Easy Confinement Food Recipes For Breastfeeding Mothers

Stress-Free Confinement Meals You Can DIY!

It's no secret that childbirth is quite stressful on the body.

That's why confinement is a common practice in Singapore since it allows mothers to recover properly.

Confinement is a traditional Chinese practice that encourages new mothers to observe various routines that will maximise their recovery.

Postpartum mothers will go through a confinement period to recuperate their strength and physical functions.

During this confinement period, the mother is usually not allowed to leave the house for 30 days. Hence, the term.

Some families take this confinement period very seriously, to the point of hiring confinement food delivery caterers or a confinement nanny!

This is for the experience of preparing confinement food.

Confinement meals are supposed to address all your nutrition needs after delivery. Some confinement meals are also designed to help boost your milk supply,

Caterers and confinement nannies are nutrition experts in curating a confinement menu for a new mum's unique needs.

But you're not looking for any additional help.

That's why we've compiled this list of confinement meals suitable for helping new mothers in recovery from childbirth.

These confinement food recipes are so easy that they can be prepared by any family member without any prior knowledge of confinement food!

Continue reading to start your confinement food experience!

Confinement Food Recipes to Boost Your Breast Milk Supply

Clookies cares about new mothers in every aspect. That's why we've picked these multi-function confinement food recipes just for you!

You'll notice that your confinement diet will consist of a lot of ginger and meat dishes.

According to traditional Chinese beliefs, those ingredients are high in nutrition.

Regardless, they are pretty yummy in food too!

Let's start our list of confinement dishes with a few confinement favourites.

Black Vinegar Pig Trotters

This dish is as common as it gets when it comes to confinement food.

Pig trotters are mostly made up of bone and collagen, which provides an abundance of nutrients that help speed up childbirth recovery.

The other star ingredient in this meal is ginger, which is a known galactagogue.

It's the go-to confinement meal courtesy of its great nutritional support and its ability to increase your breast milk supply.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1.2 kg pork trotters (cut into smaller pieces)

• 150g old ginger

• 200g sliced young ginger

• 750ml sweet vinegar

• 300ml black rice vinegar

• 3tbsp sesame oil

• 3 stalks scallions

• 200g palm sugar

• 6 boiled eggs

Method:

1. Put the pork trotter pieces with scallions in a skillet pan. Add water until the pork trotter is fully covered. Bring it to a boil until the scum from the pork float to the surface. Drain and wash the pork.

2. Repeat Step 1. Drain, wash and set aside.

3. In the same skillet, add old ginger, young ginger and stir fry until fragrant.

4. Add the blanched pork trotters next and stir fry until it’s slightly brown and fragrant.

5. Transfer the pork into a deep pot and add sweet vinegar and black vinegar. Let braise for one hour.

6. Add palm sugar and boiled eggs. Let it all cook for 10 minutes.

7. Garnish using coriander and enjoy.

Milkfish and Green Papaya Soup

This Chinese-style soup with slices of fish and green papaya can be consumed daily.

So you can cook a big batch in advance and serve it on your confinement menu plan for a few meals!

The green papaya helps boost the production of breast milk.

Meanwhile, the milkfish packs all the nutrients that fishes have to offer.

It also contains many B-complex vitamins and a high level of selenium. These minerals and vitamins are great breast milk boosters too.

This powerful confinement food is certainly a must-have.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2tbsp cooking oil

• 2 pieces milkfish (you may substitute with other fishes like snapper)

• 8 slices ginger

• 20g red dates

• 50g peanuts

• 3.4L water

• 1kg green papaya cubed

• Salt to taste

Method:

1. Add cooking oil to a pan and fry the fish.

2. Add four ginger slices and pan-fry until the fish turn golden brown.

3. Transfer the fried fish into a pot. Add red dates, the rest of the ginger slices, peanuts and boiling water.

4. Cover and let all the ingredients boil for one hour until the water turns murky.

5. Remove the fish pieces and store them aside.

6. Add the diced green papaya pieces and boil for another 15-20 minutes.

7. Season the soup with some salt and serve in a bowl immediately.

Fu Zhou Red Glutinous Rice Wine Chicken Mee Sua

This recipe is rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties with ingredients like sesame oil and ginger, which help in the wellbeing and recovery of mothers during the postpartum period.

This recipe is rich in unsaturated fats, helps maintain bone health, and improves recovering mothers' blood circulation!

The health benefits of this confinement food are undeniable.

And did we mention that this meal cooks up in less than an hour? It's the perfect addition to a confinement menu for mothers who want a fuss-free recipe!

Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1kg chicken drumsticks (cut into small pieces)

• 3 cups Fu Zhou Red Rice Wine

• 1tbsp sesame oil

• 1-inch fresh ginger (peeled and thinly sliced)

• 1tbsp red yeast rice

• 8 bundles mee sua noodles

• Salt to taste

Method:

1. In a pot, bring water to a boil and cook the mee sua according to instructions on the packaging. Drain off water and set aside.

2. Preheat a separate large pot. Add sesame oil, swirl the pot to cover the base. Add ginger and stir-fry over medium heat until fragrant.

3. Add the red yeast rice and chicken pieces. Next, add the Foo Chow Red Wine. Bring to a boil, cover the lid, lower the heat, and let it simmer for the next 45 minutes or until the chicken is really tender. The cooking time is less if you use smaller pieces of chicken.

4. Season with salt and a small pinch of sugar to taste.

5. Portion out the noodles into an individual serving bowl. Portion out chicken pieces. Generously ladle with some hot soup and with some of the red yeast rice if preferred.

6. Garnish with some chopped green onions and cilantro leaves and serve!

Ginger Fried Rice

This ginger fried rice is the easiest confinement food ever! It's tasty and still packs all the breast milk and health benefits we've mentioned earlier.

All you need is half an hour with ingredients that you already have in the kitchen!

Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked rice (Clookies prefers brown rice)

• 260g minced meat

• 2tbsp cooking oil (divided)

• 2 large eggs

• 1 cup thawed frozen mixed vegetables

• 1tbsp grated ginger

• 1tsp sesame oil

• 2tbsp cornstarch

• 1 stalk green onion, finely sliced

• Salt to taste

• White pepper to taste

Method:

1. Marinate the meat with salt, cornstarch and sesame oil. Leave to marinate for 15 minutes.

2. Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl with a little bit of salt. Pour cooking oil into a pan and fry the beaten eggs. Stir fry until cooked. Set aside.

3. Add minced ginger to the same pan followed by garlic and stir fry until fragrant.

4. Add the marinated meat to the pan and stir fry until cooked.

5. Add the precooked rice, vegetables and egg. Stir constantly to avoid the rice sticking to the pan and ensure that the ingredients mix well.

6. Season the fried rice with white pepper and salt to taste and sesame oil and mix it well.

7. Garnish it with sliced green onion and fried garlic slices.

Lactation Cookies

Round up your confinement food menu with our delicious Clookies lactation bakes for dessert!

We'll never give up the secret recipe for our lactation cookies, but you can always stock up on our multiple flavours.

This confinement food can be taken throughout the day as a snack or in our suggested serving size to boost your milk supply.

Each order is handmade upon order to ensure freshness and the best quality.

We hope that this article has provided you with tasty and nourishing meals throughout your confinement period!