Cooks and Kitchens: Modern Family Meal Planning Made Simple

It seems that no one laments the loss of family mealtimes anymore. It is taken as a given that families simply don’t sit down together to eat. They are too busy, with too many activities and too much going on. The truth is the plenty of family sit down to share meals together. No matter how busy they get, many families make time for one another to share their concerns and their joys and bond over a good meal. Of course, it is true that the demands on family time have grown. Sitting down to a family meal now requires some serious planning. Here are a few tips to help with the burden of planning nutritious meals. 

Create a Routine

Creating a meal routine is a great way to streamline the process. A routine can cut down on shopping trips, improve meal preparation times, and help to ensure that each meal delivers adequate nutrition. Routines also make it easier for the whole family to plan out their weeks. Kids and parents know what to expect at dinner, when meal times occur on various days, and how easy it is to accommodate additional guests at any given time.

Streamline and Optimize

Once a routine is set, it becomes possible to optimize meal preparation by making subtle adjustments. Over time, having an established routine will make a family more efficient. Whoever does the shopping will be able to capitalize on bargains and both preparation and clean-up will become faster and more fluid. 

Work from a Master List

Having a master list of the 10-20 ingredients you use most often can help to narrow down shopping, reduce anxiety surrounding planning, and save you money. It can also make it easier to pick more nutritious ingredients. Items like bullion, canned goods, flour, spices, and sugar can all be purchased in bulk, helping to reduce shopping trips.

Seasonal Planning

One way to add variety to your weekly menus is to plan your meals around the seasonable availability of fruits and vegetables. By keeping your master list the same and varying the details based on season, you can keep meals interesting and ensure optimal nutrition. Seasonal items can usually be purchased at a local farmers market or other affordable location.

Plan on Takeout

While preparing meals at home is the ultimate goal, planning which will be supplied by takeout or delivery is just as important. Getting into a bind and ordering out is a great way to ruin a budget and get into the habit of letting someone else handle meal preparation. This can, ultimately, lead to a breakdown of family meal time. Takeout is great, but it should be planned into the weekly meal schedule just like everything else. You can also think about organic meal delivery.

Lean On the Web

Your parents and grandparents couldn’t turn to the Internet for fresh and exciting cooking ideas, but you can. Websites devoted to cooking, like Hampton Creek Foods Facebook, make it easier to understand how a meal is put together. They often come with printable shopping lists, exact instructions, and even videos to help make meal preparation simple.

An Added Bonus

The above are basic tips to make family meals simpler and more affordable. One thing that doesn’t necessarily add simplicity, but which can produce significant cost savings, is to start a garden. Gardening is a great way to learn about food, ensure seasonal availability of favorite items, and reduce overall expenditures. Many people don’t have the time to plow under ten acres and grow all the food they need to sustain themselves, but most people have the time for a small container garden. It may be that you grow just a few herbs or a couple of tomatoes, but doing so can significantly impact mealtime satisfaction.

The Ultimate Goal

Whatever approach you take to planning family meals, the goals are always to save money, improve nutrition, and ensure quality family time. The single most important thing you can do to get the ball rolling, however, is to write everything down. Putting your plan down on paper will make it more concrete and make it easier to follow. Writing your plan down also makes it tangible and gives other people in the family and opportunity to add their own opinions. The planning alone can be a great way to bond with you family, learn about one another, and share in the joys and burdens of creating fantastic meals.

Chloe Steel is a modern mom that juggles career, kids and lifestyle. Cooking is one of her passions and she enjoys making time for it every day. She also enjoys sharing her lifestyle tips online through blogging.