Lately, my desire to grocery shop has gone out the door, down the stairs, into the elevator, and landed in the basement. Then, it’s been crushed by one of the cars backing out of the car-park and rolled like a tumbleweed onto the sidewalk, where it’s been further kicked around by passing pedestrians.
Can you tell that food holds no interest for me these days?
Poor Chris. He’ll ask me what’s for dinner, and I don’t know what to tell him – I need menu ideas you guys! Send me your suggestions – something that’s easy, few ingredients, and low on the smell-o-meter scale. Actually, if it meets even one of those criteria, I’ll be a happy camper. Because right now, I’m thinking that take-out for the rest of my pregnancy sounds like a pretty good solution.
Try good old burritos. You can get canned black beans (Ceres Organics is the brand i find most often here, in the natural foods section.) Drain them, not TOO thoroughly, and do NOT rinse them. Add a little cayenne pepper and brown sugar and heat them. That’s it for the cooking part. Then chop up tomatoes, avocado, maybe some onion. Put those on the table along with the heated black beans, heated tortillas, a jar of salsa, a jar of sour cream or cottage cheese, and a bit of shredded cheese. Assemble your own burritos at the table.
(To dress it up, sautee some veggies, like capsicum and mushrooms, to throw in too. But I usually stick with the easy version. It’s seriously 5 minutes of prep, no smells, and is delicious.)
It will get better. I went through the same thing. Once the morning sickness dies off then the cravings will start. LOL!!! They will know you by name at the grocery store. 🙂 XOXO
I’m loving the breakfast for dinner idea, and we’ve actually made grilled cheese a few times. And taco salad sounds fabulous!
Thanks for the suggestions! Can you believe that I can’t make Rice Krispy treats over here? The marshmallows aren’t the same as they are in the States. I tried to make them and it turned out as a hard as a rock!
Oooh, thanks for the suggestion! I haven’t heard of that site but I’ll check it out 🙂
Mmm, these all sound yummy to me! Thanks for the suggestions! I actually thinking about crock pot pot roast the other day 🙂
I think we lived mostly on frozen pizza during my first pregnancy! 🙂
I can distinctly remember trying to cook hamburger for hamburger helper (3rd or 4th pregnancy) and just walking away from the stove as soon as my husband came in, I just couldn’t stomach the smell and thought of it any more. Grocery shopping can be very difficult. You’ve had some great suggestions so far. Sandwiches, crackers and cheese, precut/frozen veggies, trail mix, rice krispy treats, something simple and easy to fix. Make something in the crockpot if you’re not going to be home (don’t want to stay home all day and smell it). I know one woman who ate a ton of McDonald’s cheeseburgers b/c that was the only thing that sounded good/tasted good/would stay down. Everyone’s different and believe it or not the baby will be fine. 🙂
If your husband likes pineapple, you might try this recipe http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sweet-Kielbasa/Detail.aspx it’s kind of a sweet ‘n sour smoked sausage recipe.
I half it and cook it in the microwave, or crockpot, or oven. Then leave the leftover cranberry sauce and the pineapple in the fridge to use the next week. There’s 6 of us so it makes a lot (2 kids who don’t eat much though). I make about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of rice to go with it. Cranberry sauce is now sold in 14 oz cans but it seems to work okay. I use “light” syrup or whatever the natural is called for pineapple (not heavy syrup!).
A site I get a lot of dinner ideas from is http://www.5dollardinners.com – they are for the most part healthy, cheap, and quick! When I was pregnant all I wanted was pasta or baked potatoes (carbs!), so we ate a lot of spaghetti, mac-n-cheese, and potatoes done different ways. Another thing we make often is grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. I hope you feel better soon! I remember the idea of vegetables or meat being repulsive to me while I was pregnant, but as soon as I had Will this is what I craved!
This is what we’ve been living on these past few weeks…Because I am right there with.
1. Ravioli and or tortellini – with whatever sauce you can stomach…I’m loving olive and garlic with some onions and red peppers, but when I’m whoa nauseous, it’s all about salt and pepper.
2. Pizza night – frozen or otherwise. I save it for my bad days.
3. One-pot soups – chicken noodle, made w/pre-cooked rotteriserie chicken, so I don’t have to cook it. This sits well with me and is low in irritating ingredients.
4. Taco night – sans meat. I just warm it all up, Patrick assembles his own.
5. Big salad night – tons of veggies, pre-cooked chicken and boiled eggs for the hubs (but not me! Ick!)
6. Rice and beans
7. On a good day – Crock-pot pot roast
8. Breakfast – my favorite is French toast
Hope that helps!
Sorry you’re still feeling sick! Maybe some plain foods like baked potatoes or baked chicken (he can add his own spices/dressings & you can stay away from them!)? I enjoy a simple meal of peas & white rice – which is plain but satisfying! Hope you feel better soon! 🙂
If I were you, I would just stick to take out!!
I had nausea through my whole pregnancy with both my girls, took Zofran the whole time! Needless to say, I couldn’t even go into the grocery store. My husband would be so frustrated because I would say we could go grocery shopping, and then within 3 minutes I’d be bolting out of the store!
Cooking is overrated anyway:)
I have no helpful suggestions but hope you start to feel less nauseous soon! If not, take out is totally justified!
Totally feel you on this one – the lack of energy and motivation that come with pregnancy has made dinner my BIGGEST chore. I hate it!!!!!! At least in the 2nd trimester I had more energy and would actually get started on dinner as soon as I got home, but once the 3rd trimester was near that went away 🙁
No fails for us include:
Gnocci with pasta sauce and garlic bread (Gnocci seriously takes like 2 minutes to cook!!)
Grilled cheese and tomato soup
Breakfast for dinner: eggs and toast, or pancakes
Taco salads: the only work involved is browning the meat and adding the seasoning, which husbands can actually handle!
Hope that helps 🙂