Ten Ways to a Merrier Mealtime

I love to cook. Paging through food magazines, scouring the library for cookbooks, and replicating restaurant meals are some of the things that bring me joy. But when it comes to weeknight meal prep, my time in the kitchen often elicits the opposite. By the end of the day, I’m spent. My partner asking “What’s for dinner?” can sometimes put me over the edge. If making family meals errs more on the side of frenzy than fun, here are a few ways to lessen the mental load of mealtime. 

Plan Ahead and Divide the Labor

Having a meal plan not only eliminates the burden of real time decision making, but cues the whole family to what’s on deck for the week and invites them to pitch in. If it’s my week to be in charge of dinner, I use the Golden Coil meal planner and then snap a pic of our weekly menu and send it to my partner. If he sees “Taco Tuesday” on our meal calendar, and knows that I’m deep in a work block, he can step in. 

Get Grocery Delivery

When going to the grocery store feels like the limiting step to getting dinner on the table, try grocery delivery. Otherwise, if there are multiple members in your household who are able to do the shopping, keep a grocery list on a whiteboard, or something displayed in a public space so that whoever can make it to the grocery store knows exactly what to get. 

Stock Up

Keeping staples in the fridge and freezer make meal time in a pinch, a cinch. Having a bag of pasta and jar of sauce, or a frozen lasagna from the batch you made last time, means you always have dinner on hand. Writing reheating instructions on the packaging also means prep can be an equal opportunity endeavor, and all of the information is out there to get dinner done.

Make a Big Batch

I’ve had to retrain my brain to make double: one to eat now and one to freeze for later. If it’s an option to double up your recipe and save some for another night, go for it. Your future self will thank you. 

Order In

Ordering in may be a no-brainer, but sometimes figuring out what to order can give you a headache. In our household, we rotate who chooses. We also keep a list of go to spots posted in the pantry as a cheat sheet and write the date next to it of each time we’ve ordered.

Buy Prepared Proteins

There are thousands of Pinterest recipes of what to do with a rotisserie chicken. Buying pre-made proteins from your favorite restaurant or grocer can give you the base for several days worth meals with minimal hassle. Whenever we eat out, we’ll order some extra protein sides to go which we can quickly throw on a future salad, rice bowl, or wrap.

Take a Trip to the Hot Bar/Salad Bar

Our neighborhood grocery store has a hot bar that we love. Everyone can get how much they want of what they want. If there’s a salad bar, I can get an exact portion of ingredients, already prepped, for another day’s meals too.

Set it and Forget It

My mother was the master of the crock pot. One of our nightly activities was preparing the crock pot with whatever stew, sauce, or soup was on the next day’s menu. We’d wake up and dinner was already done. (Sometimes we’d even get beef bourguignon for breakfast.)

Try a Meal Kit

Meal kits gained popularity a few years ago through mail order subscriptions, but now are available in grocery stores nationwide. These kits come with recipes and all of the portioned ingredients you need to get dinner on the table, most of which with a promise of being done in 30 minutes or less. 

Go Digital

The other night, my family was eating meatloaf purchased from the meat counter of our local grocer. Sold by the pound, the ground beef came already prepped and seasoned.  My husband suggested we start buying it once a month for an easy meal. (Although meatloaf isn’t something particularly difficult to make, saving a few extra minutes for no extra cost can make a tough night a little easier.) We share a Google calendar for meals and family activities and so I calendared Monthly Mini Meatloaves to repeat on the second Tuesday every month. Let technology be your friend. 

Let us know, what tips do you have for a merrier mealtime?!

Post by: Bri James