Pregnant & Starving...but don't know what to eat!

[MrsD'ville mkII]

Hi and congrats. I'm still getting over your husband being away for a couple of months, that can't be fun.

On the other hand, you can eat what you want without having to explain yourself to anyone! I'm 24 weeks now and have really swung from a sweet craving in the early weeks to a major salty carb thing now having gone on a major stodgefest (pastry etc) when I was about 10 weeks and suffering from hellish nausea. My problem is I don't know when to stop and can't judge if I need something or am just being a greedy moo! Sweet and sour sauce is good as you can add it to other things and get a variety of food along with the flavour that's hitting the spot for you. It was Dairylea for me for a few weeks but I'm calmed down now. Haven't had the extremes I had with DD when I couldn't even have a mushroom in the house and tartare sauce was off the menu for years.

I have though been having a bit of a fresh orange juice thing (totally agree about the bits) and have been drinking that and eating grapes at work. Unfortunately my system's always been a bit sensitive to fruit and the result has been dreadful guts and piles, so I'm having to rein it back as I can hardly sit down! I love peanut butter and banana but only allow myself PB twice a week as there's eczema in our family and I don't want to cause Max problems. I'm also a huge prawn fan and I know I shouldn't have them but haven't successfully avoided them and also adore my runny egg yolks so really I'm going to hell in a handcart!

[kathleen]

Yip, is kind of bad timing that my husband's away - he's a winemaker & had already arranged to do the harvest in Italy before the baby made itself known! I'm not very much fun at the moment, so it's probably best that I'm not inflicting myself on anybody .

[KellyB]

Runny eggs are ok as long as they are lion marked

[Annpan]

I have done this in another thread here and was pounced on but..... a lot of the things that have been mentioned here are on the no-no list. Pastrami, smoked meats, soft cooked eggs, (even with the lion mark) are all on the list.

Now I am not one to tell you not to eat something you think is totally safe, All I am saying is double check yourself because I don't think any of us are qualified dietitians for preggers ladies, or spokesmen for the food standards agency.

[shell]

i loved runny fried(olive oil) eggs on mash potato,actually still do,shepards pie with baked beans in and carrots was a favourite too,sometimes with cheddar cheese grated over it,porage made with milk and brown sugar sprinkled over,heavens i`m hungry,apples baked in the microwave,cored and stuffed with sultana`s,cinnamon and brown sugar served with natural yogurt,mind you as my pregnancy progressed i put garlic into every dinner i could,i still like garlicky roast potatoes,yum
hope your pregnancy is a happy and healthy one,and rest when you can,
shell

[Clara]

Going back to the original topic, cos its something that I've been struggling with, here's what I've come up with.

As we only go to market once a week, I make a meal plan for the week beforehand, from this I write a shopping list. One of the problems I've had with this in the past is "blank paper syndrome" wherein when I sit down to write it I completely forget what I cook! So the other day I went through all my cookbooks writing down the names of the commonly used recipes, next week i intend to go back and photocopy all the recipes so that I have them in one folder, which I can refer to when making the meal plan and writing the shopping list. I can see that this will need to be built upon seasonally.

Also I intend to write and laminate a sheet for the back of the pantry door which will be a list of essential pantry items, so that I can check against this when I'm writing the shopping list too. I often have I planned to make something, only to find out I've not got a really basic ingredient - in my case very frustrating, as I can't just nip to the corner shop.

I also plan to add a column to the meal plan, to include any pre-prep that needs to be done (e.g. soaking beans overnight) and scheduling any regular tasks (e.g. bread baking, yoghurt making).

This all makes me sound very anal and organised but i'm not....which is exactly why I need to get on top of it all this way. I'm not very good without structure, and when I have 2 kids in tow I can see my life descending into chaos, hungry chaos!

[citizentwiglet]

Clara, I've been using a similar routine for months now, and it works brilliantly. It really does help with those 'blank paper' moments, as you say.....my memory is not great at the best of times, but during pregnancy I'm like a zombie most of the time, so it is one less thing to worry about, and it saves you getting into the rut of only being able to remember what you had last week, so having it this week again out of sheer desperation for ideas!

We've collected favourite recipes into a book - it's handwritten (I'm an old fashioned gal like that!), but I WISH I'd done it seasonally, that's a brilliant idea to have it in some kind of cohesive order.

A really good stock-take of your kitchen cupboards every month or so is well worth it too - I managed to get a week's cooking out of things I had forgotten were lurking in the back of the cupboards, so saved myself £25.00 and a trip to the dreaded shop. And I was quite amazed by how many open bags of mixed beans I had on the go. And cous-cous...but I think that must be breeding in the cupboard, as I have no recollection of buying QUITE that much!

[ina]

Not at all anal - I do something similar, too. (On my list for today - bake bread, and use up rice pud...)

It really is necessary unless you live somewhere near a shop, or don't mind having far too much of everything in the house and then chucking half of it out! I have lists of all my storeroom contents (I cross off what I run out of, and have a kind of stocktaking every few months, when I also check the best before dates); I have lists of herbs and spices (I buy them in bulk, too); I have lists of things that need to be used up first...

Do I sound like a compulsive list writer?

[kathleen]

I think I need to become a compulsive list writer! Might get me on track...After finally getting into the groove of making a choice about what I'm going to eat, I've lost the enthusiasm again...still 6 weeks til my hubby comes back, I think being here by myself has started zapping me a bit...Right now I need to go and get rid of several bags of chips leftover from the party I had for all of my music students this afternoon before I go mental & eat them ( I HATE chips! But they're looking appealing right now!) - I had 40 kids, 40 parents & 40 plates of scary snack food in my kitchen (I supplied lots of nice fruit...funnily enough most of it's still here for me!). Also made the annoying discovery that somehow the (small & incredibly gossipy) community have found out I'm pregnant - I'm really quite upset, as I haven't told many of my friends yet (only 13 weeks..) & it bugs me that strangers have something to say. Vent vent vent!!! Sorry, have gone a little off topic! Add hungry to grumpy...and if I eat any of those chips I know I'll give myself a tummy ache. Must tape them all up, put them in the car & give them away tomorrow!

[Annpan]

Oh dear Kathleen, hugs

I often make big pots of stew or soup and freeze them in individual portions, then I am only a 5 minute spin in the microwave away from having a healthy meal. (only 2 minutes if you take it out of the freezer in the morning)

I am also an avid list writer, but I found myself making more and more lists and rarely getting round to doing the things on the lists, I did actually have a list of lists
OH would always roll his eyes when I said "here, I've made a list" (still comes second to my infamous "I have a plan" - "a plan" usually involves lots of wood and hard work, and often needs done by Christmas )

[citizentwiglet]

Annpan, it's so good to know I'm not the only one with a list of lists!
The other thing I do is to keep hold of all my shopping receipts so I can a) plan how much things are going to cost in advance and b) moan like hell (and very loudly) when I notice that they've put mixed beans up by 4p. I am always to be found deep in irate conversation with little old ladies about the prices of this, that or the other. My obsession with keeping the budget down is fast turning into something rather unhealthy, I fear....but I am currently quite happy with our shopping bill for 10 days coming to £34.00 for the three of us. I dare say on Wednesday next week I will be found, in an aisle, seething over the fact that they've put something up by 2p, I'll refuse to buy it again 'out of principal' etc etc etc.....still, I'm sure it gives me the opportunity to write ANOTHER list - 'Things to boycott in the Supermarket'.........

[MrsD'ville mkII]

I've long had a reputation for being organised, but have always maintained that scratch the surface of a highly organised person and you'll find utter chaos seething beneath! Only by imposing strict organisation on myself and everything I'm responsible for do I have any hope of holding it all together.

I've meal planned, created related shopping lists and managed the whole thing within budget for a while now out of sheer necessity. Like CT I fed us for a week out of storecupboard and bottom-of-freezer items and very satisfying it was too, but it's scary once you realise what you can do without as it rapidly becomes an irresistable challenge! Fine for me but the rest of the family including DH's teenagers, who live with us, can be hard to convince.

I have mental blanks too when meal-planning, so now I make sure I keep my monthly meal plan (I do a big shop once a month and top up eggs, milk and fruit as and when) and all the scrawling I do on it as the month goes on, and I refer to it for the next month. Sometimes I have big ideas that don't happen - such as last night's proposed roasted veg pasta bake, then didn't have any roastable veg - so I roll them forward to the next month. As much of what I need is in the pantry or freezer anyway it's easy to substitute one meal for another. In fact I'm getting quite bad at making sure I have fresh ingredients, but once bubs arrives and I'm into town all the time for mums and tots etc that will be easier. Famous last words!

[missy]

i'm 22 weeks at the moment and i have similar problem. despite being hungry the thought of most food makes me feel