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One minute you’re all sitting around the table, feeding the toddler a messy Bolognese and the next everybody is too busy to even eat at the same time.
There are ways in which you can improve your mealtime with family, and make sure that everybody spends a little time together every day. It doesn’t have to be an extravagant affair, and it doesn’t have to be every single day.
But, planning ahead and making sure that everybody spends a little time together every week at least, can do the world of good for your relationships at home.
Here are some Mealtime Tips for Busy Families, and how you can make small changes starting TODAY.

Mealtime Tips For Busy Families
Plan it Out
If, for example, you decide that every Sunday you are going to have a roast dinner, or that every Wednesday is fish and chip day; it’s going to be so much easier when it comes time to planning, shopping, and putting it into action. It’s going to be easier to “fit in” to your schedule, and become effortless.
Meal planning also takes the pressure of last-minute meal ideas, and prepares you for shopping and keeping stock of what’s in your cupboards,. Which in turn, means less work, and stress, for you!
There is always so much going on with work, school, and a lot of extracurricular activities that our families take part in, but looking at your schedule and fitting in a family meal whenever possible will turn it into a habit, and one that you can all share together and ensure that you aren’t having to miss out on this important time.
Remember: it takes 21 days to make something a habit. So don’t give up if you miss one night. Be patient, but be consistent!

Take turns
When it comes to cooking, the lion share usually ends up falling to one person; i.e. me. And this doesn’t mean the person doing the work even LIKES to cook.
Take turns! Make a schedule or draw straws to make it more appealing. Even having the younger ones in the family give it a go, will ensure that it is fair. It may also reduce the animosity that anyone may feel if they don’t feel that other people are pulling their weight.
You can also make it a family affair. Chose themes for certain weeks or google different food items and see what you can come up with.
For example, search for recipes online and make your own red enchilada sauce. This can be tricky as some people really do not enjoy cooking, and others do, but pulling together will be the best way to get things done, and have fun while you’re at it!
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Make it MORE Enjoyable
Don’t make it too routine or too dull. Change it up! Why not get the barbecue going and barbecue some burgers and hotdogs?
You can even turn the meal into an event a little like TV shows, where any member of the family comes up with an evening meal idea and cooks it, and the rest of the family vote on the best at the end of the week.
There’s always something you can do to change things up a little, and turn on an evening meal into a more enjoyable event will encourage The family to pull together and have fun.
Let’s Chat
Where any of these tips helpful? How do you do mealtime with your family? Does more than one person of your household cook, too?
Tonyalee is an avid reader, gym junkie, coffee addicted workaholic, and blogger. Be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram for random shenanigans.
6 Comments
As a family of 3 now, meal times should be easy but they’re just as stressful as they were when we were a family of 5. These are great tips for managing meals, definitely need to remember these!
I think it gets harder the less you have to feed. When it’s the 4 of us, it’s easy! But the 2 of us? We can’t get a plan to stick at all!
I love the idea of taking turns! Great post 🙂
Me too! Drawing names from a jar is so fun!
I stink at planning, but mealtime is important in our home. Our kids love our cooking (which helps) and they prefer to eat as a family. Once our mini-construction projects are done, I hope we can finally eat at the table again!
My oldest likes to cook – but still has a lot to learn. I agree that meal planning can be a daunting task!