Meal prep is the ultimate process to making life easier in every way. Food is one of the biggest parts of my life, and thinking about what to cook and eat during pregnancy should not be a concern. Meal prep can be so helpful, but is it safe during pregnancy?
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Is Meal Prep Safe During Pregnancy?
You can meal prep while pregnant, and you should do so. It is beneficial on those difficult days when you struggle to do anything, plus it helps you eat healthier homemade meals.
Meal prep is safe during pregnancy. It is more than manageable if you plan it well and don’t overexert yourself. You can always get some help too. But eating meal-prepped food during pregnancy is also safe if you cook and store the food properly.
When I was pregnant, meal prep was my savior. I cooked many meals to last me most of my third trimester, which helped ensure I got the proper nutrition, allowed me to get enough rest when I was too tired, and I always had food ready to go. I will share my best meal prep safety tips to help you.
Meal Prep During Pregnancy: 7 Safety Tips
While meal prep is safe during pregnancy, care should be taken around how much time you spend on meal prep, the type of food you use, and cooking and storing methods. You want to avoid anything that can negatively affect you or your baby – from the food or overworking yourself.
These 7 tips are how you can ensure health and food safety during pregnancy:
Plan Your Time and Take It Easy
One of the most unfavorable things you can do during pregnancy is exert yourself for hours in the kitchen meal prepping. Meal prepping is terrific and helps you stay off your feet, but planning your time well and doing a little at a time as you manage is essential.
Here are some ways you can manage your time around meal prep while pregnant:
- Make lists of what you need cooking process, and print out recipes.
- Get someone else to purchase your groceries or order them online.
- Meal prep only on days you feel healthy and energetic enough to manage.
- Don’t do everything at once. Split your meal prep over a few days or even over a couple of weeks if you cook freezer meal preps that can last months.
- Get help. Ask friends and family members to come over and help you.
- Maximize your time and make things easier by purchasing precut vegetables.
Lists were one of my favorite ways to stay on top of meal prep during pregnancy. With my pregnancy brain fog and extreme tiredness, I would never manage to finish what I started. But lists helped me remember what still needed attention, and my partner could check them out and know how to help.
Cook Meat and Poultry Properly
The most crucial element of the food aspect in meal prep during pregnancy is ensuring you fully and thoroughly cook your animal proteins. Any meat and poultry, like beef, chicken, eggs, and pork, must always be cooked to the correct temperatures.
If you prefer medium rare or slightly cooked, that must change during pregnancy. All your food must be well done to avoid bacteria like salmonella. Raw or undercooked meat and poultry can harm you and your baby.
Even foods like hotdogs should be cooked, boiled, or steamed well enough to heat through fully to kill bacteria. If you cannot do this, avoiding these foods and preventing the risk of toxoplasmosis and other foodborne illnesses is best.
Eat Rice Within Two Days
While rice should typically be served immediately if you plan to store rice in the fridge for a few days after meal prepping, eat within two days. Keeping it in the freezer is best if you want to store it longer.
If you store it properly, you can keep rice in the refrigerator for three to five days with standard meal prep. With pregnancy, consuming it within a couple of days is best to avoid bacteria spores.
Rice is highly prone to bacteria growth, which harms you and your baby. The toxins can negatively affect your health, causing food poisoning, cramps, vomiting, and diarrhea. The longer you leave rice, the more unsafe it becomes for consumption.
Use Proper Storage Containers
Plastic containers are super convenient and affordable. They freeze well, and it helps that they are lightweight and easy to wash up. Plastic can be incredibly toxic, especially if you pack warm food inside or warm the food in the containers.
The general use of plastic is not recommended, so during pregnancy; it should be avoided even more to prevent harm to yourself and your baby. Instead of plastic, there are options like glass and foil. Foil trays are fabulous for freezing, but foil also has some toxicity.
The best option to go with is glass. Now you even get convenient freezer-safe glass containers, and the best thing is that you can heat your food directly in those containers by placing them in the oven or microwave. That way, you avoid more dishes and added work in the kitchen.
Freeze Food for Storage
If you are meal-prepping while pregnant, make the freezer your best friend. It is the safest way to store food while pregnant. Freezing helps to preserve the food and prevent bacteria build-up. It also allows you to keep food for much longer, so you can pull it out after a few weeks when needed.
One of my memories during pregnancy was buying a whole new additional freezer. It was specifically for my meal prep, so I could cook for months ahead and have enough space. Knowing I had so much food stored safely in the fridge or freezer for any time I needed a meal gave me a lot of peace of mind.
Thaw and Reheat Food Thoroughly
Cooking food well to kill bacteria is essential. But thawing food properly and thoroughly reheating the meal prep is just as important. When you have food prepped in the freezer and don’t thaw it well before heating, it may not reheat evenly or all the way through.
This means there is an opportunity for bacteria to grow, and you and your baby will be at risk of harm. Allowing the food to thaw and then reheating it entirely ensures the heat gets through evenly, kills bacteria, and provides food safety.
If you have oven-based food like pasta bake or lasagna, cook it in the oven, but leave it in the oven for long enough to thaw and fully heat through. I did this all the time because my brain wouldn’t always make me forget to pull the food out early enough from the freezer.
Use Meal Prep Pregnancy-Safe Ingredients
When you meal prep during pregnancy, you want to try and prepare only pregnancy-safe foods. Seafood, sushi, deli meats, or cold cuts are unsafe pregnancy foods. The safest options are ingredients that can be cooked with heat and fully cooked meals.
Here are examples of meals to prep during pregnancy:
- Soup
- Pasta
- Lasagna
- Curries
- Stews
- Roast chicken and beef (cooked well done)
- Stir-fries
- Baked vegetables
Conclusion
Meal prep is safe during pregnancy. It is also beneficial and makes things easier for hard days when cooking is not an option. Using my tips when meal prepping can help make your pregnancy a breeze while ensuring you always have yummy homemade food to eat.
Nathaniel Lee is an avid cook, drawing on his decades of home cooking and fine dining experience. He is a contributing chef at Mashed, and his recipes and contributions have been featured in Tasting Table, Edible Arrangements, Insanely Good Recipes, and The Daily Meal.
