Families Cooking Together

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I could feel the tears coming. It was 6:30 on a Monday night, and I was rifling through the pantry, fridge, and freezer trying to find something - anything - to cook for my hungry family. I was tired, cranky, and not in the mood for preparing a meal, and yet, I knew a quick dinner of frozen pizza, rice & beans, or eggs on toast wouldn't cut it this time.

We needed a good, hearty dinner, and I had waited until the very last minute to think about it - again.

It wasn't that we didn't have food - our shelves were bulging. But we didn't have anything that would make a decent meal.

I was angry at myself. Didn't I realize dinner came every night around this time? How could I be so disorganized? I was angry at the world, too. Why was it my responsibility to cook every night? Why couldn't someone else share the load?

Sound familiar?

I'm sad to tell you that I've found myself there too many times to count this summer. Being outdoors is just so much more fun than slaving away in the kitchen, right? And who wants to spend time planning meals and buying groceries? (I have to admit, it wasn't my family togetherness finest hour.)

I knew something had to change.

I called a friend and told her about my problem, and she suggested asking every family member to take one night per week to be in charge of dinner.

"It'll be a lot more fun," she said.

I knew she was right - anything had to be more fun than the nightly 6:30 pm panic. Also, we'd been cooking together before this summer and everyone loved it. My kids had even been asking when we could do some of their favorite recipes together, and I'd been putting it off. I wasn't sure how we had gotten so far off-track, but I knew we could step back on.

Then, an inspiring article popped into my inbox from a food-loving friend all about how much fun we can have in the kitchen, challenging me to change my mindsets around cooking for (and with) my family. Later, I overheard some friends talking about a few easy recipes they'd been loving, and when I asked them about it, they sent a Purple Carrot box to my door and I spent a couple of days cooking with my boys and having so much fun in the kitchen.

This week, we gave it a try on our own.

When it was time to order our groceries (we do curbside pick-up - something I call my coronavirus blessing), I refused to order anything until every person in the family had picked out one or two recipes they would be in charge of cooking one night this week.

The result has been a little bit of family togetherness fun every night this week and not one single tear in this mama's eyes.

One night, my little guy made his favorite meal - sticky potstickers - and we had enough leftovers for two lunches! Another night, my big guy made his favorite Canadian treat - poutine - while his dad cooked burgers to go along with. On a busy night, my hubby put together a quick pesto pasta. And when my nights came, I had so much energy and excitement for new recipes that I made a new Mexican bean bowl dish and a carrot pesto pasta I'd never even heard of before. Tonight we're heading to a dinner party (outdoor, of course) and we've got bacon and eggs on the menu for tomorrow before we pick new recipes and restock.

This might look like a small beginning, but I'm claiming we're on a roll. And with fall and winter coming, we're ready for months of fun cooking together.

Here are the tips, tricks, and recipes that got us out of our rut.

Tips:

  • Plan ahead. It really is true that for every 2 minutes of forethought you invest in meal planning, you save about 30 minutes later in the week. I'm not sure why or how I forget this as often as I do, but planning ahead is a game changer when it comes to cooking together.

  • Get organized. Before you roll your eyes, hear me out. I can't tell you how much time I've wasted because I've been disorganized. Admittedly, it's difficult to be extremely organized food-wise while living in a camper (our pantry consists of four small drawers and our fridge is half the size of a regular one), but it's not impossible. No matter what your constraints may be (budget, space, or otherwise), getting organized with food staples, fresh ingredients, and snacks can make a huge difference. (Need help? My friend and registered dietician Camille Martin has a stellar guide for organizing your kitchen, and it's free right now on her website.)

  • Get in a groove. Momentum is a beautiful thing. (It's that whole law of motion thing, right?) Once you get a good thing going cooking together, keep it going. Protect it. Don't let anything throw you off course.

  • Make a back-up plan. Even with the best plans in place and the biggest momentum rolling your way, things will happen. Stash a few frozen pizzas in the freezer (pizza nights can be fun, too). Make sure those rice & beans or Annie's mac-n-cheese staples are ready to go if you need them.

Tricks:

  • Shift your mindset. Instead of thinking about cooking dinner as one of the family chores, start thinking about it as a fun break. When you get hungry mid-afternoon, use it as a prompt to look forward to making dinner with your family. Just like my friend's article snapped me out of my harmful food mindset, sometimes we need a swift kick into reality.

  • Make it fun. Put on some music and dance every night while you cook. Put on the Great British Baking show during food prep. Heck, you can even play a concert or movie while you cook to motivate the whole family to pitch in. (Here's my favorite music to put on right now - The Hamilton Mixtape.)

  • Subscriptions can work wonders. A few years ago, we had SO much fun with Raddish Kids, and their recipes are still some of our favorites. Now that our kids are older, they're able to make Purple Carrot meals in a snap, and we plan on trying out others like Hello Fresh and Blue Apron too.

Recipes:

You've got this, mama.

Start tonight - grab a recipe and supplies, put on the music, start cooking, and see what happens.

Here's what we cooked up yesterday in our little Airstream kitchen (Raddish Kids crepes for breakfast & Purple Carrot pasta dish for dinner):

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Tips, TogethernessCeleste Orrcooking with kids, kids cooking, recipes for families, togetherness tips, what to cook with my kids3 Comments