31 Days Challenge- Day 2: Plan Your Dinners- One Family, One Meal

Today's Challenge- Make a Plan for Family Dinners and establish “One Family, One Meal”

My oldest was about 3 years old when I discovered that in many families the kids ate a different dinner than the adults.

To be honest, it never even occurred to me to feed my kids something different than what I made for my husband and me.  Maybe it was out of pure laziness, but when I made dinner, I made it for everyone. My husband often wasn’t home for dinner, but that was ok, I just saved his on a plate and heated it up when he got home. 

If you are making separate dinners, my suggestion is that you stop.  If you’re not- don’t start...

This does not mean that everyone has to like or even eat the same things- they are, however, served the same meal.

I do not insist that my kids, “like,” dinner. However, they do know that there isn’t any other option. Usually they eat everything, and generally they even like everything, but on the occasions that they don’t, they can usually find some part that they will like. If I’m serving something that has not been a “favorite” of one my children in the past, I’ll serve something with it, that they do like. They don’t get a separate meal. Everyone get’s the same thing, but hopefully there is something there that everyone will eat.

If my kids don’t like a particular part of the dinner, they are more than welcome to pick around it.  However, if, for example, they decide that they only like the bread, they can eat the bread that they were initially served.  After that, if they are hungry, or want more bread (or whatever it was that they liked) they then need to eat some of what they aren’t crazy about. If they say that they don’t want to, that’s fine, but they know that it’s their choice. I don’t argue, but I don’t serve something else.

I recognize that although this works for me, this is what I have always done. If your kids are used to getting something else to eat, this technique will likely cause some initial drama. 

I suggest that you begin to establish “One Family, One Meal,” in a relatively painless and drama free way.  Brainstorm you child’s favorite foods/ favorite meals and use this to plan your dinners for the week.  Choose the best or most healthy options that you have available to you.

If you child will only eat one thing, such as pasta and sauce, serve pasta and sauce (perhaps different shapes of pasta) with a protein and a vegetable every night for the first week. Everyone is served the same thing but your picky child (or children) get a decent serving of the pasta with a small (one bite) serving of the protein and small (one bite) serving of the vegetable.

Over the next few days we’ll work on strategies for getting them to actually try it. But for now, just plan to have it as part of the meal and serve it to everyone. They should see and recognize that everyone is being served the same thing. There is no separate meal. It is the family meal.

If they finish all of the pasta (or whatever it is that they like) and want more, tell them that they can only have more if they eat the rest of what’s on their plate (which should be just one bite.)  If they eat it, they can have more. If they choose not to, that’s ok, but they don’t get served anything else. They are simply, done.

My Meal Plan for the Week

Every family can benefit from meal planning.

It’s the nights (or weeks!) when I don’t have a plan that our eating habits deteriorate. When there’s no plan, I’m busy figuring out what to eat at the last minute and that means we eat whatever is easy and quick, which isn’t always the healthiest option.

As “real life” starts up again this week, I know that our days will likely be busy, hectic, and unorganized. Therefore, I’ve chosen meals that are simple to make, and that I know are always favorites with my family:

Monday: Cheesie Mac

Tuesday: Fried Rice (*I use olive oil and brown rice and don't use the scallions or ginger)

Wednesday: Chili Lime Chicken, Rice, and Lemon Garlic Broccoli (Truly the best broccoli ever!)

Thursday: Rigatoni “Pizza” Bake

Friday: Make Your Own Salads with Rotisserie Chicken

Saturday: Make Your Own Homemade Pizza

Sunday: Chicken Corn Soup (using leftover rotisserie chicken) and Rhodes Frozen Whole Wheat Rolls

I would highly suggest that you stick to tried and true family favorites this week, but if you need more inspiration for you meal plans check out: Money Saving Mom's Weekly Meal Plans, Organizing Junkie, or The Peaceful Mom's Easy Meal Planning 

You can find free printables for meal planning at Life Your Way.
Also... I am LOVING this menu planning board from The Clay Family Blog!!

I’ve made this post into a link-up. You can share your meal plan below either in a link to your blog post, or just share it in the comments section.