The Best Midnight Snacks (or Meals?) of Pregnancy (with recipes)
The pregnancy cravings tend to kick into high gear in the evenings and into the night for most moms. Even if you meet your daily nutritional needs, cravings can still come on strong and stay with you until they are consumed. But for some women, there is not a specific craving just an overwhelming hunger.
Maybe it's because your body is finally quiet and calm that it decides it is so hungry; or perhaps it's a way to prepare you for waking up at random times to meet the feeding needs of another tiny human! Whatever the reason, though, midnight snacks are alive and well in the pregnancy world.
You can stay ahead of your hunger and meal prep for that overnight snack if you know what you will want to munch on. If you don't, consider a few of these delicious ideas:
Homemade Bread
You can make your own mouth-watering bread in about 5 minutes throughout the day. Just pop it back in the oven when hungry to warm it enough to melt some real butter and enjoy.
Homemade Salsa (over and open-faced fried egg sandwich)
You can just drink the salsa down solo, grab the chips and start dipping, or serve it over something as amazing as a fried egg sandwich! No matter how you eat it, this salsa is easy to make ahead and stays for a week or more in the fridge.
Eat Your Leftovers
Many pregnant moms love their late night leftovers. Consider making a few frittatas, as they are packed with protein, freeze well, and can be reheated easily in the middle of the night. You'll have delicious breakfasts ready, too.
Muffins
Blueberry, chocolate chip, cornbread, chia seed, or banana bread muffins are all simple to whip up during the day - or with a box mix at midnight! You can make these as healthy as you want, too.
Shrimp or Pasta Salad
Grabbing a cold pasta salad from the fridge at midnight may be exactly what you need to calm that stomach down. You can pack it with colorful vegetables and toss it with your favorite dressing.
If nothing from this list looks good to you, don't worry, been-there-moms are sharing what they couldn't live without at midnight while pregnant! Maybe their cravings will feed your hunger:
Jalapeño potato chips - Eliza
Cereal and pineapple - Kori
Banana dipped in peanut butter. Every damn night. -Kasey
Buffalo wings with orange juice. -Lindsey
Apples and peanut butter, or a bowl of cereal. -Beth
Baked potatoes. -Kaylin
Hot melted fudge. -Buffie
Tomatoes and cuties. Sometimes together, sometimes not. -Kelly
Coconut. Like the actual hard shelled fruit/nut/seed that you have to bust open with a hammer. -Kim
Sour patch kids or a caprese salad... and watermelon. -Maren
Grapefruit. -Kendra
Rueben sandwich. -Hailey
Popsicles -Lindsey
Steak -Michala
Milk -Rehanna
Cheese Danish and Orange Soda. -Rachel
Strawberries and pineapple or ice cream. -Nicole
Mint cookie ice cream -Jessica
Applesauce, bagels with strawberry cream cheese, Chinese food with orange juice -Mallory
Popcorn dipped in yellow mustard -Heather
Pickles & Egg Nog (together) -Karissa
Ketchup... I'd pretend to want fries or something normal to put it on... but i only wanted the ketchup. I'd use the fries as a spoon so hopefully people didn't notice i wasn't actually eating them. -Elaine
Tortillas cooked in the microwave with a bit of butter -Celeste
Anything doused in Buffalo sauce with my oldest and anything rolled in chocolate with #2. -Valerie
If you really hate cooking, but you have to have that food, go ahead and order something to be delivered or throw your robe on and get it yourself!