Family Dinners
What gave me the idea?
About two years ago I was getting burnt out coming home from work and rushing to make dinner for our family of eight. I was that mom that made spaghetti once a week, taco Tuesdays, MYOM Fridays (make your own meal), roast and potatoes Sunday, and left overs somewhere or anywhere in between. Usually it was whatever was cheap and quick to make. Not only was I burnt out on cooking, my kids were burnt out on the same old meals. David and I came up with the idea to give the kids more responsibility and assign each of them a day to cook dinner. Afterall, my mom did that with me and my seven siblings growing up and we turned out to be GREAT cooks and bakers. So we could equip our own children with that same skill set! I started posting pictures and video clips on social media of our meals, which one of our kids cooked it and and the recipes we used. I got so many comments and positive remarks. Some people said we needed to hurry up and start a YouTube channel. What a boost of confidence!
How we implemented it
When we told the kids they would be making dinner from now on they weren't so excited--until we mentioned they could plan what we ate. That's when the excitement really took. They planned for philly cheesesteak sandwiches, broccoli cheese soup in bread bowls, lasagna with homemade lasagna noodles (I'll just tell you now that everything we make is homemade), chicken fettuccine alfredo, pizza, macaroni and cheese, casseroles, onion rings, and the list goes on. This is basically how we do it: the kids decide what they want to make, they find a recipe online, we add the ingredients to our grocery list, David and I shop for food and supplies and the kids make dinner on their assigned day! Our children range in age from 3 years old to 16 years old so of course the younger ones need help in all areas from planning to cooking to plating. At the beginning our older ones needed help too but have become accustomed to doing everything but shopping on their own. David and I will step in to help the older kids with techniques, cutting, understanding unclear directions and so on. Often its just nice to have someone else assisting in the kitchen because it gives you an opportunity to not only discuss the recipe, but catch up on the events of the day--which leads me to the next section!
Top 10 benefits of kids making homemade meals
There are so many positives to kids cooking meals, especially when making them from scratch. Life skills are in abundance when you give them an opportunity to work, learn, and express themselves in this medium. Here are what I believe to be the the top 10 benefits for teaching kids to cook from scratch:
About two years ago I was getting burnt out coming home from work and rushing to make dinner for our family of eight. I was that mom that made spaghetti once a week, taco Tuesdays, MYOM Fridays (make your own meal), roast and potatoes Sunday, and left overs somewhere or anywhere in between. Usually it was whatever was cheap and quick to make. Not only was I burnt out on cooking, my kids were burnt out on the same old meals. David and I came up with the idea to give the kids more responsibility and assign each of them a day to cook dinner. Afterall, my mom did that with me and my seven siblings growing up and we turned out to be GREAT cooks and bakers. So we could equip our own children with that same skill set! I started posting pictures and video clips on social media of our meals, which one of our kids cooked it and and the recipes we used. I got so many comments and positive remarks. Some people said we needed to hurry up and start a YouTube channel. What a boost of confidence!
How we implemented it
When we told the kids they would be making dinner from now on they weren't so excited--until we mentioned they could plan what we ate. That's when the excitement really took. They planned for philly cheesesteak sandwiches, broccoli cheese soup in bread bowls, lasagna with homemade lasagna noodles (I'll just tell you now that everything we make is homemade), chicken fettuccine alfredo, pizza, macaroni and cheese, casseroles, onion rings, and the list goes on. This is basically how we do it: the kids decide what they want to make, they find a recipe online, we add the ingredients to our grocery list, David and I shop for food and supplies and the kids make dinner on their assigned day! Our children range in age from 3 years old to 16 years old so of course the younger ones need help in all areas from planning to cooking to plating. At the beginning our older ones needed help too but have become accustomed to doing everything but shopping on their own. David and I will step in to help the older kids with techniques, cutting, understanding unclear directions and so on. Often its just nice to have someone else assisting in the kitchen because it gives you an opportunity to not only discuss the recipe, but catch up on the events of the day--which leads me to the next section!
Top 10 benefits of kids making homemade meals
There are so many positives to kids cooking meals, especially when making them from scratch. Life skills are in abundance when you give them an opportunity to work, learn, and express themselves in this medium. Here are what I believe to be the the top 10 benefits for teaching kids to cook from scratch:
- Quality Time-Not only have we done away with the staple meals, but it has been a joy to fit in quality time with my kids while prepping dinner with them. That's something that kind of went missing when I started working full-time 6 years ago.
- Confidence-The more the kids cook the more comfortable they are in the kitchen and following directions with a great outcome.
- Independence-As they become more skilled at following recipes they have needed my expertise less and less.
- Time management-They understand now, and continue to be reminded, that you have to start dinner at a certain time so it is ready by 6pm..or whenever you've designated "dinner time".
- Responsibility-There are times where I knew whose day it was to cook but didn't say anything for hours on purpose. When everyone else started to get grouchy because they were hangry, the chef for the day learned a valuable lesson--PEOPLE RELY ON YOUR EFFORTS!
- Improved math skills-Utilizing math skills in real life situations ("the recipe requires a 1/4 cup of milk but we need to triple the recipe, how much does that make in all?")
- More attentive to details-("Did the recipe tell you to add the butter before or after you dice up the vegetables?")
- Better problem solvers-("...well you added too much milk. What do you think we can do to balance out the rest of the ingredients in proportion to the milk so we can save this meal?")
- A sense of accomplishment-Most of the time, our homemade meals have tasted WAY better than even the sit-down restaurants. Also, being able to make something from practically nothing (like bread bowls from scratch) is pretty amazing.
- Creativity-Sometimes just letting them put together sides they think will work well with the main course or adding their suggested vegetables for color makes the meal that much more enjoyable and personal.
Folau baking french bread 
Filimone making an excellent knock-off of Panera's Broccoli Cheese soup
Lia making musubi
Vita making sunny-side up eggs over our campfire when we went camping a while back. That is not an easy thing to do when you don't have knobs or switches to help you control the heat. But he did an eggcellent job (I know, corny, but I couldn't help myself)
Tava cutting up little smokies to add to our favorite breakfast casserole.
Nifai's number 1 favorite thing to do, roll out dough and cut it with cookie cutters--even if its bread dough. Its all good. Who doesn't still love mini heart shaped bread biscuit looking things.
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