Easy confinement recipes: eight quick meals, wine-free options and a one-week menu

These easy confinement recipes are the everyday meals, not the soups: ginger egg fried rice, steamed fish, ginger omelette, pork liver, steamed egg, greens, fish porridge and a once-a-week pot of vinegar trotters. Most take 10 to 25 minutes, with ingredients from any wet market or supermarket. Each has a wine-free version, because KKH's dietitians say no alcohol in the first week after birth, and after that only dishes simmered for at least 30 minutes with the lid off. You don't need low-calorie food: KKH says a weight-loss diet while breastfeeding may affect your milk. Below are the recipes, a one-week menu and a shopping list.

How much a confinement meal should hold

Breastfeeding takes energy. HealthHub's breastfeeding page says an extra 330 to 400 kcal a day, and KKH's doctors say about 500 extra on top of the usual 1,800 to 2,000. KKH's dietitians suggest three balanced meals and two to three snacks, and say losing 1 to 2 kg a month is a healthy pace, so skip anything sold as a confinement diet plan for weight loss.

For each plate, HealthHub's My Healthy Plate is a simple guide: a quarter wholegrains such as brown rice, a quarter protein such as fish, eggs, tofu or lean meat, and half fruit and vegetables. HealthHub also suggests at least 2 servings of fish a week, each about the size of your palm, and 2 servings each of fruit and vegetables a day.

If your family follows the "heaty and cooling" rules, HealthHub lists neutral vegetables you can use freely: kailan, spinach, lotus root, long beans, snow peas, French beans, broccoli, onions, pumpkin and seaweed.

Eight easy confinement recipes

Amounts serve one mother for one meal unless stated. Use less salt and soy sauce than usual, and taste before adding more.

1. Ginger egg fried rice (15 minutes)

Heat 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, fry 2 tablespoons of finely shredded ginger until fragrant, then push it aside and scramble 2 eggs. Add 1 bowl of cooked brown or white rice from the day before, a handful of chopped kailan or peas, and a teaspoon of light soy sauce. Stir-fry for 3 to 4 minutes. Day-old rice fries better than fresh.

2. Steamed fish with ginger (20 minutes)

Lay a 150 g fillet of batang, sea bass or salmon on a plate, cover with shredded ginger and spring onion, and steam over boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes until the flesh flakes. Drizzle with a teaspoon each of light soy sauce and sesame oil. HealthXchange lists salmon and Spanish mackerel (tenggiri) among the fatty fish that give omega-3.

3. Ginger omelette (10 minutes)

Beat 2 eggs with a pinch of salt. Fry a tablespoon of shredded ginger in sesame oil until crisp at the edges, pour in the eggs, then fold the omelette once as it cooks on medium heat. Serve with rice and greens. KKH's dietitians say avoiding eggs doesn't prevent allergies in your baby, so eggs are fine in moderation.

4. Pork liver with ginger (15 minutes)

Slice 100 g of pork liver thinly, rinse well and marinate for 10 minutes with a teaspoon of light soy sauce and a teaspoon of cornflour. Fry plenty of shredded ginger in sesame oil, add the liver and stir-fry on high heat for 2 to 3 minutes until just cooked through, with no pink left. Many recipes add rice wine at the end; leave it out, or see the rice wine rules below. KKH's dietitians say meat and liver help replace iron, and HealthHub notes that meat and liver contain fats and cholesterol and should be eaten in moderation, so once or twice a week is plenty.

5. Steamed egg with minced pork (20 minutes)

Mix 100 g of minced pork with a teaspoon of soy sauce and spread it on a shallow dish. Beat 2 eggs with about one and a half times their volume of warm water and a pinch of salt, strain over the pork, cover and steam on low heat for 12 to 15 minutes until just set.

6. Kailan or spinach with garlic and ginger (10 minutes)

Fry a tablespoon each of chopped garlic and ginger in a little oil, add a bunch of kailan or spinach and 2 tablespoons of water, cover for 2 minutes, then season lightly with oyster sauce. HealthHub says vitamin C from fruit and vegetables helps your body absorb iron, so have greens with your liver and meat dishes.

7. Fish porridge with ginger (30 minutes)

Simmer half a cup of rice in 4 cups of water or unsalted stock until soft, about 25 minutes. Add 100 g of sliced fish and plenty of shredded ginger, cook for 2 minutes, then finish with spring onion and white pepper. It's easy to eat one-handed during a feed.

8. Black vinegar pig trotters with eggs (2 hours, once a week)

Blanch 500 g of pig trotters, then fry a large knob of sliced old ginger in sesame oil. Add the trotters, 300 ml of black vinegar, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and water to cover, and simmer gently for about 2 hours. Add peeled hard-boiled eggs for the last 30 minutes. It keeps in the fridge for days and serves several meals. HealthHub notes that trotters are high in fat and cholesterol, so treat this as a weekly dish, not a daily one.

Rice wine, sesame oil and breastfeeding

Rice wine is in many traditional confinement recipes, so here is what Singapore's sources say about it:

• Week 1: no alcohol at all. KKH's dietitians say to avoid it while your milk supply is being established.
• From week 2: dishes with a small amount of wine are fine if simmered for at least 30 minutes with the lid off, so the alcohol vaporises (KKH).
• After eating them: HealthHub says some alcohol may still be left after cooking, and suggests waiting at least 3 hours before you breastfeed or express milk to store.

To make any recipe wine-free, replace the wine with water or unsalted stock and add more ginger for warmth. Ginger and sesame oil themselves are fine: HealthHub notes ginger and garlic are warming ingredients used in all three cultural confinement diets, and KKH's dietitians say there is no evidence ginger or sesame oil causes jaundice in babies.

A one-week confinement menu

This mixes the recipes above with soups from our confinement soup recipes. Add fruit and a snack such as yoghurt, nuts or wholemeal crackers between meals, as HealthHub suggests.

Shopping list and batch cooking

HealthHub's tips for the first weeks are to keep staples like rice, noodles, eggs and frozen vegetables in, and to cook extra at dinner and freeze it in single portions. The trotters and porridge freeze and reheat well. If cooking is too much, our guide to confinement food delivery compares caterers, and our foods to avoid during confinement guide covers the taboos.

Frequently asked questions

What is the easiest confinement food to cook?

Egg dishes and steamed fish. A ginger omelette takes about 10 minutes, ginger egg fried rice about 15, and steamed fish with ginger about 20, and all three need no rice wine.

Can I cook confinement food without rice wine?

Yes. Replace the wine with water or unsalted stock and use more ginger. In the first week, KKH's dietitians say to avoid alcohol completely.

How long after eating rice wine chicken can I breastfeed?

HealthHub suggests waiting at least 3 hours after eating food cooked with rice wine before you breastfeed or express milk to store. KKH's dietitians say dishes simmered for at least 30 minutes with the lid off are fine from the second week.

Is it OK to eat eggs during confinement?

Yes. KKH's dietitians say avoiding eggs does not prevent allergies in your baby, so eat them in moderation as part of a balanced diet.

Should I eat low-calorie food during confinement to lose weight?

No. KKH's dietitians say a weight-loss diet while breastfeeding may affect your milk supply, and that losing 1 to 2 kg a month is a healthy pace.