Eating as a family can be incredibly difficult, especially if some of your members are picky eaters. However, rather than allowing dinner to be the most stressful part of the day, here is a guide to ensuring that you can improve your relationship with food as a family and that you can instill a love for the culinary arts within your loved ones.
Make quick dishes taste good
Although you might be worried about healthy eating as a parent, it’s inevitable that you’ll need to serve up a quick dish from time to time, especially if you lead an incredibly busy lifestyle. However, rather than having to eat microwaved noodles or baked beans on toast, there are many ways that you can make those 5-minute dishes taste delicious for your kids. A ramen variety pack is a great idea – caters to everyone’s tastes, is quick to make, and is fun for everyone.
Cook together
Cooking can feel incredibly boring and tiresome if your whole family is having fun while you are struck brewing over the oven. To create a passion for food that will last a lifetime, you should make cooking a fun activity for all of your family by cooking meals together. Not only will you be able to teach your children new skills, but this also means that you’ll be able to get company while you serve up your family’s meals at the end of the day.
Sit down to eat every day
Although you might only have time to shovel down your dinner before finishing up your work or taking the kids to a club, you should try to sit down to eat on a daily basis. This will help your kids to learn to eat slower and savor their meals, and will also give you a chance to rest before washing up. This can also be a great way to make eating enjoyable, as this can create the perfect chance for your family to discuss their days.
Make food fun
However, to eat well as a family, you must make food fun. You can do this by taking your kids to the grocery store with you, inventing games to help them to try new foods, and even simply by asking for their input and allowing them to help you to come up with creative dishes and ingredients that you may not have thought to try by yourself.
Explore different meals and options
There is nothing that can put you off food quicker than eating the same meal every single day of the week. If you’re sick of boring food options that you have tasted over and over again, you should work to explore different meals as a family. For instance, you could try new dishes from other cultures around the world, make a family recipe, or even create a tasting board of different flavors to help your family find the dishes that they like the most.