Food Planning for Pregnancy Requires Time and Money

A proper diet during pregnancy is "critical to your baby’s growth and development," according to the American Pregnancy Association. Pregnant women need to make sure they're eating at least an additional 300 calories per day, including a balance of vegetables, grains, and proteins. That means thoughtfully planning and preparing meals, including shopping, chopping, and cooking. There are a huge amount of restrictions what women can eat when they're pregnant, such as raw fish, high-mercury fish, raw meat, shell fish, caffeine, soft cheeses, deli meat, among many other things. Especially for women on bedrest, or perhaps because of all of the restrictions on what pregnant women can eat, women may find themselves increasingly eating at home during pregnancy. And that means a skyrocketing grocery bill is just par for the course. Meal planning can be complicated, too. Trying to make sure to get a proper, balanced diet, all while avoiding certain foods, means more time spent planning, cooking, and cleaning. It can be so complicated that there are dozens of articles on the Internet devoted to pregnancy meal-planning. There are even those who encourage women to follow a strict diet while they're trying to conceive. That may mean several additional months of expensive, intricate meal planning. Prenatal vitamins can supplement this balanced eating, but some of the top-shelf ones are costly. One month of prenatal vitamins can cost as much as $60-$90.