Do you know how hard it is to do anything when you don’t know how much time you have to do it?
Who am I kidding, you’re the parent of a newborn, of course you do.
Broken sleep and odd hours are manageable but it’s the unpredictability that’s brutal. The best way to cope with a crazy schedule (or lack thereof) in the early days is to do everything in short 10 to 15 minute blocks.
In the kitchen that means doing the following:
Cook food that’s quick to make.
There’s a time for beautifully rolled handmade pasta and homemade tiramisu. Now is not that time. Choose meals that require minimal prep work. Steam frozen vegetables. Any kind of slow cooker meal is also a lifesaver in the newborn trenches. If your knife skills are up to snuff then a chopped chef salad makes a great dinner option too.
Remember, there’s no shame in using pre-prepared ingredients like minced garlic or peeled carrots when you have a baby’s schedule to contend with.
Break up the work.
If you insist on making meals that require multiple steps, break up the prep and cleanup over a few 10 to 15 minute blocks. Chop vegetables in the morning, sauté them in the afternoon, and add them to the rest of your dish in the evening. There will be plenty of time throughout the day to cook, the problem is you can’t plan on any long stretches without interruption.
Cook early in the day.
Babies have a tendency to get fussy in the evening. If you’re breastfeeding this may mean your baby wants you and only you from 5 PM onward. Beat the evening rush and get all your cooking done early in the day. Starting dinner first thing in the morning also means you’ll have plenty of opportunities throughout the day to break up the prep work.
Double (or triple) the recipe.
Economies of scale are real life magic. When you double a recipe you produce twice the amount of food without performing twice the amount of work. Trust me, future you will thank past you for cooking extra.
Cook when someone else is available to watch the baby.
Always assume the baby is going to wake up. Even if your baby has been napping great for weeks, all it takes is one delivery guy or solar power advocate or pest control salesman to ring the doorbell and drive your dog bonkers to completely ruin everything. Do NOT commit yourself to any time sensitive cooking at any time of day unless you have someone available to watch the baby if need be. If that means surviving off scrambled eggs and sandwiches for a couple of weeks, so be it.
Cook forgiving foods.
Ten extra minutes in the oven won’t do much to a baked potato. Meanwhile those same ten extra minutes will positively ruin a filet of salmon in a fry pan. Opt to cook foods that will forgive you when you have to ignore them. Roast vegetables, soups, and meat sauces are all excellent choices.
Run the dishwasher.
Is it the most environmentally friendly thing to run the dishwasher half full? Nope.
Will you regret not being able to fit all of the dirty dishes you didn’t manage to get to until the end of the day and leaving your kitchen a wreck for the morning? Absolutely.
If in doubt, just go ahead and run the dishwasher. You can plant a garden or go meat free for a week to pay your sustainability penance later when your newborn isn’t a newborn anymore.
New Mama Deck and Hack Decks™
We know you may feel overcome with joy and love one minute, and twenty minutes later be overwhelmed with doubt and anxiety. That’s why our New Mama Deck is specifically designed to be easy – NOT overwhelming. It’s not a book you have to read, or another thing on your long list of chores. It’s a collection of crowd-sourced new mom tips and tricks that you won’t have to learn on your own. And, most importantly, the prompts are focused on you.