One of the biggest challenges that parents face is dinnertime. Whether it be picky palates, kids that won’t sit, busy schedules or a lack of cooking skills (or all these things!), it can be a huge stressor. As one mom once told me, “My heart rate goes up right before dinner…I dread it.”
Dinner is the hardest meal for me too. Just yesterday after a long day at work, I got the dreaded call that my husband had to work late, had a no-napping two-year-old attached to my leg and a picky eater announcing that she wanted nothing in her burrito (tortilla only).
Two of my biggest challenges with young kids is staying organized and choosing meals that are simple enough to prepare during the witching hour. I know that when I keep things simple and prep ahead of time, dinners go more smoothly.
That’s why I said “yes” to the good folks at Real Simple when they asked me to participate in their Take Back Dinnertime Challenge. The goal is simple: Take the challenge to help make dinnertime the best part of your day and you could win $2,000!
Today is the first day you can sign up for Real Simple’s Take Back Dinnertime Challenge — and here’s what you get:
- Tips and ideas on how to cook healthier meals
- Advice on how to get organized in the kitchen — I desperately need this one!
- Ways to find cooking inspiration and connect with your family at the table
- The chance to win weekly prizes, including $2,000 in groceries.
Here’s how it works: Join the challenge and create a profile to enter the sweepstakes and keep track of your points. Starting August 22, you’ll get daily emails with cooking tips, recipes, and easy dinnertime ideas. The more ideas you try, the more points you earn.
Don’t forget to tell your friends about the challenge—for every friend who joins, you’ll get another point. And the more points you earn, the more sweepstakes entries you’ll get, meaning you’ll have more chances to win.
What will you get from me? I’ll be trying the tips too — and blogging about them. Let’s do it together.
Deal?
While we’re on the topic, what stresses you out most about dinnertime?
Thanks for the info! The most stressful thing is choosing recipes! I’m dreadful at meal planning – it seriously stresses me out. The actual cooking can be tricky (yep – witching hour), but I find it less stressful than the planning stage.
Kitter — picking the meals is kind of stressful for me too. I’ve started outlining the whole month with meals — and then each week I tweak again. So far, so good.
One of the most stressful things for me is when I try a new recipe and it doesn’t turn out. Either it’s gross, it doesn’t cook well, or the consistency is off. Then I have to scrounge to put something else on the table. I count on my weekly meal planning to make life easier and hate when it goes awry.
Anne — I agree! I’m always nervous when I try new things. I try to make sure everything else on the table is familiar and enough to fill up on just in case…
In regards to picking meals, I found something that works for us. Ihave chosen about 16 meals that I can cook without a recipe, is nutritious, affordable and I know 3 out of 4 of us definately eat. Then I just have this list printed and kept on the side of the fridge and work our way through it then back to the top and start over. I will often tweak the ideas a bit- one meal is baked pumpkin and pancetta risotto, but sometimes I will swap it for say, chicken and sweetcorn risotto. It does work really well and because they are not planned against a particular day, if we eat out, get takeaway, or have too much and have leftovers the next night, the whole week isn’t thrown out of order.
In regards to my dinnertime stressors, they include having the meal on the table before overtiredness sets in, daughter eating bread or rice only every night, and my husband’s very high expectations of mealtime behaviour from a baby and toddler!
That’s a great idea Deirdre! And I totally understand about the appropriate behavior for kids. I try to help my husband understand he needs to lower his expectation in this area!
Meal planning is most stressful for me. We end up eating the same things over and over. I am too afraid to try new recipes, the kids won’t eat “new”.
Jenny — I feel your pain. I just try to prepare sides I know the kids like. I’m going to post an article on this subject soon!
What to feed the kids is so stressful for me. I am seriously out of ideas. Their “what I’ll eat” lists have shrunk. They are very willing to try new foods, but they don’t like ANYTHING. I praise them for trying the new thing, and I don’t put them under any pressure to try -they are very willing! They’ve been trying new things a lot lately. How many times do I serve them a bean burrito (which they tried but didn’t like) until they decide they do like it? This is what I’m confused about. My oldest used to be such a good eater, but now she doesn’t want anything but the same old same old. It’s very frustrating.
The research points to about 10-15 times before a food will become liked, but sometimes it is more. My daughter goes through stages where her “liked” foods is shrinking but I consider anything she has eaten before (more than one bite) as something she’ll eat and just continue to serve it. I know it’s frustrating but it’s great than your children try foods so willingly — just keep rotating the meals. More about this in future posts!