Our third baby is set to arrive any day now! Yay! We are so excited and thankful for God for this wonderful blessing of another addition to our family. Meal planning is a way that we’re preparing!
Having a new baby, as wonderful as it is, really throws everything off for a while. Mom isn’t able (shouldn’t be!) to do everything that she has been doing, and everybody still needs to eat! That’s why we have to continue meal planning, just change it up a little bit!
How can you do this without breaking the bank?
There are a lot of strategies you could use, but here I’m going to break down my super simple strategy to stock my pantry so that meals and snacks are EASY for our whole family for at least a month after the baby arrives!
Check out my entire strategy for meal planning for a new baby here!
Benefits of Stocking Your Pantry Before Baby Arrives:
Sure, we live in the day of Amazon Prime, meal delivery and grocery delivery, but that definitely does not mean that it’s the easiest or most cost efficient way to prepare. Let me give you a little hint… it’s the LEAST cost-effective way to prepare! So, why should I stock my pantry before my little one arrives anyways?
Saves Money
This one is pretty obvious, but if you have all of the ingredients to make a simple dish like chickpea pasta and sauce in your pantry, you’re much less likely to place a door dash order when a craving for pasta hits.
Saves Time
If this is your first baby, let me tell you, you will wonder what you did with your loads of time before you had kids! Every moment is precious when you have a new baby and when you have a free moment you’ll want to sleep or shower, not wonder if you have enough salt in your cabinet.
Saves Brain Power
This one is similar to the last reason, but you really have to spend your energy where it is needed most after you have a baby! Stocking up on green beans isn’t something that should take precedence!
Being Prepared
Now this one is a bit extreme, but just a few weeks into my postpartum experience with my second baby we experienced the COVID-19 pandemic shut downs. It was really important that I had stocked our home well at that point because there wasn’t any going out to get takeout available!
What kinds of things am I stocking in my pantry before baby?
I’m not going out and just buying all of the bulk food I can find before our baby gets here! If I don’t want to eat the gallon can of green beans now, I certainly won’t want to when we have a new baby!
The foods that I’m stocking are foods that will make it very simple for us to prepare meals that we enjoy with very minimal effort.
The key here is to be able to prepare things without having to go to the store for a good long while.
I took a good look at what meals my family really likes and what ways I could make them with about 5 minutes spent on hands on time of any given meal preparation. From that list, I looked at the ingredients required and bought the pantry ingredients required.
Think about it, if you plan to make pork tenderloin, you’re not going to eat just the meat by itself. You need to have the sauce, buns, and sides that you want on hand to make the meal complete. That is where stocking your pantry comes in!
These are the meals that I’m planning on creating in my first month home from the hospital:
- Chicken Alfredo
- Beef Pasta Bake
- Chicken and Rice Skillet/Casserole
- Chicken and Rice Soup
- Taco Soup
- Chicken and Potatoes
- Cheeseburger Casserole
- Beefy Mac and Cheese
- Bean and Rice Burritos
- Chili
- Beef Roast
- Pulled Pork
- Honey Ham
- Grilled Pork Tenderloin
- Grilled Burgers
All of these things will require SOMETHING from the pantry. Here is a full list of what I’ll be buying to make these things quickly and easily!
Pantry Stock List for Meals
- 4 Boxes Gluten Free Pasta
- 2 Jars Alfredo Sauce
- 2 Jars Marinara Sauce
- 5 pounds of Jasmine Rice
- 4 boxes Chicken Broth
- 2 Cans of Corn
- 2 Packets of Taco Seasoning
- 6 Cans of Tomato Sauce
- 2 Ranch Seasoning Packets
- 1 Container Parmesan Cheese
- 10 pounds of Russet Potatoes
- Cream of Mushroom Soup
- 8 oz. Heavy Cream
- 1 pound of Mozzarella Cheese
- 1 pound of Cheddar Cheese
- 2 cans chili beans
- 1 box beef broth
- 3 bags baby carrots
- Barbecue Sauce
- 4 bags of buns (kept in freezer!)
- Honey
- Brown Sugar
- 1 pound Sliced Cheese
- 8 cans green beans
- 8 cans assorted fruit
This is everything that I’ll be buying exclusively for meals. In addition to this, we’ll be stocking up on our regular snack and breakfast foods.
Pantry Stock List for Snacks/Breakfasts
- 10 pounds of oats
- Raisins
- Brown Sugar
- 60 count eggs
- 4 bags of Bagels (these go in the freezer and we get them out as we need them!)
- Assorted Frozen Fruit
- 2 Containers Almond Milk
- 18 cups Applesauce
- 2 Bags Pretzels
- 2 Bags Animal Crackers
- Larabars
- Granola Bars
This is exactly what we’ll have in our home and ready to go when our baby arrives! It seriously will make the transition that much smoother. It will also save us a lot of money by avoiding the takeout line (because there’s never a more tempting time to eat takeout than after a new baby!)
I hope this list is helpful to you in preparing for your new addition!