For most of our readers, dinners are the main daily meal when the family comes together and enjoys some together time. It's a time of the day when we get to chat about how our day went, laugh at jokes and spend some quality time together while enjoying a delicious meal.
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The Perfect Family Dinner
For most of the moms and dads out there, you want the meal to be nutritious as well as tasty with preferably as little preparation and clean up time as possible. We've got it!
And since it's the main meal of the day for most families, it should also ideally cover all the macro and micronutrients. Simple, right? Well it should be, but sometimes it's easier said than done. But if you follow our recommendations below you'll be a family dinner expert in no time.
How To Combine Dinner Foods
You'd want your dinner to contain all 3 macronutrients - carbohydrates, protein and fats. Let's see how.
Carbohydrates
- Calorie-dense carbohydrates like wholegrains
- Whole grain pasta or rice
- Couscous, quinoa, bulgur, spelt, barley etc
- Wholegrain bread or crackers
Protein
- High quality protein food
- Poultry, lean red meat
- Fish
- Tofu
- Beans or legumes
- Eggs
Fats
- High quality "good" fats
- Nuts and seeds (including nut and seed butters)
- Vegetable oils like olive oil, sesame seed oil or linseed oil
- "Oily" fish like salmon
What About Fruit And Veggies?
Yes, fruit and veggies are a big part of your and your child's diet. Although they are 2 different food groups we can group them together when talking about daily meals into one group called "produce".
In order to ensure that your daily produce requirements are fulfilled, my recommendation is to include veggies in main meals such as lunch and dinner and fruit in breakfast and snacks. You can of course choose to include them in any meals you like per your preference. I've just find this combination to be the easiest.
Don't Spend Ages Making Dinner
Even though it might seem that you'll need ages to make a nutritious family dinner, it really doesn't have to be so.
Take this for example: put some salmon with broccoli and olive oil into the oven and while it's baking cook some quinoa in some stock. There you have it. Protein and fats from the salmon, fats from olive oil, carbohydrates from the quinoa and some broccoli to fulfill the veggie requirements. Easy, right?
And salmon and broccoli are very easy to for baby-led weaning also.
And with just a little practice it can and will become that simple to you too. But just to get you started we've compiled a list of quick and easy family dinners that you can turn back to and use anytime you need.
Most of our Family Recipes take 10-15 min to prep and you just pop them in the oven and take them out 30 min later (and in one or two roasting tins so minimal washing up).
And they can all be easily adapted for any member of the family – from weaning baby to adult.
Quick & Easy Family Dinners
Meat and Fish Family Dinners
Vegetarian Family Dinners
Baby and Toddler Dinners
Final Note
Family dinners don't need to be complicated or require hours and hours spent in the kitchen to offer your family a perfect meal. All of your family dinner choices are suitable for the whole family – adults, kids, toddlers and babies. It's just a matter of how you serve each food. And the best part is – most of them can be stored for later so simply make a bigger batch and serve the next day also so you don't have to cook every single day.
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