had done more freezer slow cooker meals- like bag up everything so all I need to do is thaw and dump.

Honestly, it was easier to cook with #2 because she was an easier baby - if she was as difficult as #1 was I would have been deep in it.

I prepped lots of freezer meals and outlined meals/stocked up on meals that I could make out of cupboard on maternity leave. TBH the freezer meals are most useful for when I headed back to work anyway.

Last time I froze a lot of muffins, some soups and dinners. This time I am planning to make more dinners expecting that less meals will be delivered by friends.
I went through my recipes, what I've pinned, HB and have a list of what are the possibilities and plan to start tackling it 6-8 weeks before my due date.
I am planning to make less muffins this time. We do not have a big blender but I have let DH know that could be a could gift for me when LO arrives or for Mother's Day. I freeze some smoothie ingredients now and could do more of that.

@Mrs D: no grill I'm hoping we get a waffle iron so I can make and freeze waffles.

Frozen crockpot meals last time were OK but I didn't always remember to thaw stuf overnight and then we were stuck! I've been scouring Pinterest and I found stuff for diy stir fry mix, I might do that. I have the energy now to start, but I don't want to keep stuff in the freezer for 6 months! Next month I'll hopefully start and chip away at my list.

I didn't do any freezer meals the second time. I never planned far enough ahead to defrost and heat. I stocked up on some refrigerated meals from Costco and frozen rice from TJs. Not my normal fare but it got me through the newborn time just fine.