By Emma Chow

The first time I was pregnant I was told I would never find the time to cook once baby arrived and that I should fill the freezer with food. They weren’t wrong.

Once cub number one came I was a bleary zombie, happy but exhausted, buoyant but unable to go to the toilet without some serious bucking up first.

Food was the last thing on my mind, unless it was baby food and that came out of my boobs without much trouble, thankfully.

There’s no reason you have to make this all yourself, you could make someone else do it in lieu of baby gifts that you probably don’t want anyway. But should you be suffering from intensive nesting that is causing you to scrub bathroom grout and wash linens repeatedly, despite their cleanliness, you might want to put your energy into making these totally excellent dishes. See also our list of Vegetarian meals to make and freeze before baby arrives and if you’re after more clean eating ideas, check out our make-ahead clean eating snacks.

1. Chicken Burrito and Bean Bowls

Try subbing your regular rice with brown rice in this delicious recipe.

2. Lamb and Apricot Mini Burgers

3. Pork and Apple Meatballs

4. Thai Chicken Burgers

With patties are burgers, they are generally best frozen after cooking and cooled.

5. Butter Chicken

6. Baked Almond Chicken Fingers

7. DIY Pulled Pork

A nice big batch of pulled pork divided into family size portions is an excellent thing to have in the freezer. Sans sauce, pulled pork can be chucked with whole wheat noodles for a a quick meal, added to a brown rice stir fry or tossed with quinoa for a quick pilaf.

8. Yakitori Chicken Kebabs

9. 1KG of Red Lentils–>FOUR Recipes

Four recipes include Spiced Red Lentil and Tomato Soup, Eggplant Lentil and Coconut Curry, Red lentil and Rice Cakes (instead of the cracker or bread crumbs just cook additional rice to cover the 1/4 cup) and lastly a Red Lentil Dahl with Kale and Spinach.