However busy and exhausted we may be, one of the priorities that we've outlined for our family is to have homecooked dinners and eating as a family as often as possible. Some of this is out of necessity. It is WAY too expensive for us to eat out, even with the current price of groceries. It's also a preference. I like cooking and like providing meals for my family.
So here's how we make it work, in our current season. You can look at this as "what Jill does" or advice or just general tidbits about cooking family meals. Whatever suits your fancy! I am sure changes will be made as we progress into different stages of parenting.
HAVE A PLAN
I have gone through various different methods of meal planning in the last 14 years of married life, but the one that is currently working for us is week by week. Each Thursday or Friday I start to figure out what dinners I want to make for the next week.
Why Thursday or Friday? Because my husband does the grocery shopping and I need to have the list ready to go. He usually goes Friday or Saturday mornings. He has been doing this since the pandemic shutdown and has kept at it. And let me tell you...this is husband gold!
I start by looking at the upcoming week and what practices, games, activities, and/or other shenanigans we have going on. That helps me determine what type of meal is going to work for the day. Crockpot? Oven? Air Fryer? Leftovers? All important questions for each day. I will, sometimes, ask the "peanut gallery" what meals they would like to have, but most of the time I just pick it.
Then I write it out on a magnet list thingy to hang on the fridge. They look like this.
The great thing about this method is that there's flexibility in the planning. If something comes up, like a basketball game added to the schedule on a Tuesday, it's pretty simple to swap dinners and/or freeze any meat we ended up not using. Those skipped meals usually make an appearance on the next week. No matter how you plan your meals, it really is the key to consistently getting homecooked meals on the table.
WHAT TO PLAN:
My goal is to have meals where 5/6 of the family will eat it. Now, there's a difference between "will eat" and "love." If I try to get caught up in making only the meals they "love" I wouldn't ever have one thing I can make that everyone "LOVES" and I would drive myself crazy. There is so much out there on what to feed kids, what not to feed kids. and you can really get lost in it as a parent. So I try to go back to what I remember as a kid. Simple, something meat/protein, starch, bread, and some kind of veggie and/or fruit. We eat a lot of broccoli at our house because the kids like it. I'll switch it up or try something new, but there's usually broccoli or corn served to give them a choice. (Don't come at me with "corn's not a veggie" I don't have time to care about online food feuds.)
Some nights I make two dinners, one for the parents and one for the kids. This will get some "eye rolls" from some...but stick with me. The reason is more about food waste and cost than it is just doing what the kids want. Food is expensive. Unfortunately the "better for you food" carries a higher price. There are some meals that my husband and I like that are more of a heavy cost to make. I'm not about to force my kids to eat it at that price. If they don't like it they can have chicken strips and mac and cheese. The other reason is spice. My husband and I like a good kick to our food and some recipes just won't do for the kids. Like chili. Our kids don't really like it, so I make chicken and noodles the same time I make chili. Everyone is happy, fed, and very little is wasted.
HOW TO MAKE IT EASIER
Most of my meals around here are a combination of "homemade" and "convenience." Simply to make this process a little easier. Cans of cream of "something", jarred spaghetti sauce, frozen chicken strips, minute rice, and packaged or frozen rolls/garlic bread are frequent fliers at this house. There are very few meals that I make where everything is from scratch, and if I do make a meal that takes more of my time, I usually save it for a weekend when I know I'm more likely to have time to spread out the work and more helpers for the cleanup.
Another tip I use throughout the week is to follow this rule from The Lazy Genius, "What can I do now that will make cooking dinner easier?" I try to find something that I can do either in the morning or at nap time that will make the crazy a little easier. Cooking dinner always falls during that "witching" hour of hungry school kids off the bus, tired and clingy babies just up from nap, and pickups/drop-offs for practices and activities. Anything I can do ahead of time like prep a salad, cut the veggies, chop onions, or get the casserole ready for the oven help.
And lastly, thankfully I have a decent knowledge base of cooking. I know the spices for tacos, swaps for wine, chicken broth, and water, how to make a rue, and how to chop veggies in a timely manner. These skills aren't required for cooking...but the more you cook the better you get and the easier things are. I learned most of these from watching Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals and other cooking shows of the early 2000's.
SERVING IT UP
While "family style" dinners are definitely prettier and more traditional, in this house, we go for functional over anything else. My home decor style is "what is the most logical place to put this item with a house full of kids" and our dinner serving style follows that rule.
A bunch of serving platters and bowls at the table, just means that there are more dishes to do and it will take twice as long for everyone to get their food, AND THEN I'll have to cut the meat of a few of the kids. It just doesn't make sense.
So we do buffet style, every night. I may put a veggie, bread, or fruit salad on the table, but most things are served up either in the pot it was cooked in or the container it will be stored in around our counter. We often pray standing in the kitchen so that the first kid through the line can start to eat without waiting for the last one to bring their plate to the table.
SUNDAY DINNER
A staple in our home is Sunday Dinner. It is rare that we don't have a full, sit-down Sunday Dinner complete with grandparents and dessert. I love it. We have recently been working to incorporate our kids into various parts of the meal prep and that's truly made it a family dinner. I know that there will be days in our future that Sunday Dinner may get bumped...but I'm hoping to keep it as long as we can. The memories we make in the kitchen and around the table are ones I hope they cherish as adults.
If you like posts like these...stay tuned. I've got another in the works about tips for cooking with a houseful of kids. :)
