All of these are good tips, but many are a lot of work for a non-cook. You may want to buy prepared foods or even frozen meals like Kashi. The important thing is to get the nutrients and calories that you and your baby need. I was exhausted while pregnant and never felt like meal planning or cooking for my entire pregnancy. Good luck!

Think of this as training. You will need to practice meal-planning and healthy cooking for your kid, and if you don't plan, you just won't have time to eat when the kid is an infant.

I recommend the book, Well Fed: http://www.amazon.com/Well-Fed-Paleo-Recipes-People/dp/061557226X

It's a paleo cook book, yes, but you don't have to eat paleo to get something out of it. Melissa gives some really good quick and healthy meal ideas. She also has a good system for doing a lot of prep work for weekly meals on one day, and then most meals during the week take less than 20 minutes to make.

Also, frozen vegetable stir fry is super easy! Start with some of the bagged pre-made stuff from Trader Joe's. But then it's also easy to make your own, and it literally takes 10 minutes.

Instructions:

heat oil in pan at med-high
add frozen veggie mix
cook for 7 minutes
add an egg or two or some meat or fish or seafood
add some sauce from a bottle
cook until your protein is done (eggs cook in like a minute, and it ends up being like fried rice without the rice or moo shui)

Enjoy!

try salads! greens from a bag, pre-cooked baby beets, feta cheese, a bit of onion, chick peas from a can (rinsed). vary as you like (avocado, chicken, tomato)(arugula, boiled egg, tomato, baby carrots, feta), just keep a protein, greens, and another vegetable or two in there. lots of stuff can be bought pre-cut up and pre cooked, so you just have to find it in the fridge.

if you want to get adventurous, try some of these:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/dining/22mlist.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

I'm trying to eat better too OP. I actually can cook but my husband hates "healthy" foods which makes it tough. For dinner I like grilled chicken marinated in lemon pepper marinade, a baked sweet potato, and grilled asparagus or sautéed squash and zucchini. I also love black beans and rice with fresh tomato and avocado on top. I have never been a big breakfast eater but now I try to at least eat a Greek yogurt- I dislike Chobani for some reason but like the Yoplait Yopa! With granola. Snacks are baby carrots and hummus or grapes, something like that. For dessert (which I only want occasionally), sliced strawberries with a little bit of freshly whipped cream. Cup of coffee in the morning with stevia and then water the rest of the day.

Some days I cave and eat the crap like last weekend at a baseball game when I had chili cheese curly fries and fried pickles. But by and large I try to make the good choices. It doesn't necessarily require tons of cooking or planning but does require more shopping to stock up on fresh stuff.

My go to snacks have been apple with peanut butter, string cheese & crackers, hard boiled eggs, trail mix, luna bars, and fruit. If I'm hungry at night before bed I might scramble an egg or two, eat half of a PB&J, or have a small bowl of cereal.

I love to cook, but have lost motivation! Summer is easy though, most nights I have DH grill some meat and veggies and then I heat up some Trader Joe's frozen brown rice, make a salad, or throw 2 potatoes in the microwave. When the weather cools down this fall I'll probably make more of an effort to make chili, lasagna, or other bigger meals on the weekend to eat throughout the week.

Around 19 weeks my appetite increased dramatically so I just bring a lot of snacks to work just in case and keep a Luna bar in my purse at all times!

Op, I looooved to cook before pregnancy. I now can't stand dealing with meal planning - thinking that far in advance isn't working and I hate it because I really do enjoy cooking. My husband only knows how to scramble eggs.

I do cook sometimes and am happy it's summer because produce is amazing. Burger night (salmon for him, grilled chicken for me) with boiled corn on the cob, some side salad. Tomato, basil, mozzarella salad. Gazpacho is often in my fridge and I add avocado to it before eating. All are very easy to make. I make tuna salad (I limit it to once a week) and you could easily do it with chicken I am trying to limit carbs and balancing that by foregoing counting fat to a degree. Sweet green is a good to go place, but I personally try to avoid prepared food right now. One thing you could get is a supermarket roasted chicken - just reheat it in the oven to make sure its cooked through. The leftovers are good.

Snacks on hand at all times for me are greek yogurt, kind bars, small cottage cheese containers, and organic string cheese. I try to have a smoothie every morning with a smoothie of almond milk, frozen banana chunks, Greek yogurt, and a fruit (sometimes ill add chocolate syrup and peanut butter).

If I can do those things, anyone can! Set small cooking goals, make extra of everything, and keep snacks on hand that will keep crazy hunger at bay.

Good luck, you aren't alone. Think of this as a good time to try to learn some cooking skills you can keep up when hu have a kid if you so desire.

OP, ignore 20:10.

I would try having thinks like nuts, baby carrots, whole wheat crackers, tzatziki & humus, hard boiled eggs on hand so that you can snack healthily.

For motivation, maybe try a couples cooking class? (You and DH should share the cooking any way.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Obviously you don't want to make an effort for your baby health. You seem a bit lazy and selfish.

I am trying to make an effort. I'm trying to meal plan, eating only organic produce, and am trying to eat as well as I can but it is hard. I've never really got the whole food thing down--usually would just pick up take-out for lunch or dinner pre-pregnancy. And not having an appetite makes it hard to even think about cooking.

This is not what you said in your original post "often skipped meals if there wasn't anything in the fridge....I didn't have always found it hard to meal plan and grocery shop, I find both of these a huge chore but I am trying to be better for pregnancy. I find it hard to have the time to properly cook things"

Who said you have to cook healthy? There are plenty of convenient shops, like Whole Foods with pre-meals to buy. That why I call you lazy and selfish!

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm 18 weeks now but otherwise in the same boat as you! I've made a point to be sure to have something, anything, for breakfast and that has helped with the rest of the day a lot. I've relied on smoothies, overnight oats, and grabbing string cheese on my way out the door in the morning. For lunch and dinner I've really just been trying to listen to my body and go from there. Sometimes tuna salad and then a bowl of cereal is all I want, so I've been trying to just make sure that when I do eat, I make good choices. And I always bring cut up fruit and veggies to work to snack on (I just leave the container out on my desk so I'm more likely to see it and actually eat!).

Thanks for your thoughts. Do you feel you are getting enough calories? I have always maintained a steady weight but when I really look at what I'm eating it's not that much calorie wise or amount wise (pre-pregnancy). Now in pregnancy I worry I am not getting enough of the right nutrients or eating enough quantity in general. For breakfast, I usually have cheese and crackers, but this seems inadequate. I have never been a snacker, and don't tend to get hungry in between meals. I'm trying to force feed myself, but this doesn't seem like a great solution either.

OP, I'm 18 weeks now but otherwise in the same boat as you! I've made a point to be sure to have something, anything, for breakfast and that has helped with the rest of the day a lot. I've relied on smoothies, overnight oats, and grabbing string cheese on my way out the door in the morning. For lunch and dinner I've really just been trying to listen to my body and go from there. Sometimes tuna salad and then a bowl of cereal is all I want, so I've been trying to just make sure that when I do eat, I make good choices. And I always bring cut up fruit and veggies to work to snack on (I just leave the container out on my desk so I'm more likely to see it and actually eat!).

Anonymous wrote:Obviously you don't want to make an effort for your baby health. You seem a bit lazy and selfish.

Don't feed the troll. As she types it, her kids are with the nanny.

Anonymous wrote:Obviously you don't want to make an effort for your baby health. You seem a bit lazy and selfish.

I am trying to make an effort. I'm trying to meal plan, eating only organic produce, and am trying to eat as well as I can but it is hard. I've never really got the whole food thing down--usually would just pick up take-out for lunch or dinner pre-pregnancy. And not having an appetite makes it hard to even think about cooking.

Obviously you don't want to make an effort for your baby health. You seem a bit lazy and selfish.

I still hate cooking and I have an 8 yr old! I forced myself to eat better when I was pregnant. I was like you in that I would skip meals if I wasn't hungry, etc. I would do minimal meals and would depend on leftovers. If I made pasta and meat sauce, I would freeze some of it so I could pull it out when I was too tired to cook anything else. I made sure to have salad stuff in the fridge. I would buy the prepackaged stuff most of the time and just pour it in a bowl. A snack was usually just a piece of fruit like an apple or peanut butter crackers. It didn't help that my husband was deployed so I didn't actually have anyone to cook for! I would eat breakfast though. You will find in the 2nd trimester especially that you will go from not hungry to starving in 25 mins. I had to keep snacks (usually nuts) in my car because of it. I felt like I had an alien inside of me!

FTM here. I am having a difficult time eating well and healthfully in pregnancy. I also don't like to cook. Pre-pregancy, I would skip breakfast, pick up a sandwich or something to take back to the office, and then dinner DH and I would either eat out, or cook something very simple (like pasta and tomato sauce with garlic bread). I never snacked pre-pregnancy and often skipped meals if there wasn't anything in the fridge and I didn't feel like cooking.

Now I feel that it is very hard to eat healthfully. I am 13 weeks, so just out of my first trimester. I don't have much of an appetite yet (bad morning sickness from weeks 6-12). I have always found it hard to meal plan and grocery shop, I find both of these a huge chore but I am trying to be better for pregnancy. I find it hard to have the time to properly cook things.