15 Recipes To Bring a Friend Who Just Had a Baby

Teenagers might have the reputation for being the hungriest eaters, but they’re no match for a ravenous new mom. New parents in general tend to forget to take care of themselves until they’re desperately hangry, and time for meal prepping is almost nonexistent as they figure out how to navigate life with a newborn. So when you visit to meet the baby, show up with a lifeline: A hearty, nourishing dish that they can eat immediately or store for when they need it most. This is the best reason to hold the new baby — to give them a moment to enjoy a meal.

Do these cookies stimulate milk production? They do contain oats and brewer’s yeast, both favorite supplements of lactation consultants. But more importantly, they’re cookies. And no one needs cookies like a sleep-deprived new parent. These are particularly nutrient-dense, with whole-wheat flour, flax seed and banana, so when ravenous new mom is using her other arm to hold or feed the baby, she can scarf down a couple of these with her other hand and actually get some serious nourishment.

This might be the original hearty soup, so soulful with chunks of steak, vegetables and chewy barley. Ina uses oxtail, for the deepest beefy flavor. Go ahead and shred that meat to return it back to the soup.

Bring this over in the morning with some salted butter and your favorite jam. It’s excellent for sandwiches, but we love it even more as toast. Better yet, bring two loaves — one to keep at room temperature and one to slice and store in the freezer, to pop off and toast as you need it.

A large quantity of a great chicken salad in the fridge will be worth its weight in gold. This version from Ina Garten pairs the licorice notes of fresh tarragon with some tannic bitterness and crunchy texture from walnuts and pecans. We love it on toast, Triscuits or eaten off a spoon right out of the container.

You don’t have to twist our arm for some baked ziti! We love it freshly made, but also a leftover section of it reheated in the microwave or right in some hot olive oil in a pan. Hit up your local pizzeria for some garlic knots to go with it and you’ll receive a hero’s greeting.

Monster cookies typically include lots of kitchen-sink items, and these, in bar form, are no exception. Peanut butter adds salty nuttiness, but you’ve also got whole peanuts and chocolate-coated candies. The oats and coconut add so much excellent texture.

What makes a hunter’s minestrone? It might evoke the hunt with its ingredients (like the sausage, here) but it also should be good sustenance for someone who might be out hunting all day — or hungry new parents. Some pasta in there adds welcome heartiness.

Don’t be thrown by the “camping” reference in this recipe title; a muffuletta is just one of the great make-ahead sandwiches of the world, and might be extra-welcome if the new mom spent nine months avoiding cold cuts, as is often advised. This sandwich only gets better with time, so you can eat a section today, then carve off more sections tomorrow and the day after or anytime you pass the fridge. A beer on the side and some plain potato chips would not go amiss.

Oh, yum. When you bake the cornbread as the top layer of a chili casserole, you get that soft layer that soaks up all the delicious chili underneath, as well as a crisp and crumbly crust on top. Feel free to eat it like cornbread plus chili, or get a spoon and tuck right in there. Bringing a stick of high-quality salted butter to go with the cornbread layer would be a nice touch.

This granola is so simple and so delicious. Make a batch and split it so you can keep one and give one. Pair with a large tub of full-fat Greek yogurt for the ultimate power snack or breakfast.

We love a posole, a Mexican stew that takes its name from the large, chewy chunks of hominy that soak up all the amazing meaty flavors. This one is a “red” version, getting depth and color from ancho and arbol chiles. It’s a low-and-slow stew, and a pot of it makes the ultimate gift.

Plan ahead with the new parents on this one: Do they want you to bring it unbaked, for them to heat up when they’re hungry, or fully cooked so they can dig right in? In either case, a strata is hearty and satisfying, and though we think of them for brunch, there’s no reason they can’t make an excellent dinner, too. When you don’t have time for the salad course and the veggie course, we like an all-in-one like this one.

These are another nutrient-dense cookie but for the chocolate lover. And the bitter notes of chocolate make such a good partner for the chewiness of an oatmeal cookie, given crunch with flaxseeds. These are the ideal afternoon cookies with a glass of milk or cup of tea.

We love the trend of “crunch” salads, where it’s a nonstop texture experience. Molly Yeh adds an element of serious umami to this one, with some miso in the dressing. It really complements every bite of roasted broccoli, toasty cashews and chewy wheat berries.