How to Bring a Meal to New Parents

We have some truly amazing friends. After Rooney was born our life group and other friends were gracious enough to bring over meals for us to have on hand as we transitioned into our new life as parents. As you know, we had a fairly rough start, and not having to think about cooking meals for the first few months was a true blessing.

We are ever grateful for their generosity. In fact, they were so good at bringing us meals that we wanted to share with you all what made it so great. There is definitely a right way to bring a meal to new parents and a wrong way. Thankfully we experienced the right way. We hope to follow their example when we are on the giving end in the future.

How to Bring a Meal to New Parents

• Organization. When people asked to stop by with a meal, we spaced out our requests to two meals each week, and that seemed to be a good number (because we always had some left over). Also, almost every meal we were given came with a recipe card that served two purposes: 1. It told us how to make the meal that was prepared and 2. It allowed us to keep the recipe if we want to make the meal for ourselves later.

• Ready to eat. The meals were prepared right before delivery and our friends either told us to preheat our oven or the meals were already warm when delivered.

• Sides and dessert included. Most meals came complete with sides like strawberries, rice or frozen vegetables in a steamer bag. And as if that wasn't enough, we were treated with desserts to go along with meals. Maybe it's just us, but we usually don't eat dessert when we cook ourselves meals at home. But, this took the cake (pun intended). Not only did we have dessert, we also had a nice snack for our 2 a.m. feedings.

• Freezable. We received a couple pans of each meal. This was amazing. We not only got to enjoy the meal once, but froze the additional batch that we were able to have later on.

• Recyclable pans. One-use pans are helpful because you can recycle them after use and not have to return pans to multiple people.

• Gift cards. If cooking is not your thing, a gift card saves the day. We got a few of these (Applebee's, Domino's and Orange Leaf) and they were great. Sometimes you just have to get out of the house, and a gift card helps a ton. There are a few things to think about when purchasing: 1. Do you want the couple to use the gift card for a date night? 2. Will it be for ordering in? We received a few of both and they were all special in their own way.

I know this list might sound a little snobby, like we wouldn't accept a meal if it didn't meet the above criteria, but that's not the case. I was so in awe by the little details that our friends took care of that I wanted to share it with you all and write it down for our own use when we pay it forward. It's one thing to commit to taking someone a meal. It's another to attack it from all angles and meet every need without them even asking.

I'll admit it, I would never have asked anyone to make us meals and bring them over to our house. Everyone took the initiative and simply told us they were going to do it. It was super helpful and so appreciated.

What advice would you add to if you were making a meal for new parents?