You CAN'T!
BAAA HAHAHAHAHAHAH!
Ok, I seriously thought about just ending the post there, but I have learned a few things in my whole 18 weeks of pregnancy.
One is that meal planning is close to pointless. You may plan to have curry chicken on Tuesday, but by the time Tuesday rolls around and your face is the same color green as that curry...its off the menu.
Then on Wednesday you've got tacos on the list, but that night you realize that you have to have an egg roll RIGHT NOW OR SOMEONE WILL GET HURT!
Then there's the nights I just have ice cream for dinner, but we won't get into that now.
To help gauge this ever-changing scenario of I've learned a few things that have helped keep our dinners (when I could muster the energy to make them) flexible and easy.
The first thing I learned was that the smell of cooking chicken makes me sick to my stomach. That's why I have Matt cook the chicken. Sometimes I can manage to boil some pasta and saute some veggies to go with it to make a complete meal. I've been meaning to have Matt cook a bunch of chicken breasts on our George Foreman mini grill and then just freeze the already grilled chicken.
That would be smart to do. I should do that.
One thing I did that was pretty easy was throwing some beans in the crock pot overnight, then added the spices from THIS recipe for Ranch Style beans the next morning. By the time I came home from work it was smelling pretty darn good.
I've also made bigger batches of rice, then once its cooled frozen it in ziplock bags so that if stir fry or curry sounds good, I don't have to wait 40 minutes for rice to cook, I can just heat it up.
Soups are relatively easy. This week I browned some ground beef, added half a cup of Lawry's taco seasoning, tossed in a small jar salsa, a can of beans, a cup of corn and filled it up with chicken broth and let it simmer for half an hour. Voila! Dinner for that night and lunch for a couple days.
Other than that, easy dinners are a lifesaver. Frozen potstickers, tortellini, pre-made sauces like Trader Joe's curry or a bottle of orange mandarin sauce I can just drizzle over the already cooked chicken and rice. I think Matt would have starved had it not been for those options.
Sadly, that's all the advice I can offer. It may not be much, but its how we've made it these past few months!
Any other suggestions?
I have heard that a cup of beans takes the edge off of the nausia. Here is the link and the information with the science behind it: http://inashoe.com/2009/10/bean-cure/
ReplyDeleteHappy Bean eathing!
Blessings,
Cindy Strang
Baaa hahaha! You are so right - you can't! Or at least it certainly makes it challenging. I think you have it handled though by the sounds of it. As for the rice, I cook mine in the microwave; 1 1/2 cups of rice + 3 cups of water in a microwave safe dish with a lid. Cook for 10 minutes on high and 10 minutes on medium. Super easy!
ReplyDeleteI came over from your comment on small notebook. I have a ten month old now and I know what you mean about not wanting a zillion and two things for baby. We still have a lot but I am loving that I am not feeling tied to keeping too many clothes when he outgrows them even though we hope to have more children. We have been blessed with an amazing amount of hand me downs and I figure that there is no reason to hoard clothing for the next child (if the Lord so blesses) who may or may not be another boy. The Lord provided clothes this time and He'll provide them again and I am able to pass along our clothes to others who have baby boys younger than ours.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love this take on not meal planning while pregnant! So true! Kelly
My recommendation:
ReplyDeleteeat what you really wish and don´t care about any plans... have enough fresh fruits and vegetables, also enough fish and meat proteins.
Practically you don´t need to eat too much, you can freely keep your standard portions as before pregnancy. I know You had this problem in February, but I am sure you found your own method to deal with...
If you put on weight, most probably you will loose kilos by breastfeeding your girly-girl will need a lot of proteins and you will still need to survive without pinot noir or extra-spicy yummies, but you will be happy of new things around...