Now that we are moving back to life back outside, we may easily lose some of our new normal habits quickly as we rush to get ourselves readjusted. But what about the nice things we added to our lives during the lockdown? I know that I am personally going to miss family meals and cooking together. With everyone's schedules returning to the normal hectic rate, we are not sitting together for meals as a family and nice dinners are going back to a container of yogurt while at the computer or cheese and crackers while cleaning. I feel both my mind and my body miss the meal time ritual that formed during quarantine. However, we can still keep these patterns, though perhaps not as frequently as we did in isolation. Set aside one or two nights a week where everyone is available to have a meal. It doesn't have to be dinner time, it can be breakfast or lunch or even just a more involved snack if time is really pressed. The benefit of only having one or two of these meals in a week is you can really go all out. Make appetizers, main course and dessert. Make a few fun sides and do a drink pairing. You can spend a little bit of time reading up on new recipes that will both be fun to make and expand your palate and the palate of your kids.
Although this can feel like an adult activity, children will love it too. You can start teaching them age appropriate cooking and cleaning skills and leave the door open for them to try the menu. Outside of very spicy food, I would encourage the children to at least take a bite of everything being made, and you just may be surprised on what even a picky kid will end up liking. Let the kids have a say in what is being made as well. Kids are more apt to accept new foods when they are paired with food they already know and love so letting them have some say not only makes them feel part of the family but also makes them feel encouraged to try the new foods. Younger kids can pick a dessert or side and older ones can even be responsible for preparing one of the items on the menu. You can do theme nights or simply build off a favorite menu item. When it comes to preparing the meal, everyone can have a role. Couples and friends without kids can divide the items to cook or be in charge of specific things they enjoy and families with kids can let the kids help as well. Young children can help clear and set the table while older kids can chop veggies and nuts. Teenagers can be in charge of a side or a dessert just like an adult. For those who do not like to cook, they can be in charge of cleaning up at the end.
Just like any other activity we have mentioned, it is important to set a date and time and then honor it once it is set. If everyone is always rescheduling, it will make it hard to keep the weekly meals going. Of course there are certain things that really can't be rescheduled, but as much as possible try to keep the time set in stone once it is set. Same goes with menu items. You can begin planning the day and time and menu items early in the week. Group text works great for those on the go and is a way to build anticipation for the fun night. Once you have the date, time and menu set you can start dividing the actions for each person to complete, including grocery shopping beforehand and any items that might require being made early or the night before.
Ready to start but stuck for ideas, here is how to develop the perfect menu for your group. Start by writing down the group's favorite regions of food and then decide what region to stick to for the meal. Make this decision based off of what you feel like eating and what you feel confident making. For example, you can list Indian, Southwest, Thai and French. You can get ingredients for Thai and know how to make it pretty easily so you decide to do that as opposed to other regions you are not familiar with or will have problems finding the ingredients for. This is not to say you can't experiment with new genres to cook in of course, but you may want to have a frozen pizza as a plan b in case it fails. Note that even failing in making a menu is a fun experience for everyone (as long as we all eventually get to eat something). Once you have your region decided, start brainstorming favorite items with the group. To keep with the Thai example we can say that perhaps some people love spicy and some do not so you decide to do Pad Thai with Shrimp as the main course. For an appetizer you can do a green papaya salad with chili on the side so people can decide their spiciness and mango with sticky rice for dessert with a Thai Iced Tea drink.
From here you can divide the tasks. The smaller kids can be responsible for peeling mangoes and peeling shrimp, while the older kids can make the sticky rice and slice mangoes and vegetables. The adults can work the stove and pour the heavy tea kettle for the tea. The kids can set the table and scoop the rice and mango onto plates as well as pouring the coconut cream. Everything does not need to be planned out perfectly and there is no time limit to get things done. The purpose of the dinner is to spend time together in the moment, with minimal phone use, and share everything that happened that week. Let mistakes and messes happen, I know this is something I can sometimes struggle with, but focus on the time together over the task at hand and let the small bumps fade in favor of the memories you are creating. Not only is this part of our health and physical wellness but this is for our mental and social wellness as well.
What are your favorite meals to cook at home? Reach out to us with your comments and questions at info@bullionite.com