Help! What to Do About Dinner?

Well I am not sure what to do about your dinner situtation but I do know some natural remedies for your morning sickness (or all day sickness)

Bananas Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep up blood sugar levels and avoid morning sickness.

B-vitamins Take a high-dose B-complex vitamin with at least 100 mg of B-6, morning and night, for both motion sickness and morning sickness.

Cloves Chew five whole cloves.

Ginger/honey Make a tea by mixing 1 teaspoon fresh ginger juice and 1 teaspoon honey in a cup of boiling water; drink as needed.

Ice Research at Penn State University suggests that applying a cold-pack to your forehead may alleviate the symptoms.

Lemon Suck on a lemon wedge.

Peppermint Put a small drop of peppermint essential oil under your nose. It will help stop your stomach from churning.

Red raspberry leaf tea helps relieve morning sickness.

Soda crackers. Eating some crackers will help relieve morning sickness.

Water Morning sickness is a thirst signal of both the mother and the fetus. Be sure that you are drinking enough water. Normally, people should drink eight 8 oz. glasses of water a day. Consult your doctor to discuss the proper amount for you if you have morning sickness.

Hi J., I'm in the EXACT same boat as you right now, except for I'm 9.5 weeks pregnant with a 2.5 year old. I'd love to hear more suggestions, because I'm running out of ideas. What I've been doing is not as healthy as I would normally cook, but the morning sickness will probably only last a few more weeks. Our sons and husbands won't die of malnutrition or an unhealthy diet in that amount of time!

Our family's favorite thing to do, even when I'm not nauseous, is to put out a variety of cut fruits, cheeses, deli meats, crackers, etc. I usually do any sort of combo of quite a few of the following: apple slices, strawberries, canteloupe, grapes, cheddar and like a goat cheese or other soft cheese, shrimp cocktail, olive medley, turkey and ham slices, grape tomatoes, hummus, crackers and/or specialty breads, maybe chips with salsa/guac/bean dip, etc. Most of this stuff you can find already prepped in the produce or deli section, so you just have to plate them. Really, none of those trigger my nausea too much, its all pretty healthy, and toddlers love it too. We usually put the selection on a tray, sit on the floor like a picnic and "graze".

Some other suggestions I do - frozen pizzas (I get cheese pizza and add our own toppings), the already cooked rotissary chickens from the grocery store, the Contessa or Bertolli brand frozen meals that are in the freezer section and usually only take about 10 minutes to cook in the skillet, soup and grilled sandwiches...

Kuddos to you for being so vigilint about you family's health and nutrition.
Remember you also need to be concerned about feeding the baby properly.
When I was pregnant my Dr recommended taking my prenatals just before bed time to cut down on some of the neasua through the day, it helped with the upset tummy but not the exaustion. Just grin and bear it as you know the sickness part will only last for a short time :)

Some dinner Ideas are,
Get some frozen entrees of the healthy veritie or frozen pizza etc make a salad or veggie on the side. Thats a snap.

Have a dinner prep party or start a dinner co op.

A dinner prep party goes like this...get three or four friends
everyone decides on a main course to make (sometimes you can find info about it online that makes it easier.)
Everyone comes to one of the houses and you work together/ either spilit of the ingredients to bring or have one person do all the shopping but devide up the bill .... when you leave you have 3 or four main courses.

A dinner co op is easier if you have friends that are also your neighbors. Get five( more or less is fine) friends with approxamatley the same # in their families each of you choose a night to make dinner make enough for your family as well as the other famlies in the co-op . In the long run you end up cooking only once but more of it in stead of every night. This really works better if you all agree on the overall menu for instance if one person makes pot roast and all the trimmings and another opens a can of ravioli,brings salid and fruit in a can that dosent really work out evenly. So set up the guidelines and agree first so there are no hardfeelings.

Or when you do cook...make enough for two or even three extra meals to freeze. freeze the lefovers in dinner sized prtions for your family. Defrost and warm and viala homemade dinner.
This means you would only cook half or 1/3 as much.

I have been there too.. I have four kids and mealtime is always hard, but especially so when you don't feel great. If you want to have healthy meals for your family and can handle 30 minutes in the kitchen I have some great recipes and a system that makes it so you can pull dinner together fast and then you can go back and lay down on that couch before you have to hug the porcelain thrown. E-mail me at ____@____.com and I can send you the PDF of the system and some recipes if that would help. Also mostly what I do is semi-homemade; meaning that it is mostly from scratch with a few corners cut.

Hi J.,
I had the same problem when I was pregnant. It was the smell of the food that did it! I was a little more sensitive to stronger smelling food like salmon and brocolli, so I tried to avoid them on days I knew I couldn't take it. What also helped me was to open windows and chew gum. Somehow the minty flavor kind of helped counteract the smell of the food so that I couldn't really "taste" it (which really grossed me out!) and airing out the kitchen helped lessen the smell. Also, making enough for left overs helps so that you don't have to cook everyday. You can still cook but make it simple so that you're not spending too much time in the kitchen. Hope this helps a little and congrats on your new little peanut! :)

Have you thought about a place that makes your entrees for you and then you can bring them home and freeze them for use when you are ready? There are a couple of different ones out there. I have heard the best comments about My Girlfriends Kitchen. I know there is also Entrees Made Easy. Good luck :)

I have been using recipes from this website www.savingdinner.com. They provide the shopping list and are very easy to assemble, especially when you do several together. I've been doing the "five for the freezer" meals because they are 5 meals using the same type of meat (find a sale for that type of meat) and you assemble the meals all at once. They break it down and make it very simple and are super cheap ($2.50 or so for the set of 5 recipes/grocery lists). The website is http://savingdinner.com/about/dinner_freezer_recipes.html and click on the circle at the top that says "freezer meals". It's kind of like those places (like My Girlfriend's Kitchen) where you go and prepare several meal kits at once, but this website is way cheaper because you do the grocery shopping yourself (but that's so easy to do because they make a list for you--no thinking involved).

I would check out My Girlfriend's Kitchen. They often run specials on their preprepped meals. I found out about one of their sales when I was pregnant and stocked up. I ended up with 6 weeks bedrest so they definately came in handy. They're not cheap but definately more healthy than fast food every night.

Simply dinners or dream dinners is what I suggest. All the prep work is done and you just measure ingredients out and put them in meal bags. This is something that your husband can do and they are very willing to help you in store. Simply dinners is on the East side of town on Ft Lowell and Dream Dinners is on the NWest side in the Sam Levits plaza I think. Go online and you can pre-order your dinners and make an appointment.

I had really bad morning sickness with my youngest(so bad I was hospitalized and almost lost her). My doc said drink lemon water. Something about the lemon soothing nausea. Hope it helps!

There is a fabulous place called Entrees Made Easy. They have several locations throughout the valley. They will preassemble meals for you to freeze & simply pull out for dinner. My family & I keep them frozen for busy nights or nights when I will not be home until late. All their ingredients are fresh and the meals are very delicious! You can go the website & choose your location, view menus, and even order online for pickup! It saves so much time & is actually very reasonably priced when compared to buying at the grocery store. When I was pregnant I couldn't even set foot in the grocery store for 4 months... this was a tremendous help. The meals are so easy to prepare your husband could do it in his sleep :) Just google Entrees Made Easy. Hope this helps!!

- H.

I go to college full time at nights. I buy food from schwanns, it is already prepared, tastes good, and comes right to the house. When I had morning sickness, even the smells in the grocery store made me vomit.
1 888 schwans
or www.schwans.com

I have a 20 month old and now a 2 month old. My last pregnancy was a rough one (maybe because I was chasing a toddler all day) anyway I used Super Suppers in arrowhead A LOT!!!! Right now they have a deal if you buy a $100 gift card it is only $80. You can just pick up premade meals that are so tasty and simple. You turn your oven on and place the meal in the oven and then take it out! It was perfect. The website address is ssarrowheadaz.com My favoite is the Creamy Sage Chicken. MMMM Good Luck!

I'm a full-time working mom to a 2.5 year old and a 10 mo old and a lot of the time there is no time for dinner. What I found is easiest is to go to My Girlfriend's Kitchen. It is a assemble your own meals kind of place and then everything is ready to cook. That way, if something makes you sick you can have your husband take over and it is soooooo easy. My husband even did it and he really doesn't cook. That would be my only suggestion. The meals are really good and healthy too! If you are really in a pinch, I believe the assemble them for you if you don't feel up to it. Good luck.

I am now 34 weeks pregnant with my 4th child and I had severe morning sickness for the first 18 weeks. For me, I found that the early morning was the easier time for me so I bought a "Fix it and Forget it" slow-cooker cookbook from Costco and made a lot of crock pot meals in the a.m. and then when it was ready at dinner and I was feeling awful, at least my family could eat a healthy meal! Good Luck!

Hi J.!
Congratulations on your pregnancy!!
You might want to check into places like Simply Suppers or Dream Dinners, and a few other similar places. Usually people go in a prepare different meals that are preprepped for you, but for my elderly parents, we pay a little more and the business prepares the meals for us. You can buy a certain portion amount and then you can freeze them until you are ready. All you have to do is heat them up, but not prepare them. You choose from their varied list as to what you and your family would like. My parents eat healthier when we do this for them. In time, you will probably be less sensitive to the food smells and will be able to cook again. Good luck!! E.

Dear J.:
I can really empathize with you as I also had a toddler and was nauseous all day long from week 5-13 of my current pregnancy (it was so bad I lost 10 lbs). Hang in there for it will get better! What I did to survive these difficult 2 months was use my crockpot for roasts, chicken, or any other main dish that gave off an odor. I put the crockpot in the garage to keep the smell out of the house. Then when my husband was ready to eat, he would dish up his meal in the garage. The Fix it and Forget It Crockpot Cookbooks have some good recipes to try. I found that I could make salads and cold vegetables for sides because there was no smell. Plan your meals ahead and try to assemble them when not feeling particularly ill. I also used the grill on our patio occasionally, but found that difficult while watching my little girl. Best wishes. R

Hi J.!

When I was pregnant I made crockpot meals almost every day and put in the garage. That way I would not have to smell it. I got sicker as the day went on so I was able to make something in the morning and put it out there. It is just nice to have good healthy meals without the smell! I usually would not eat with the rest of the family but at least that had something healthy to eat. Good luck!

Marsee

Hello!
Welcome to the pregnancy club! I'm 9 weeks here...with a 17 month old and a 3 year old!
They have frozen meals that would take little time to make...lasagna is an easy alternative.
There are also places like Designed dinners or Make n Bake in Gilbert, where you can pick up dinners from their freezer. There is also a place called Dinners Done Right in Chandler.
They are all fresh and usually these places have great varieties. You can also go into the store and create your own meals to be taken home to cook...but that wouldn't really help you right now!
Good Luck to you!
R.

Hi J., looks like you've got lots of great advice, but here's another suggestion I don't think anyone has made: the healthiness of frozen meals such as macaroni cheese can be much improved by just whacking a handful of dark-green salad leaves, a few cherry tomatoes, and maybe some nuts or some avocado on the plate. No cooking required, and very little prep. time, especially if you can afford the organic pre-washed salad leaves! Most kids seem to like cherry toms - not sure about the salad leaves but you can always try!

Hey J....

I know the feeling...Have you ever tried one of the Crock Pot dinners? You just throw it in the crock pot in the morning and it is all ready and yummy when you are ready to eat dinner. There is not prep involved, you just add water and put the bag of ingredients in. They have stews and chicken and dumpling...great comfort food for when you are preggo too!

Hi J.,
What about meals that go in the crock pot or oven, so you can, "flee the area" for most of the food prep time?

Just a thought.
T
PS: Ginger tea (ginger root soaked in hot water) and chocolate were my best anti-nausea friends.

I am a Dream Dinners addict! I think the recipes are better than Entree's Made Easy. I have never tried My Girlfriend's Kitchen though. Dream Dinners can assemble your meals for you and then you can keep them in your freezer until you are ready to use them. They use lean meats, good portion sizes and are not only delicious but healthy as well. My husband once caught the stove on fire making macaroni and cheese, but he has successfully made several Dream Dinners on his own! Their website is www.dreamdinners.com. Try them out! (And no, I am not an employee or owner of Dream Dinners, I just really love them!)

My friend, you've got to do what you've got to do. Buy sandwich material and go from there. If it's normal morning sickness it'll break in 4-6 weeks, and you'll be able to cook after that. For now, it's survival mode. Do what you can and don't feel guilty about it. You may end up spending some extra money, but there's nothing you can do about it.

With my baby, I had severe morning sickness that prevented me from cooking for six months. Hubbie lived primarily on frozen dinners and the like. It wasn't ideal, but we made it do because we had no choice. I know that the hard part is really your little one. Perhaps you could ask your husband just to cube up some fruits, vegetables, cheese, etc. that you can feed to him during the day?

Best of luck! I know how hard this can be!!

I hear you Jaime! I am 7 months now with a 25 month old and went throught the all day morning sickness from 6-20 weeks. Quick easy meals are all you can do and there are lots of good suggestions here. Just remind yourself that it is only temporary and soon you will be feeling better and be able to shop and cook. Things that helped me - I made a specific list of grocery's and my husband went to the store for me since I couldn't take the smell. I also spoke to my doctor and got some medication to stop the throwing up. Still felt nasous, but could eat a little more. Just keep things simple, it will all be worth it in the end!!

J., Hi have you ever thought of Entree's made easy or my girlfriends kitchen? They will prepare your meals for you. You just go on their site's pick out what you like/child would like and they will get it ready for you. We have a family of four two children 5/3 and we get the one that feeds 2/3 because the kids don't eat as much and it fills us up and it doesn't cost alot. Just a thought. Hope this helps good luck I had this same problem with both of my pregnancies. D.

I found the greatest thing just 2wks ago at walmart in clearance. it is called the rival kc electric smoker & roaster. it works great & you through everything inside of it put it on your patio & forget about it for hours. Some of the comments online have people baking in it. Also have your hubby grill (it makes them fell manly i think) & even the hubbies who cant boil water seem to grill fine. the crock pot outside might help to that way you cant smell it. some of the smells still fill your house if you kept it in the kitchen. hope that helps. with my son i was so sick for the first 6 months i lost 30lbs. i couldnt eat & the smells ohhh boy...i know how you feel.

I am not an expert, but I have had 3 children. Two boys 8 and 4 and a 2 month old daughter. With my daughter I was so sick I could not eat anything and actually lost 15 pounds. I was worried, but the doctor told me not to worry the baby was going to get what it needed no matter what. At 4 months pregnant I ended up getting on Zofran which a nausea medication. It was great and I was able to eat again semi-regulary. The all-day sickness ended at about 7 months and I did not need the medication anymore. My daughter turned out beautiful. As far as preparing meals I understand what you are going through. But you know what as much as you want to prepare everything from scratch your son will not no better and I am sure your husband will understand. This is a time when you have to take care of you. Do what you can but I would not beat yourself up about the meals? My husband and 2 boys had to settle to eat whatever I could stomach to make and sometimes with the simpliest foods I would still not be able to tolerate cooking. Just give yourself a break and time. Take Care and good luck.

If you look in the natural and organic sections of the grocery store or in a store like sprouts, they have some fairly healthy frozen meals. I really liked Amy's Pizza, they are pricer than most frozen meals (less expensive than eating out). You could also put stuff in the crock pot, one pot meals, put a chicken in the oven w/some potatoes and veggies so everything cooks at once w/o you having to stand at the stove. Good luck!!

P.S. Ginger Altoids really helped me w/my 'morning' sickness. Mine really lasted most of the day.

Hi J.,

I'm in the same situation. With nausea and it's hard for me to cook. When I feel o.k. I cook for 2 days. Usually I put the meat in the oven and I forget about it. I open the ziploc bag with the meat put it in the pyrex with orange, lemon or anykind of fruit juice + salt & pepper, sometimes I use a healthy salad dressing and that's it. Sometimes I boiled pasta or rice, or we just heat up a tortilla or toast. For vegetables sometimes I add the frozen vegetables to the meat, sometimes we eat raw carrots or salad. The grill works great for me too, it is outside so I'm not smelling the food all the time.

You can check also http://mealsmatter.org/ you'll find some easy and healthy meals.

Hopefully we'll feel better. Good luck! Sylvia

AJ's, and other stores, have ready made food. I like AJ's, Whole Foods and Sprouts best because they make their food without all the preservative junk in it. In fact, if you like cabbage rolls, AJ's is the BEST! I get salads from Sprouts/Whole Foods, and the olive bar that they have is wonderful.
I do understand what you are saying, I prefer to cook everything from scratch, also. Just remember, there are times when you are unable to and that is perfectly OK! BTW - it gets better . . . :)

J., I follow a Traditional Foods diet as outlined by the Weston A. Price Foundation (http://www.westonaprice.org). I make my own bread and even things like my own ketchup and mustard. I make almost everything I am able. But when pregnant I cannot even boil water. I can't be in the kitchen hardly! So, I had to rely on my husband for lots of pasta for the kids and get horrible frozen foods. While it made me sad to feed my family what I consider sub-par and even dangerous stuff, I made an effort not to feel guilty. When pregnant, you do what you have to do to make it! I had finally broken my family of store bought breakfast cereal and we slipped back into it when I was sick. My kids loved all the "treat" foods and I could surrender to the circumstances.

Another option is to call up your good friends and ask for help! Good luck. I've been there and know how hard it is.