Sometimes there just isn’t an evidence-based answer to questions that I get asked in session. Actually, that happens a lot! One of the conversations that comes up time and again with parents is: how to get a healthy dinner on the table nightly. The truth is there are thousands of ways to answer this loaded question that comes with many other follow up questions like: how do I figure out what to cook? What if I don’t have all the ingredients I need for dinner? What if my kids don’t like dinner? When can I find time to shop? Why do we end up eating the same thing all the time?
With this topic, I lean on my own experience and offer tips/tricks that I’ve heard from other parents as well as resources I’ve found online over the years. I know that each family, each child, each schedule is different but here is what I can tell you has worked for our family (after much trial and error over the years).
Typically, on a Friday night or sometimes Saturday, I find 30-45 minutes that I can sit down with my tablet. I start with a quick glance at the upcoming week’s schedule to get an idea of how many recipes I will need for dinners that week and more importantly how easy/quick they need to be. If my kids will be having soccer practice from 5:30-7, I tend to lean towards a “one-pot” recipe that night that I can fix earlier and let sit cooking. Or if there happens to be a night with no after-school activities, I will allow myself to pick a recipe that takes a bit longer to prepare.
Pick the Recipe
Next, I like to use a recipe search page such as AllRecipes.com or FoodNetwork.com where I can create a free account that allows me to “save” recipes to a collection as I go through the website. If I have a free five or ten minutes, I’ll scroll through one of these websites adding recipes to my favorites collection, then on Friday night, I have a good number of recipes to pick from. Once we’ve had a recipe, I decide whether it stays in the “favorite” collection to make again or if it needs to be removed if it wasn’t a big hit with my family.
Next, I’ll take the three or four recipes that I have picked out for the week and run through them in the kitchen checking to see what ingredients we might need to get. Knowing that life gets in the way or sometimes we must work late, I always keep on hand the staples for those easy and loved meals like pasta/meatballs or quesadillas.
Lastly, Welcome Input
This part typically comes in the “Pick the Recipe” section, but I felt it was better to tack on at the end- welcome the input and feedback from the family. Occasionally my daughter will take me up on the offer to sit down and pick recipes with me (and I swear she is more likely to eat them if she’s helped pick them out!) but sometimes I just give everyone a heads up of meals I’m thinking for the upcoming week. If there’s one that really doesn’t sound appealing to anyone else, I’ll switch it out for another recipe.
While we’re eating, if it’s a new recipe for us, we will all talk about whether we like it, what we might change about it and if we want to have it again. This helps me know whether to remove the recipe from my favorite collection or keep it for future use.
This system doesn’t always work, especially if we’ve been out of town for the weekend, but on a week-to-week basis, it has really helped me figure out what to cook and on what night, improved my grocery shopping with better lists and even involve my kids in the meal planning, cooking and feedback process. Are you struggling with some of the same questions? Try part or all of this and let me know how it worked for you (or didn’t!). Interested in more help with other family- and teen-related nutrition topics? Reach out and set up an appointment today!