The Batch-Boiled Eggs That Get You Through the Newborn Stage

Nobody warns you that the hardest part of the newborn stage isn't the crying, it's finding ten minutes to actually cook and eat something. This isn't really a recipe so much as a survival habit: boil a batch, keep it in the fridge, and you've got real protein, iron, and choline ready in the time it takes to peel a shell, no stove, no thinking required at 3am.

One egg has about 6g of complete protein and 147mg of choline, both of which your body keeps prioritising for milk production and your own recovery whether or not you've had time to eat properly. Having them already cooked removes the one barrier that actually matters when you're this tired: effort.

What you'll need

• As many eggs as you can fit in your pot, 6 to 12 is a good batch size
• Water
• A container for the fridge

How to make it

Place the eggs in a single layer in a pot, cover with cold water by about 2cm, and bring to a boil. Once it's boiling, cover, take it off the heat, and let it sit for 10 to 12 minutes for a fully set yolk. Drain, run under cold water, and store unpeeled in the fridge for up to a week.

Keep a small dish of salt or a squeeze of soy sauce nearby and this becomes a one-handed snack you can eat standing up between feeds, no different from a bowl of cut fruit already in the fridge, just built for this exact stage of life.