Back at the end of August, my cousin and his wife had their second child. In the face of this happy news, I did what any loving relative would do. I pulled down a casserole pan and started cooking. I put together a baked pasta dish with browned organic sausage, lots of wilted spinach, ricotta cheese, homemade marinara sauce and whole wheat elbows.

However, when I turned up with it at their door, instead of looking relieved to have a meal ready to pop in the oven, my aunt (who was there taking care of the two-year-old) looked harried. I wasn't the first to bring a dish by that day, nor was I the even the third. Their refrigerator was bursting at the seams with deli containers of pasta salad, roasted chickens from the local gourmet market and a pot of turkey chili. If only MealBaby had been around just a few short months ago, we could have avoided that traffic jam of food.

MealBaby, you ask? It's a new (free) online service that allows you to organize and schedule meals for new parents, people recovering from illness or surgery and anyone else who just needs a few homecooked meals. Once you have an account (and signing up is easy), you just set up a meal calendar for a friend, family member or yourself. You can invite as many people as you'd like to participate, and once they sign up for mealtime slot, the system blocks out the date and sends them a reminder email a day in advance. People can even participate from far away, as there's also an option to buy a gift certificate to a grocery store or restaurant built into the system.

It's a brilliant way to coordinate meals and ensure that your lasagna is greeted with an appreciative smile instead of an overwhelmed grimace.

[via The Kitchn]