Why Planning Meals Works and the Importance of Shared Meal Time.

Since I have started this blog, I have had some great conversations with friends about the concept of planning with kids, in particular meal planning. As I noted in my fist post on menu planning, I used to keep quiet about my love of planning, the blog however has put an end to that!

THE BENEFITS OF MEAL PLANNING
One of the most common questions I get asked is does it work? And my answer is yes it does. There are many benefits that result from taking the time to meal plan. The benefits that our family receives from having a weekly menu plan are as follows:

• Consistent time for our evening meals.


• Variety in what we eat.


• A healthy and balanced diet.


• Only have to go to the supermarket/market once a week.


• Waste very little food, as it is used within its use by date.


• Less stress as there is no last minute rush to think about what we will eat.

IMPORTANCE OF SHARED MEAL TIME

Most importantly, all of these factors work together to ensure that we can then sit down and enjoy our evening meal together in a harmonious way. The evening family meal is a very important time in our house. We use this opportunity as a time to share stories about our day, talk about things that might be worrying us, talk about what is making news in the world and for the adults, a time for us to role model dinner table etiquette.

It is expected that all children sit at the dinner table and that there are no other distractions; that is the TV/stereo is turned off, no toys at the table and if the phone rings it goes to message bank. Conversation is natural and informal, but if things are a little quiet, I will generally start about giving an update on my day and some things that happened that I think the kids will find interesting.

We have been doing this since our oldest son started to eat proper meals. Our daughter Possum quite often takes the lead role now in instigating the conversation (if it is lacking), by saying "Who wants to talk about their day?" When Possum first started to contribute to the conversations, it was literally a babble, with one or two words that we might be able to understand. However she understood what every one else was doing and wanted to participate to. We made sure she had her turn and that she knew we had listened to her, by repeating back the words that we understood. For example "Thank you for telling us about the dog."

It is at meal times that I find out some of the more interesting stuff that is going on in their school lives. I think this happens because the atmosphere is warm, attentive and light hearted. If there are issues that I think need to be addressed from what has been shared, I prefer to take it up later with the child in an individual setting. The aim of this is to keep family meal time enjoyable.

It is hard to produce this type of setting, if I have just come back from a rushed trip to the supermarket and the toddler and preschooler are crying/whining because they are hungry and tired, whilst I am trying to put the meal together. I then tend to go to the dinner table with increased stress levels, which the children seem to feed off.

By planning my meals it eliminates most of the above. Life with children is never perfect so there are times when we are running late etc and some of us are irritable at the table, but the majority of our evening meals are a pleasant shared experience with the children that I enjoy.

Menu Plan Monday – The ingredients.

When I put together for the plan for the family, I try to think about the ingredients that I am using and how to use it in another meal if I won’t be using the entire amount of that perishable ingredient. For example yesterday we had Chicken Schnitzel and salad, from which I still half a cucumber, half a stick of celery etc., so I have planned to have a salad again with our meal on Monday night.

When we have these types of meals which come with salad, we do them as a self serve style meal which the children love. They receive a plate with their meat on it and then the salad is individually placed in portions on a platter on the table. The children can choose what else they would like to put on their plate. They know they should select a variety of food from the platters and they all do this pretty successfully, with the exception of Babaganouski who can’t seem to expand past grated carrot and slices of beetroot at the moment.

With all that said, here is our plan for this week:


Monday: Sausage and Salad

Tuesday: Spicy Chutney Chicken with Rice

Wednesday: Fish and Steamed Vegetables
Baking - Chocolate Balls (See recipe below)

Thursday: Mexibake

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: Lamb chops with ratatouille (See recipe below)

Sunday: Roast Vegetable Lasagna

Lamb chops with ratatouille and rice (Serves 2 adults and 4 children)
The original recipe for this dish actually puts the cooked chops in with the ratatouille and simmers for a while. However this did not go down well with either the partner or the children, who prefer their chops less “soggy”. So I now serve the ratatouille on the side with rice, so their chops can stay nice and dry.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
14 lamb chops
1 large brown onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 large zucchini, chopped
1 large capsicum red, chopped
large capsicum green, chopped
1 large capsicum yellow, chopped
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons oregano leaves
1.5 cups rice

Instructions:
(1). Put rice on to cook by your desired method.
(2). Heat oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat.
(3). Cook onion and garlic for a few minutes until the onion is soft.
(4). Add capsicums to the pan, stirring for minute and then pour in tomatoes.
(5). Cover and simmer gently for about 10 – 15 minutes.
(6). Cook lamb chops by desired method. I tend to do ours outeise on the BBQ as I like the flavour and also find cooking outside with the kids is much more pleasant.
(7). Stir oregano through ratatouille and season with salt and pepper.
(8). Place rice in a circle on plate and spoon ratatouille over rice. Add chops to plate and serve.

Chocolate Balls
This is a very old school favourite in this house. I am sure that there are many variations on this treat, but this a very simply recipe that even the kids can do.

Ingredients:
1 packet Marie biscuits1 tin condensed milk
1 – 2 tablespoons cocoaApprox 2 cups of desiccated coconut (never actually measured how much we use, maybe just start with 1, and then pour more as you need it.)

Instructions:
(1). Place Marie biscuits into a plastic bag (out of the packet) and then crush with a rolling pin.(2). Once to a consistent texture pour into a medium size bowl.
(3). Add cocoa and stir.
(4). Pour in condensed milk and combine thoroughly.
(5). Pour coconut into a shallow bowl.
(6). Using a tablespoon of mixture, roll into ball then drop into coconut and cover completely. (7). Place chocolate bowl into a container and continue making balls until you have used all the mixture.
(8). Place in an airtight container in the fridge until set.
(9). They are kept best in the fridge even once set.

I would love to hear of any variations that you might have to the chocolate ball recipe I use.