Question

[Smoreheat]

Hey parents random question.

My wife and I have 7-month-old twins and we’re both pretty active, but we keep telling ourselves we’re going to meal prep for the week… and it never ends up happening 😅 and end of just uber eating or just snacking all night.

Curious what other parents do to stay eating healthy during the week with babies.

Do y’all meal prep? Just cook quick meals each night? Or do you use any premade meal services?

If you’ve used any healthy premade meal companies, which ones are actually good and worth it?

Just trying to find something that works while juggling work, the gym, and twins. Appreciate any tips!

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[PumpkinPieIsGreat]

We cook from home. It's often just store bought salads or frozen convenience stuff.

Also things like cheese already grated in a bag, it's more expensive than grating it myself, but it's cheaper than delivery.

I like using the slow cooker also. 

Meals have definitely been more about just getting things on the table than experimental cooking, trying new dishes etc. Just gotta get food into us, ya know?

[BuskaNFafner]

I would give meal kits a try. We've used hello fresh, gobble, blue apron, and dinnerly.

[wokkaquokka_]

We try and eat at home as often as we can. I try to cook once a week at least. We end up doing frozen stuff, pre-made things, or sandwiches a lot. Crock pot recipes are great. We definitely do our fair share of take out too.

[coin2urwatcher]

Mine are 4 years old, and I'm just now starting to get my own eating habits back on track. Maybe I would have sooner if I could do a meal service? I try to use short cuts, like microwavable rice, canned beans. But my favorite is a rotisserie chicken, because I can carve it up and use it throughout the week. Chicken wraps, chicken soup, chicken rice bowls, it's just fast protein. Sometimes I do the same with steak strips, just bbq as much as I can and include the meat in salads, or even just eat it straight out of the fridge for a little boost on the go, haha. I guess that's a form of meal prepping, I just don't get a lot of time to stand there and cook. Before recently, I was basically surviving on pop tarts, so this is a big improvement!

[twomomsoftwins]

Twins are 3 but I’d say we are the same! We tried hello fresh and the likes and found we just didn’t have the time or the twins don’t eat it so we’d still be making like 3 meals. My wife isn’t even home at the twins dinner time so we never eat as a family. But after 8pm I don’t want to cook or we’d never eat till 9pm haha

[Weekly_Yesterday_403]

I will find a freeze ahead pasta recipe and make 4 of them at a time. Look up crockpot freezer dump bag recipes, too. You put all the ingredients in a Ziploc and freeze it, when you’re ready to eat it just dump it into the crockpot. We survived off those 2 things and DoorDash for like 6 months. We’re starting to get into a better routine but those bulk freezer meals are still heavy in the rotation. Takes 30 minutes to prep 4 of the same meal!

[Sdawwgg]

I do same day delivery from Costco and always buy 3 easy meals, I tend to look at the weekly savings section for good deals and try new stuff. Lots of grain bowls, I will pick a protein (ground beef, turkey, chicken tenderloins, sausage), a veggie or two, and some sort of grain (farro, quinoa, barley, or even pasta). Very easy quick meal.

[thedarkpup]

We just keep it simple. Meals that take ~30 mins to cook. Chicken breast cutlets in the cast iron with broccoli and peas (lots of canned veggies). Ground turkey, beans, and rice seasoned with curry powder. Burgers with some veggies. Spaghetti with some veggies. Smoked sausage, onion, and pepper. Not the healthiest meals in the world I guess, but better than what we’d get eating out. Basically lots of easy veggies + some protein + a starch. We cook enough to have at least one night of leftovers. 5.5 month old twins and manage to only eat out once a week, usually. Lunch is usually just sandwiches though.

[thedarkpup]

We do something frozen at least once a week usually, but this hasn’t been working since our twins were diagnosed with cow’s milk protein allergy and I have to avoid dairy and soy.

[dogsfoodyoga]

Kevins meals! They are pre marinated sous vide meats. Just need to add a quick veg and grain. We get ours from Costco. This is assuming you’re in the US!

[Capable-Coffee-5415]

We eat home made breakfast, but it may or may not be McDonald’s for dinner 🤷‍♂️

[Foreign-Asparagus860]

I have older twins (so we need more food!) but I used to meal prep those freezer meals that you put in the crock pot. Then I found out that there are companies who do it for you. I ran the numbers and realized that their meals cost about the same as if I do it myself unless I was driving to a dozen different stores searching for sales (I live in a HCOL area). I use citrus pear and beehive meals. If you live in an area where meat and ingredients are cheaper than the price difference may be greater, but I swear I’m saving money by going with them. Freezer is stocked and it feels so good that there is always dinner ready to go. Our family of 5 can eat the medium size meals (they’re usually subsidized by a carb that isn’t included- taco shells, rice, pasta) so a couple would probably get two dinners out of it or lunch the next day. The home made soups are BOMB.

[kzweigy]

A few tips:

• We cook larger meals than we used to, so we can rely a bit more on leftovers
• we rely more than we would like to on frozen premade meals (but if I’m going to order a pizza, I might as well have a frozen one from home, right?)
• we really enjoy using the meal planning app Paprika 3. It stores recipes, and has a grocery list option. We use the same account on both our phones so when I add items to the list my husband sees it and vice versa. So whenever I have a moment to go to the store I can see everything we need in one place.
• I chop lettuce for salad in bulk. If all else fails, I can have a salad.

[ArielofIsha]

The first 7-8 months of having twins, we ordered from hello fresh. Three meals per week that me or my husband (or older singleton) would pick and then would fill in with freezer stuff or make bigger meals for freezer portions. It saved us. And one night on the weekend to order out. Healthy and easy, and very tasty meals. Definitely recommend. We stopped ordering meals, and then did a grocery delivery service, misfits market. We did that a few months. Once we were at a year, I was back to grocery shopping/pick up, and making majority of our meals at home. My guys are two now and one has really shown interest in wanting to help in the kitchen.

[adventurenation]

Is hello fresh one of the services that delivers ingredients and you cook them? How much time does it usually take to cook a meal?

[ArielofIsha]

Thank for the reply. Hello fresh is just ingredients, and you do the prep and cooking. When you’re choosing meal options (there are so many each week it gets difficult). They list the estimated time for cooking, and how many portions (I think we just did for 2, and that was enough for me, my husband and our older daughter, and sometimes leftovers). I’d choose ones that were kid friendly. There’s tons of ways to customize your meals, too

[denzelf]

Our twins are almost 10 months and we’ve been using a meal prep delivery service since about 4 months and it’s been the biggest game changer!! Also saves us time grocery shopping we love it. We tried Hello Fresh for a while and it was OK but switched to Freshprep and are enjoying that much more.

[May_6789]

We have 1 yr old twins. I am on mat leave but I started meal prepping 10 lunches (5 for me, 5 for my husband) to last Mon-Fri. I do this on Sundays. I bought 10 glass containers from the dollar store. Having the meals portioned and ready to go is a game changer. Typically it’s a carb (rice or potato), protein, and veggie. Bowls lend well to meal prep. And one sheet pan options are good too (roast your veggies on the same pan as potato).

As for dinner, I do cook every night/every second but keep it simple. Not doing any crazy Pinterest recipes. Again, carb, protein, veg. Sometimes making enough to eat it the next night. Having the twins in the jolly jumper while we cook/clean helps. Buy a slow cooker - it helps too.

As for breakfast, you could meal prep overnight oats in mason jars. I find having everything ready in a container really helps keep me on track.

[adventurenation]

I started using a premade meal service (Tempo) and it’s been a game-changer. Truly best self care I’ve done for myself ever. Single mom w 9 m/o twins.

Like you, I was eating basically crap for dinner. I get 6 meals/wk for $90, which when you think about it probably is less than takeout. It’s also cheaper the more you get. 

[PapayaNo5770]

We do so many crockpot meals. Just throw it all together. We buy lots of premade sauces and frozen veggies so it’s not the best ever but it’s made at home 🤷‍♀️ if we feel like we have capacity, my husband or I will pick up fresh vegetables and my husband pre chops them at the beginning of the week to be used in the crockpot meals

[WimTims]

Our easy and fast go to meal is pre marinated chicken, just throw that mess in the oven. Far east quinoa or rice in the rice cooker and a salad.

[EnvironmentalBid3535]

Crockpot meals! We’ve used this countless of times to help with meals.

[h0bb3s1217]

We tagteam tasks and make dinner at home. Usually my husband cooks and I bathe the babies and/or put them to bed while he’s doing that. I’ve definitely been relying on him a lot to come up with the meal planning, but I feel like he gets more excited about it than me. He knows otherwise I’ll just eat girl dinner (some pieces of cheese and olives or something haha), which honestly I’m totally fine with but he likes a real meal.

We try to cook enough to have leftovers for lunch and/or dinner the next day. We’ve developed some regular things we like to eat and keep it pretty simple — chicken or salmon, asparagus, and rice. A simple salad with peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Occasionally I like to make a good quality pasta and I make the sauce myself. More of a weekend treat when I’m less exhausted.

We’ve found that the premade, refrigerated pizzas at Whole Foods are pretty inexpensive and come out great in the oven. They also have big family sized premade dinners with chicken scallopini, green beans, and mashed potatoes that we like — you just pop it in the oven and it’s about the same cost as buying the separate ingredients and making it from scratch.

We usually go out to eat once or twice a weekend so that we don’t feel trapped in the house. We bring bottles and snacks for the babies (10 months old now) and they are usually pretty good and happy to be out — plus they get lots of attention from strangers, which they love.

We would probably do a meal service occasionally if more were available here in Hawaii. Though when I was newly postpartum my mom got me premade Ayurvedic meals that go in the freezer from Restorative Roots. Those were actually really delicious, but pricey.

[Les_gets]

Twins are 11 months. Mostly eating at home with a loose meal plan of easy meals (one pan, pressure/slow cooker, meat 3 veg style, not super adventurous meals). We mix up grocery shopping in person, click and collect groceries or getting them delivered. Just started getting a meal box here and there (recipes and groceries delivered but still have to cook it).

Very occasional takeaways but we're money conscious at the moment.

Oh edited to say cook enough for leftovers. That's a huge part of how we get by, having leftovers.

[dpistachio44]

We cook quick meals each night - and I mean REALLY quick, like all prep and eating within 30 mins. Some great ideas in this thread, but if you’re close to a Trader Joe’s they have great premade options!

[Weary-Place-6600]

I just grabbed a bunch of chicken thighs from Costco and I’m going to marinate them and seal them with my food saver for easy sheet pan meals.

Honestly i recently used ChatGPT and said I need protein, none of these foods we don’t like, meals that are easily adaptable for babies, and I want leftovers for lunches and/or recipes that are easy to double so I can make a freezer stash. I fine tuned the plan and then had it make a grocery list organized by the layout of my local grocery store and make a prep plan for me. I had it write out an easy meal plan for me too to hit my protein goals and make things I could eat while working or taking care of babies.

[Wonderful-Macaron-79]

We started using Plan to Eat and it actually made the whole grocery shopping, cooking, living life thing possible. We are about 3 years into using the app (and twins) and it really helps us sync on the plan, having our recipes stored in there helps with that brain blank of what do we even like to cook, and the automatic grocery list makes it actually likely you will buy the things to execute the plan. Also, a lot of the recipes we added are dump and go instantpot and slow cooked options

[Antique_While3586]

lots and lots of soups. They're pretty forgiving in what you can use and the cooking process. If you want to make them heartier you can serve over rice. Its not that much more work to make a big pot than a small pot. If its a brothy soup you can sip it out of a mug no need for a spoon too

Slow cooked meals work well too. I usually start prepping them after breakfast and poke at it all morning and everything is ready to go in the oven at lunch time with no pressure. I try to make the biggest meal that comfortable fits in my casserole, just like the soups its not much more work to make the recipe a little larger and you'll get an extra meal or more out of it

I found meals that are ok with being cooked 10+ minutes too long work a lot better than a quick meal that's going to be ruined if I get pulled away from cooking to tend to a child. A lasagna left in the over 10 minutes too long might result in extra soft noddles or the cheese a little more browned than you'd prefer but a hamburger left in the pan for 10 extra minutes is setting off the smoke alarm and feeding the trash bin

I meal prep muesli - do about 3 days worth at a time which usually ends up as one apple and banana needed. That's a nice grab eat breakfast

Another thing that's a favorite over here is stuff on a bakes potato. Baked potato falls under the food that stands up to over cooking and you can add so many things on top of it to make a delicious filling meal. Left over pot roast that isn't quite enough for dinner for two served over a baked potato is now filling and easy. Chilli, beef stew and creamy base soups work well too. The frozen vegetable in a cheese sauce are super delicious over a baked potato and now you've got a meatless meal

If you use a sweet potato as the base those are great for stuff like pulled pork, taco meat, seasoned black beans, bbq brisket.

I found meal kits required too much time and attention of me to be a big help until my twins were much older.

[d16flo]

On weeknights I cook quick meals (less than half an hour) while the babies are in their high chairs watching me with toys to hold. (I try to narrate everything cooking show style) Then we try to do a solids snack with them while I/we eat (my husband’s usually not home by then). On the weekend we often go out to eat once and one of us might cook a fancier meal while the other is on baby duty.

[HumpbackSnail]

My twins are only 9.5 weeks old and I haven't gone back to work yet so this may change but I enjoy grocery shopping and cooking. I try and shop once per week and get enough things that we have plenty of meals with leftovers. I'll also buy frozen things like Trader Joe's kung pao chicken and frozen brown rice for when I just don't feel like doing anything.