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How To Make Meals Easier

In a word, planning and help. (Okay. That's two words; just the kind of sneaky double duty you want to get from the work you put into your daily meals.) There is also a third concept that surrounds the other two – know thyself.

Let's start with planning. We are all only too familiar with that moment of standing in the middle of the kitchen surrounded by cranky, hungry, family members, with no idea of what we are going to do about it.

Here is where the concept of knowing thyself comes in. If you are a person who likes to plan out a week's menu, organize a shopping list accordingly, and follow through with the appropriate shopping and prep work, then that is what you should do. If you are a person who resists that style of organization, you should do your best to always have certain basics on hand, so that you can come up with a meal that will be acceptable to your family.

In either case, you should spend some honest time alone with yourself looking at the big picture while focusing on the minutae. Go through your freezer and your cupboards. Throw out the foods that are disgusting, past-due, or that will never get eaten by anyone you know. Wipe out the cupboards while you're at it. Now, think about the kinds of quick, easy meals you can put together at the last minute, and make sure that you ALWAYS stock the basics necessary to provide them. If you don't have a good note-keeping system, put it in place now. (That means having some paper and a pencil available to add thing things to your shopping list.)

Don't you feel better already?

The next concept is help. This comes in two forms: inside the house and outside the house. Sometime, when you are not in the middle of the what can I possibly put on the table anxiety, think about which prepared and semi-prepared foods are useful, within your budget, available in your neighborhood, good, good for you, and that your family will eat. It doesn't have to be a whole meal. Open a can of soup, and you are halfway there.

The other kind of help is the human kind. Enlist other family members, of all ages, to be part of the mealtime team. (And yes, we know that sometimes help can mean more work for you.) Eventually, these people will grow up enough to provide actual help. Even more important, you are giving the message that you are all in this together. And kids are more likely to eat foods that they have helped to prepare and/or serve.

So – three interlocking concepts: planning, helping, and knowing the preferences and capabilities of yourself and your family. Take it easy, make it good.

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