School starts today and there will be sounds of sighing of relief from Mom's and a bit of dread from students. It will be nice for everyone when it all levels out. Kiddos are so busy and Mom's seem to do double time.
I'm a total advocate of family dinners. I've blogged before and encourage all of us, me too, to figure out how to gather our family around the table for a meal.
One of the things that my daughter was so excited about when she was expecting her twins, was thinking of them, sitting at the dinner table. She bought those little clip on chairs for the table and they were propped up in those, way before they were old enough to sit on their own.
She dreamed of eating together around a cozy smallish table, and visiting and eventually playing games. Her girls love dinner time. This week they are off for year #2 at college. After their last meal, the night before they left, seated around her small dream table-- here is what they did....
Citing various authorities, Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has taught:
“The time a family spends together ‘eating meals at home [is] the strongest predictor of children’s academic achievement and psychological adjustment.’ Family mealtimes have also been shown to be a strong bulwark against children’s smoking, drinking, or using drugs. There is inspired wisdom in this advice to parents: what your children really want for dinner is you.”3
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The women I know are super busy and honestly I don't know how they do all they do, including cooking for their families but...they do it. I asked one of them, with a really large family, to share how she handles evening meals. She shared....
When I
was a child, we had a family dinner every night. It didn't matter what time it
was, we always ate together. Often times we were milking cows, feeding calves,
and doing other chores until 9:00 at night, which meant we ate around 9:30 most
nights.
When I
married, I assumed that part of my responsibility was to make dinner for my new
husband every night. After the first week or so he said to me, you make dinner
every night?! He was flabbergasted. Being young and naive, that shocked me as I
knew no other way, and didn't realize this was not normal for everyone. I think
after all these years, he is used to it now, but once in a while mentions how
grateful he is that I make dinner every night, and how blessed he is.
I have
always wanted that to be something I kept as a tradition in my family. I
believe it is important bonding time for my family, and I have always
felt it is important for the family to come together at the end of the day
and enjoy a home cooked meal. It is a time that everyone can reconnect.
My children often mention how lucky they are that their mom cooks dinner every night, because that is not the case in most of their friends homes. Its kind of a fend for yourself lifestyle. I have a million things to keep me busy, but I feel like this is a gift I can give to my family, so I schedule it in and make it happen. That's how important I feel it is.
My children often mention how lucky they are that their mom cooks dinner every night, because that is not the case in most of their friends homes. Its kind of a fend for yourself lifestyle. I have a million things to keep me busy, but I feel like this is a gift I can give to my family, so I schedule it in and make it happen. That's how important I feel it is.
The
larger my family got, and when I started working, the more stressful
"what's for dinner" became. There came a time in my life when I was
so tired of having no idea what we were having for dinner. A lot of
people call the time between when the kids get home from school, and dad
getting home from work, "witching hour". Not knowing what was for
dinner can make that even worse. I feel that is critical time with the
kids to check in with them about their day, help them with homework, etc. I
didn't want that time to be stressful for us.
At some point, I read somewhere to "assign" each day of the week a category. For example, Mexican Monday, or Taco Tuesday. I believe most families eat the same things often, and they just need to categorize the meals their family likes to eat. So that is what I did; I named every day of the week. Mexican Monday, Pasta Tuesday, Soup Wednesday (fall & winter) Chinese (spring & summer), Thursday is leftover night or something easy like a cheesy quesadilla, Pizza Friday, Sandwich Saturday, Sunday is the day I put everything else that doesn't really fit in any other category. For example, roasts, pot pie, meat loaf, salmon etc.
I also created a sheet that had all the meals my family likes to eat, put in their specific category. Doing this kind of meal planning saved my life! The phrase, "what's for dinner" is no longer a bad word at my house. When it is time to meal plan, I sit down with my category meal sheet, and make a month calendar at a time. I used to put the whole meal on the calendar, but now I just do the main meal, and I have gotten to the point where I can keep the sides in my head. For example, on Sunday we had grilled chicken, and the sides were baby red potatoes, squash, watermelon and cantaloupe, but I just had on the calendar, grilled chicken. (I am trying to take advantage of the season and all the fresh produce available right now.) I shop for two weeks at a time. This also helps with my budget because I stay out of the store more, which cuts down on impulse buying. One huge question everyone asks, is "what if I don't feel like eating what is on the schedule for that day?" I understand that, but the more we have stuck to the schedule, the less that happens. We have gotten used to just eating what is scheduled for that day. But if I don't feel like making what is on that scheduled day, I just swap it for something else in the that is on the schedule for that week. I tape my monthly meal calendar on the inside of one of my kitchen cupboards.
I know this is not an option for everyone, but I try to do most of my dinner prep around 10:00 in the morning, and that has been a huge stress reliever also. Sunday's can also be a busy day where there isn't much time for meal prep. When I was growing up we had our Sunday dinner right after church, but when we got home, the dinner wasn't ready and we were starving! I did not want to torture my children that way, so we eat our Sunday dinner in the evening, and have something fast and simple for lunch. If I make a pot pie, I make it the day before, mashed potatoes can be made the day before, and roasts can be put in the crock pot before heading off to church. The kids know the days of the week and know what dinners belong in each category, so they know kind of what to expect each night. I have been doing this kind of meal planning successfully for years, and it is second hat now. This was probably the biggest stress reliever I have ever implemented into my own life.
At some point, I read somewhere to "assign" each day of the week a category. For example, Mexican Monday, or Taco Tuesday. I believe most families eat the same things often, and they just need to categorize the meals their family likes to eat. So that is what I did; I named every day of the week. Mexican Monday, Pasta Tuesday, Soup Wednesday (fall & winter) Chinese (spring & summer), Thursday is leftover night or something easy like a cheesy quesadilla, Pizza Friday, Sandwich Saturday, Sunday is the day I put everything else that doesn't really fit in any other category. For example, roasts, pot pie, meat loaf, salmon etc.
I also created a sheet that had all the meals my family likes to eat, put in their specific category. Doing this kind of meal planning saved my life! The phrase, "what's for dinner" is no longer a bad word at my house. When it is time to meal plan, I sit down with my category meal sheet, and make a month calendar at a time. I used to put the whole meal on the calendar, but now I just do the main meal, and I have gotten to the point where I can keep the sides in my head. For example, on Sunday we had grilled chicken, and the sides were baby red potatoes, squash, watermelon and cantaloupe, but I just had on the calendar, grilled chicken. (I am trying to take advantage of the season and all the fresh produce available right now.) I shop for two weeks at a time. This also helps with my budget because I stay out of the store more, which cuts down on impulse buying. One huge question everyone asks, is "what if I don't feel like eating what is on the schedule for that day?" I understand that, but the more we have stuck to the schedule, the less that happens. We have gotten used to just eating what is scheduled for that day. But if I don't feel like making what is on that scheduled day, I just swap it for something else in the that is on the schedule for that week. I tape my monthly meal calendar on the inside of one of my kitchen cupboards.
I know this is not an option for everyone, but I try to do most of my dinner prep around 10:00 in the morning, and that has been a huge stress reliever also. Sunday's can also be a busy day where there isn't much time for meal prep. When I was growing up we had our Sunday dinner right after church, but when we got home, the dinner wasn't ready and we were starving! I did not want to torture my children that way, so we eat our Sunday dinner in the evening, and have something fast and simple for lunch. If I make a pot pie, I make it the day before, mashed potatoes can be made the day before, and roasts can be put in the crock pot before heading off to church. The kids know the days of the week and know what dinners belong in each category, so they know kind of what to expect each night. I have been doing this kind of meal planning successfully for years, and it is second hat now. This was probably the biggest stress reliever I have ever implemented into my own life.
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I appreciate her sharing what works for her. Have you figured out what works for you?
I'm refiguring how to do meals for two. You'd think it would be so simple!!!
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