Where to Find Postpartum Meal Delivery Services

An overhead image of various brown colored liquids, including a broth being poured into a bowl from a kettle.
We Are Chiyo’s tonic and broth bundle. | We Are Chiyo

Some of these meals are based largely on the Chinese traditions of zuo yue zi, or sitting the month

A version of this post originally appeared on August 26, 2023, in Stephanie Wu’s newsletter, “From the Editor,” a roundup of the most vital news and stories in the food world. Read the archives and subscribe now.

After giving birth, the thing I most looked forward to was going to the doctor. That’s because I spent a month in postpartum confinement, and the only time I left the house in those first 30 days was for a pediatrician or OB-GYN appointment. This practice is part of a Chinese tradition called zuo yue zi, which translates literally to “sitting the month.” The idea is that after giving birth, mothers’ bodies are very vulnerable, given all the changes they’ve gone through in the past 30-plus weeks, and the first postpartum month should be dedicated to healing the body and bonding with the baby. In ancient times, this meant not leaving your house, not getting the body cold or wet, not receiving any visitors, and a strict diet of warming and nourishing foods. These traditions are, of course, very restrictive and not realistic for most. Those who want to follow these rituals tend to stay at a dedicated postpartum center or pick and choose what makes sense for them.

With both my pregnancies, I was able to implement some of these practices — and as with most Chinese traditions, there is a large food component. My mother-in-law, who is Cantonese, cooked meals that included the recommended foods, such as pork knuckle (high in calcium and collagen), lots and lots of ginger (to boost the immune system), and papaya (said to stimulate milk production). I largely avoided cold foods (I missed ice cream a lot). And I did manage to mostly stay indoors, aside from doctors’ visits, and focus on resting and healing by napping whenever possible.

For many people, giving birth comes with the freedom of going back to foods that doctors often recommend avoiding during pregnancy — sushi, cured meats, soft cheese, raw egg, and more. And don’t get me wrong, I had plenty of those things once I got home, in addition to a drink or two. But we balanced these out with nourishing traditional Chinese foods, as well as the thoughtful food deliveries that we received from friends and family.

With two children and untold amounts of baby-related things in my house, I’ve become a huge proponent of celebrating a new family member with a ready-to-eat food delivery instead of yet another (adorable) onesie. When you’re sleep deprived and covered in spit-up, feeding yourself somehow shoots to the bottom of the priority list. Thankfully, there are so many no-prep food delivery services now that it’s easy to send a meaningful gift — or buy something for yourself in advance. Aside from the more general services — Purple Carrot, Territory Foods, CookUnity, and Ipsa Provisions — these are are some of the postpartum-specific ones on my radar.

We Are Chiyo

This nationwide food delivery service is based on the principles of zuo yue zi, with meal plans dedicated to fertility, prenatal, and postpartum needs. Choose from a one-day trial or multiple deliveries a week, and personalize the plans based on needs like nausea, fatigue, and other symptoms. The dishes tend to be based in Asian cuisines, such as tofu seaweed soup, coconut-braised mushroom stew with chicken, and Thai basil tofu with gochujang mustard sauce. Tonics and broths are included in the postpartum plan and the ingredients vary based on how many weeks it’s been since giving birth — ginger root in week one to alleviate lower abdominal pain, hawthorn berry in week two to promote blood circulation. From $95 for a one-day trial, local delivery to New York City, New Jersey, and Connecticut and nationwide shipping.

Welcome Home

Brooklyn-based Welcome Home prepares food that is postpartum nutritionist-approved, but also designed to feed the whole family. The meals are frozen for easy reheating, and everything is dairy-free and gluten-free. Sample dishes include chickpea curry, baked oatmeal, and meatballs with tomato sauce. From $325 for a one-week plan, delivery to New York City and New Jersey.

Chen Mommy Kitchen

If you’re looking to adhere to zuo yue zi traditions as closely as possible, Chen Mommy has been providing the New York area with Taiwanese-style postpartum meals since 2011. A friend had these meals delivered after she had her son, and raved about the convenience of not having to plan meals and knowing her family had nutritious food on hand. The portions easily feed two, and dishes include pork liver with sesame oil, fish soup with ginseng and other Chinese herbs, and black chicken with wood ear mushrooms. Dessert options include sweet congee, taro soup, and tangyuan (sweet rice flour balls). Tastings available for $20, delivery to New York City and New Jersey.

Mama Meals

The family-run Mama Meals has a variety of package sizes, from smaller gift boxes to enough food to last multiple weeks. Their foods come frozen and are easily reheated, and are largely designed based on Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine. Dishes include berry date oatmeal, sausage stew, and sweet potato curry soup, the latter two of which are fortified with organ meat to up the amount of nutrients. From $185 for a gift box, nationwide delivery.



from Eater - All https://ift.tt/S70hYiI
via IFTTT

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

You Can Eat Martha Stewart's Baked Goods (Without Baking a Thing)

It’s a new year, which means it’s time for a new project for Martha Stewart, who I can only assume never, ever sleeps (meanwhile I, a 26-year-old, get fussy after anything less than a rock solid eight and a half hours ). This time, it’s not a partnership with Snoop Dogg or a craft store or a CBD-company . Martha Stewart has teamed up with Goldbelly to bring her lifelong favorite baked recipes—everything from flaky, buttery French croissants to luxurious kouign amann to sticky-sweet apricot danishes to her Extraordinary Chocolate Chip Cookies —straight to your home. “I’m thrilled to partner with Goldbelly to bring my favorite baked cookies and pastries to their loyal customers," said Martha Stewart in a statement. "Thoughtfully packaged in my signature Martha blue, these cookies are baked using some of my life-long favorite recipes and they make the perfect gifts for your loved ones or for yourself.” Read More >> from Food52 https://ift.tt/9c4W8MLeB via IFTTT
Read more

29 Great American Diners

Image
Lille Allen/Eater America’s diners account for some of the oldest restaurants in the nation. Here are some of the most iconic. A diner is a mood. It’s the slosh of sharp, black coffee poured from a steel tank behind the counter into a heavy white mug. It’s the miniature packets of butter and strawberry jelly waiting for their foil to be peeled back. It’s the waitstaff who’ve been scribbling orders on blue-striped checks for 40 years and know how to balance eight plates of pancakes on one arm. It’s the assurance that your eggs will always come out just the way you like them — not too runny in the whites, with a soft orange yolk built to drag slices of crisp, buttery, industrial-grade toast through. The promise of feeling like a regular no matter how many times you’ve actually visited. America’s diners account for some of the oldest and most iconic restaurants in the nation. A dying breed by some accounts and a resurgent one by others, they’re shorthand for a vision of the Unite...
Read more

Beyond Impossible: The Sanitarium and World War II Past of Meat Substitutes

Image
Photo by Tom Kelley/Getty Images We’ve come a long way from John Harvey Kellogg’s “protose cutlets” It’s no stretch to say that fake meat is having a moment . With the popularity of brands such as Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat joining fast-food menus and grocery store aisles alike, plant-based meats are no longer seen as a sad option for vegetarians long denied flavor with meat substitutes (though, as we know, plenty of vegetarian food is packed with flavor), but for anyone who enjoys a good burger, fried chicken, or nuggets. But are meat substitutes really the future of eating? Maybe by necessity as food resources run out, but not likely by choice. In fact, despite the big money raked in by Impossible and Beyond over the past few years, industrial meat consumption in America is actually on the rise. This week on Gastropod , Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley see how the not-sausage gets made, with visits to the Impossible Meat lab and Meati , a Colorado-based start-up that’...
Read more