Easy Postpartum Meals With Whatever's Already in Your Kitchen (No Recipe Required)

Does the idea of searching for recipes overwhelm you?

Do you ever wonder how you can make nutritious, tasty meals with what's in your kitchen without needing one?

How to Cook Without a Recipe

Recipes worked fine for you before, but now you might be thinking — I barely have time to shower, let alone find time to find recipes, make a plan and shop for them. So how the heck do I create a meal without a recipe??

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge advocate for meal planning and it can certainly make life easier (I'll touch on that soon), but you don't need to plan out every single thing you eat. Often, it's lunch with leftovers, or it's when we've got to the end of the week and the fridge is looking bare.

Let's face it, you're looking after a brand new tiny human, running on whatever sleep you can grab, and motivation for anything beyond getting through the day is in short supply. When that's the reality, meals tend to lean on whatever's quickest and easiest to reach for — which is usually the carby, no-effort stuff. That's fine sometimes. But lean on it meal after meal and you'll notice the pattern: quick energy, then the crash, then reaching for the next quick thing to get you through to the next one.

So, let's learn about how we can make well-balanced meals without a recipe! We'll get into a few tips to make planning and meal-making a little easier, a few examples of some classic flavour combos you can whip up without a recipe, and what to actually check for to know you've landed on a balanced meal.

How to Actually Do It

The meals you choose are up to you - that's going to come down to your own comfort zone, your experience in the kitchen, your preferences, and whatever's normal for your family and culture.

I'm not going to claim to have recipes that are the quickest and simplest and tastiest - that really depends on those same things I just mentioned. What one person finds quick and simple another may not.

What I can help with is a few handy tips for making the meals you choose more supportive during your postpartum period.

Plan Ahead

A little planning goes a long way here — and I don't mean a rigid meal plan you have to stick to religiously. Just a rough idea of a few meals for the week, whether that's actual recipes or just a general idea.

A few things that make this easier:

Batch cook/prep where you can

• Make extra when doing a tray of roasted veggies – use it for lunches as is or blitz into a sauce or soup for another meal

• Slow cook a large cut of meat – use it for different meals, ragu one night, burritos another, bulk it up with beans or legumes if you like.

• Lean in to your partner’s “thing” – most partners have at least one signature dish - BBQ, pizza, maybe a signature curry. Let them have their glory, tell them to make double! They feel useful, you cook less. Win-win!

• Chop more salad veg than you need, use it the next day for a lunch bowl

Shop for simple, everyday ingredients without a recipe in mind — versatile, typically long-lasting, the kind that are just there when you need them.

• Pantry staples – olive oil, rice, pasta, tinned fish, beans, chickpeas, lentils, coconut milk, nuts and seeds, soy sauce, honey, nut butters, dried herbs and spices (see below)

• Fridge staples -   jarred garlic and ginger, Greek yogurt, pickled veg,

• Long life fruit and veg - cucumber, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, apples and pears

• Storebought Saviours — pre-cooked proteins, frozen or pre-cut veg.

Roast Chicken (storebought) + Roast Veggies

Quick and easy store-bought protein paired with a simple tray of roasted vegetables. Chop, sprinkle with flavour and chuck them in the oven. Done!

Plan for a break so you know some relief is coming. This can help you stay motivated on other days. The frequency is up to you and how you are coping at this time. Lean into the help, you deserve it! Some ideas to give you a break include:

• Partner’s turn to cook – how they go about that is up to them, don’t get involved.

• Family dinner - not at your house!

• Leftovers

• Takeout

• A set meal night – setting one night a week as the same meal every week. This makes planning and cooking easier – familiar, easy and less mental load.

Go-to Flavour Combo’s – no recipe needed

Whether you are using a plan or winging it, you still need an idea of something to make. Keep a "cheat sheet" of flavour and food combos you love, so you can confidently throw together a few herbs and spices without a recipe.

A few examples:

• Fresh & herby – oregano/basil/parsley + garlic + lemon + olive oil

  • Great with potatoes & zucchini

• Rich & herby – oregano/basil/parsley+ garlic + tomato + olive oil

  • Pasta or tray bakes

• Spicy & smoky – cumin + smoked paprika + coriander + lime + chilli

  • Tacos or burrito bowls

• Sweet & Savory – Honey + soy + garlic + ginger

  • Noodles or rice

• Satay style – peanut butter + soy + lime + garlic

  • Noodles, rice or salad

• Creamy & garlicky – garlic + lemon + parmesan

  • Pasta or rice

The Power Plate Method

Once you've got a rough plan, perhaps some storebought shortcuts, and a couple of flavour combos up your sleeve, this is the last piece — knowing when what's on your plate is actually going to satisfy you.

The Power Plate Method breaks it down into five things: protein, fibre, carbs, fat, and a bit of a nutrient boost. You don't need to measure any of it. Just glance at what's in front of you and ask: what can I add?

·       No protein yet? Add it — leftover chicken, a tin of beans, an egg on top.

·       Not much bulk or fibre? Add veg, whatever's in the fridge or freezer.

·       Needs some richness? A bit of fat goes a long way — a drizzle of olive oil, some avocado, a handful of nuts.

Take that Spicy & Smoky combo from before — cumin, smoked paprika, coriander, lime, chilli. On its own, that's just seasoning. Add rice, avocado, black beans, and whatever protein you've got, and it's a full burrito bowl. Or the Creamy & Garlicky combo — garlic, lemon, parmesan through pasta is fine on its own, but add some shredded chicken, peas, a handful of spinach or rocket that you need to use up and it's a proper meal.

Power Plate Burrito Bowl

Left over mince? That’s your protein. Add some herbs & spices for flavour. A handful of spinach for fibre, avocado for healthy fat and some corn chips for carbs.

Winging it, done well.

That's the whole method: plan, flavour, then check. And that balance is exactly what keeps you out of the quick-carb crash cycle from earlier — steady energy, instead of a spike and a slump.

So next time you're standing in front of the fridge with no idea what's for dinner, remember, you don’t need a recipe a to feed yourself well right now. Some nights it'll be a proper plan, other nights it'll be leftovers and a flavour combo you know works. Winging it, done well, is still doing it well.

If you're looking for more support on how to create a well-balanced meal for your energy, head over to the homepage and pop your email in the Join Me box to grab my free guide, A Quick Guide to Postpartum Energy

See you next time!

Jade