Budget-Friendly Ways To Stretch Your Restorative Roots Postpartum Meals

We know that purchasing high-quality, nourishing postpartum freezer meals is an investment. In our opinion, it’s a worthy investment in your postpartum recovery. There are several ways to manage your budget when preparing for postpartum. This includes prepping your own meals (grab our free postpartum recipes here), asking friends and family to help you prep, or hosting a postpartum meal prep party. Many people do a combination of ordering meals, prepping their own, and having friends and family help. Here are a few ideas on how to stretch your postpartum freezer meals without sacrificing quality.

Add more bone broth — Adding additional bone broth (especially homemade) will provide extra protein, collagen, minerals, and hydration. We recommend freezing bone broth in Souper Cubes trays so you can pop out one portion at a time as needed.

Add additional healthy fats — Fats are your friend, especially during postpartum. They fuel your brain, hormones, and milk supply. Some ideas include:

• Stirring in a spoonful of ghee, butter, or coconut oil (depending on the dish)

• Drizzling your meals with olive oil or sesame oil

• Adding a fat-filled topping like tahini or nut butter
  

Add additional protein — Protein is key for healing, tissue repair, and milk production. Depending on the dish, here are some proteins you can easily add to bulk up your meals. It’s a great idea to pre-cook and freeze these in single servings so you can easily defrost and mix them in while reheating your Restorative Roots meal.

• Shredded meat: chicken, pulled pork, beef

• Ground beef, turkey, lamb, or chicken

• Leftover steak or meatballs

• Crack and whisk in an egg while reheating any dish — you’ll never know it’s there! This works especially well with our rice pudding, oatmeal congee, and other grain-based dishes.

• Collagen peptides: stir in a scoop for at least 10 grams of added protein.

• Protein powder or bone broth powder: stir in a scoop of flavorless protein or bone broth powder for an extra 20+ grams of protein.

• Cooked lentils: ½ cup of cooked green lentils is about 9 grams of protein — even more if you cook them in bone broth. These are such a yummy add in any of our savory dishes and SUPER cost effective

• Cooked black beans: similar to lentils, black beans pair well with most savory dishes. ½ cup adds about 8 grams of protein.

• Full-fat Greek yogurt: goes great in our chili or most other dishes.
  

Add hearty toppings — Depending on the dish, hearty toppings can add extra fat and protein to help you get more nourishment per serving. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Nuts and seeds like almonds, walnuts, cashews, sunflower seeds, or hemp seeds

• Coconut flakes

• Hard-boiled eggs

• Shredded or crumbled cheese

• Sour cream

• Avocado
  
  
  

Restorative Roots postpartum meals aren’t just about filling your belly but also about helping you heal from the inside out. The ideas above can help you get more nourishment per dollar while staying true to the traditional wisdom of our ancestors. Is there anything we missed? Comment below!