My Love Affair with Dinner
Making dinner nightly can be exhausting, but meal planning, a night off once a week, and a change in mindset have created my love affair with dinner.
CanCan Mom’s creative routines and schedules make motherhood easier and more fun. Interact with love and laughter more often than impatience by incorporating my unique Quick Steps into your daily family life!
-CanCan Mom, Cheryl L. Butler
Okay, so maybe I, a mother of eight, am not actually euphoric about standing in front of a stove six nights a week, but you’re not going to hear me complaining about it. When the “Mom, what’s for dinner?” texts start coming my way around 4 pm, honestly, I reply, “Something delicious,” without even breaking a sweat.
What Shifted? My Mindset!
But seriously, why do I love taking the time to prepare a tasty, hot meal
(lukewarm counts!) for my cherubs on a nightly basis? Because it’s a privilege,
that’s why.
I didn’t always feel this way, believe me. Take the summer, I had four kids
under the age of three. I’d rather have stuck sharp bamboo shoots under my
fingernails each day rather than worry about putting a meal on the table each
night.
My family deserved better than that, so I took a close look at the most difficult and monotonous chores that I faced day in and day out. The two that topped the charts were laundry (sigh!) and meal preparations.
We’ll save my laundry saga for another day. Still, I’m only too happy to
share how I changed my entire relationship with Hamburger Helper and began
having a love fest with all things meal related in my busy, chaotic life.
See Also: 5 Easy Ways You Can Save Time and Energy Doing Laundry
Meal Planning–My New Superpower
You don’t think my kids aren’t jumping up and down when they realize they’ll be dining on taco boats or Momma B’s Chicken Surprise? Please! And when Rice-a-Roni Delight or Meatball Madness grace the menu—look out—there aren’t any leftovers.
Good meals make for a happy family! Meal planning makes these and other favorite dinners possible, as all ingredients are on the shopping list and in the house when I need them. Don’t forget to schedule nights with quick meals like soup and grilled cheese, good old hotdogs and beans, and everyone’s favorite breakfast for dinner.
Meal Planning is my superpower and the key to successfully creating family meal memories.
See Also: 4 Great Reasons Meal Planning Is a Must for a Happier Family Life
I also take advantage of a great tip I saw on a Food Network show—cook once and double up. It took some practice, but I got into a wonderful routine of preparing all my weekly meals every Sunday afternoon. As long as I was at it, I doubled a couple of recipes and put them away in the freezer, ready to go in case of emergencies, illness, or unexpected events—all well worth my stint as Betty Crocker once a week.
– CanCan Mom, Cheryl L. Butler
Nights Off from Cooking
It also helps that there is one day a week that you won’t find me donning an apron, and that’s Thursday—officially my night off and known as “Takeout Thursday.” In addition, I occasionally take other nights off whenever one of the kids wants to cook. So happy I took the time to teach them!
Creating Family Meal Memories
I’m thankful I changed my outlook years ago and embraced cooking dinner each night rather than dreading it.
As my nest continues to empty, I no longer have as many hungry mouths to feed, but I will always be able to stir up the delicious memories of meals we enjoyed together as a family.
How do you manage family meals? Please share your ideas and strategies in the comment section below.
