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And we’ll use your feedback to create better and more useful solutions to your challenges!
Here’s what Table365 partners Kimberly and Sharon have to say:
Keeping my pantry and freezer stocked so I have what I need to create three meals a day is my biggest challenge. I’m still surprised by how much food our family of four eats in a week, and with two growing boys, I’m afraid I still don’t buy enough (especially meat and produce) to last an entire week. Also, every time I feel “ahead” by making multiple batches and freezing meals, it seems that we eat them before I intended, so keeping the freezer stocked is a constant relay. I’m working to cook larger batches of meals and find additional outlets for perishable foods (dairy, meat, produce) without making multiple trips to the grocery store every week (grocery delivery, CSA, or Amazon Fresh for example).
I was originally going to say “time,” but the truth is that I know I could carve out time to prepare or at least organize some of our family meals when I need to. My real challenge is motivation. The monotony of providing three meals a day, every day, kind of kills my desire to cook – and I love to cook. To curb this feeling I have accepted that right now I rotate about 10 reliable meals that satisfy and nourish everyone. Now, when inspiration hits it‘s fun, but otherwise I have my go-to recipes that my family enjoys and that I know how to cook easily and efficiently!
Personally, getting home in time to cook something is the challenge for me.
Biggest challenge here is finding something that all 5 members of the family will eat. There is always one person who refuses the food I set on our dinner table. How do you satisfy everyone’s pallet and not become a short-order cook?
1. New ideas and not always making the same things over and over and over.
2. Not lying about nutrition but actually have the real info on why good food is good for you, what it does for your body, brain, energy and health.
3. Good ideas for left overs.
4. I love my crockpot, starting something in the morning and leaving for the day is pretty cool to come home is great. But again, I’d like to not always cook the same stuff.
5. Keeping my sons from making monkey faces at each other, and blowing their drinks through their noses laughing.
My big challenge right now is getting my children to eat different things other than hummus and chips or peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. I feel they are not eating enough veggies though I serve them every day.
If your kids are under age 8, you could try what I did when my kids (now 28 and 30) were young: using a pudding recipe from your microwave cookbook, add a jar of baby squash, use much less sugar, some spices (like cinnamon), and serve it as “dinner pudding.” We ate lots of dinner puddings when the kids were young. I could sneak all sorts of stuff in. you can do this as individual serves or a bread pan for the whole crew.
Wow – I love pudding – and pumpkin (squash) – this sounds delicious. Thanks for the new idea! cheers, Sharon