{"id":7669,"date":"2013-08-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/togethercounts.com\/making-family-meals-work-when-youre-not-the-greatest-cook\/"},"modified":"2013-08-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-08-13T00:00:00","slug":"making-family-meals-work-when-youre-not-the-greatest-cook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/togethercounts.com\/es\/making-family-meals-work-when-youre-not-the-greatest-cook\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Family Meals Work When You\u2019re Not the Greatest Cook"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I have a love\/hate relationship with cooking: love to cook; hate it when I simply cannot find the time or inspiration to, you know, actually cook something.<\/p>\n

My 12 year-old who declares herself a semi-vegetarian (at least twice a month) and each of my 3 teens have issues with food:\u00a0 the two oldest girls love meat and potatoes, as long as they don\u2019t touch each other on the plate, while my son has personally declared ketchup as a food group\u2026years ago.<\/p>\n

Long story, short:\u00a0 more often than not, at our house, dinner is a crime scene.<\/p>\n

What, your house, too?!\u00a0 EXCELLENT! One of my favorite things about the Together Counts TM<\/sup> program is encouraging families to eat meals around a table, so I\u2019ve come to rely on a few tips and tricks to help make family meals work, even when you\u2019re not all that into cooking.<\/p>\n

Keep a staple of foods in the house that your kids actually like to eat:\u00a0 <\/strong>I hate to be the one to tell you, but teens can be REAL picky-eaters, too. \u00a0Good news is that their tastes do continue to change over time.\u00a0 I\u2019m all for trying out new recipes, as long as I know that it involves food my kids will actually eat \u2013 pasta with vegetables and stir-fry recipes are big at our house.<\/p>\n

Take advantage of weekly specials at the supermarket<\/strong>:\u00a0 My husband does most of the food shopping in our house, so he is an expert when it comes to scanning weekly sales flyers, figuring out the cost difference between buying bulk vs. buying with coupons and is a pro at keeping our freezer stocked with staples and meat specials \u2013 yes, I am keeping him.<\/p>\n

Freezer meals are cool<\/strong>:\u00a0 it isn\u2019t unusual for my husband to come home with a 10 lb. piece of pork loin, which I then cut up into chops, bite-sized cubes for stew and a roast \u2013 that\u2019s 3 meals, right there. Keeping frozen veggies on hand can make side dishes and stir-fry a snap.<\/p>\n

Employ the slow cooker<\/strong>:\u00a0 Next to our vacuum cleaner, the crock pot is my favorite appliance and my new best friend in the kitchen. \u00a0Whatever your favorite meal (omnivore, vegetarian or vegan) there is probably a crock pot recipe for it and, just so you know, pizza fondue is perfect for those times you forget to take the meat out of the freezer\u00a0 \u2013 and by you, I mean me.<\/p>\n

Consider a few no-cook meals into your weekly menu planning<\/strong>:\u00a0 Stuff happens (a lot!) and dinner plans can be thrown off (see previous parenthesis), so I like to keep a lot of salad and sandwich-makings in the house \u2013 I did mention we have a 14 year-old son, right?\u00a0 Oh, and almost anything tastes really good wrapped up in a tortilla!<\/p>\n

I just thought of another favorite appliance:\u00a0 the grill, because I am an AWESOME cook in the summer and fall!<\/p>\n

How do you get meals on the table when you\u2019re not into cooking?<\/em><\/p>\n

For more meal-planning tips, check out these Together Counts resources!<\/em><\/p>\n