I must say as a mum of three I hate dinner time! I know I am not alone with this as a lot of the mums I know feel the same. It is just such a busy and at times stressful time of the day - I am lucky to have two out of three good eaters but I still have to make 3 or 4 different dinners all of which are served at different times.
(Oh how I will it was like this!)
Indi is a great eater and probably the easiest of the lot - I have lots of pre-cooked vegies and meat all frozen into little cubes and I just get them out as I need them - she eats dinner at 5pm and still loves me to spoon feed her (which I am happy with as it is so much faster and cleaner!).
My four year old Sofia is my drama queen in the food world - has been since the spoon first hit her mouth - fussy and has the most limited palate - most nights it is plain pasta in a bowl and unless she is ravenous she only eats a few mouthfuls! She loves her nonna's food but unfortunately we can't eat their every night (it has crossed my mind though as they don't live that far away).
My 5 year old Sienna is a great eater and will eat most things but she certainly likes to tell what it is that she feels like each night for dinner - she loves fruits, vegies and meat and will generally pick the fruit in her lunch box over the treat (unlike Sofia who will avoid all healthy food at all costs).
Then there is dinner for myself and Mr A. As he is not home from work until around 7pm most nights that means we don't eat all together - sitting one is at 5pm, sitting two for the big girls is at 5.30pm and sitting three at 7.30pm-8pm and every sitting is something different! Is it any wonder that mums despise meal time.
Those of you that visit me regularly will know I am a highly organised person (yes very OCD) but I always feel very out of control when it comes to dinner - especially dinner for Mr A and myself - I honestly couldn't be bothered after feeding the kids and getting them to bed!
I am on a mission however to change things after reading a little ebook called What's for Dinner. I came across this little gem after purchasing a home organization system called Did you remember the milk?
I have today purchased a new receipe box from my favourite stationery store Kikki-K and I am about to build my new system. The book talks about having easy access to your favourite meals and doing a big marathon cooking session in which you freeze lots of food for either two weeks or a month - I know this is not rocket science as I have done it in the past but why do we feel guilty when we pull something out of the freezer for dinner - for some reason I feel that if I haven't made it fresh then I haven't really cooked dinner - silly really as it also means we waste more food and have to shop more often!
OK so I am off to find my favourite receipes and I am up for a marathon cooking session - will let you know how I go and please feel free to point me in the direction of any good meals to freeze. I am no longer going to feel guilty about pulling dinner from the freezer most nights!