How to get family dinners sorted.

By Sarah Smith from Bayside Dietetics

www.baysidedietetics.com.au

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My girlfriend and I were discussing meals while waiting for the 3.30pm school bell to signal the onset of school chaos. We each reflected having some amazing recipes, but that it was hard to recall those recipes when it actually came time to make dinner.

In my experience with clients, making food choices at the time of a meal usually leads to poorer food choices than when we have shopped and planned food in advance. Typically, dinner meals that you feel good about are probably the ones you organised before 5pm. If I’m to be realistic however, that time period has also seen you do the school run, pick up towels from the bathroom floor, get to an appointment, perhaps fit in work, organise an after school snack, deliver children to an after school activity, sit with a child or two to read or do homework, sort out a sibling argument, keep a tired child moving and sign a permission form for an excursion. We are not in a period of time where we are typically dedicating much of our day to cooking.

There are several solutions to the issues this creates for looking after your family’s health and this blog is about one of those: a dinner routine. Your version of a dinner routine will be unique to you, but I’m hoping to give you a few tips that will keep it interesting and nutritious.

A dinner routine is essentially knowing which meal you cook on which night of the week. Within that plan, you make adjustments to get plenty of variety. Variety is important for both interest in the family meal and getting the full range of nutrients the body needs.

Here is one version:

Monday is Pasta Night

Tuesday is Rice bowl night

Wednesday is Barbecue night

Thursday is Wrap night

Friday is Quick meal night

Saturday is for having a cooking break or doing the opposite and getting into a new recipe

Sunday is Roast night (which will hopefully create some leftover roast chicken or meat for sandwich fillings during the week)

There is no nutritional basis to the rotation. Your body doesn’t need nutrients in a certain order. It just needs all the nutrients delivered over time. So please adjust the plan to suit your needs.

Now for some information to help you make the meals work efficiently and to offer ideas for variety.

Pasta Night

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2195649/courgette-and-ricotta-pasta

Tips for being efficient:

Try a simple sauce of ricotta cheese mixed through the pasta. Surprisingly a favourite for many kids. Also include vegetables and chicken, fish, pinenuts or beans for protein.
Supermarket sauces are fine. Yes there is sugar in them but only a quarter when compared to the same amount of roll ups. Offset any concerns by loading them with vegetables and ideally also a legume such as lentils or beans and you have a wonderfully balanced meal. Direct your sugar-cutting energy to roll ups, biscuits or lollies instead.
As a super healthy alternative, a simple olive oil dressing hits the spot. Jamie Oliver has created a simple version: https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/spaghetti-aglio-olio-spring-greens/

Tips for variety:

From my experience pasta is the ideal place for “sneaking” vegetables, particularly if you grate them. So take this night as your opportunity to try new vegetables of different colours.
There are a huge array of different types of pastas out there from regular spaghetti to large shells to gnocchi to egg pasta to filled ravioli. These don’t change nutrients much but they do help everyone avoid “flavour fatigue” which is basically getting sick of the same meal over and over.
Why don’t you try getting the great benefits of salmon into a pasta meal with this recipe from BBC good food https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/pasta-salmon-peas

Rice Bowl Night

Rice bowl night might be a poke bowl or burrito bowl. Both options are simply using a rice as a base then topping with the vegetables and fish/beans/meat you have available. Add extra crunch with nuts or seeds.

https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/bbq_chicken_burrito_bowl/

https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/recipes/salmon-poke-bowl

https://www.grapesfromcalifornia.com/recipes/vegetarian-poke-bowl-with-grapes/

That last picture was from a website promoting grapes – so many different resources out there!

Tips for being efficient:

Take advantage of pre-cooked rice.
Try cutting all vegetables on the weekend so it’s just about putting it together on the night.
Have a staple sauce or two that the family like to use to flavour their bowl. There are many options available in the Supermarket. It may be as simple as soy sauce.
Try marinated tofu for easy flavour to a vegetarian bowl.

Tips for variety:

Try the vast array of seeds and nuts available as a sprinkle to top-off your bowl. For example pepitas, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, cashews, pine nuts, almonds.
Pinterest or Google images. Just plug in poke or burrito bowl. So many beautiful pictures to copy!
Use international inspiration. A Mexican bowl will incorporate beans, corn, tomato while a Japanese is more likely to have a raw fish, edamame beans and sesame seeds – how’s that for variety?! (tip: Edamame beans are readily available in Australia, but frozen not fresh.)

Barbecue Night

Tips for being efficient:

Buy meats pre-marinated.
Get your partner involved in a quick butcher stop on the way home.
Cook extra for wraps the next night, pizzas on Friday or to finish off sandwich fillings for the week. The small time commitment to buy and cook extra here will pay you back in time saved later.
Take advantage of pre made salad kits now readily available.

Tips for variety:

Alternate between a fresh salad and barbecued vegetables. You’ll naturally use different ingredients.
Try vegetarian options such as a tofu steak https://plantbasedonabudget.com/recipe/grilled-tofu-steaks/

Wrap Night

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/ultimate-falafel-wrap

https://www.taste.com.au/recipes/souvlaki-lamb-wraps/e0dd7468-7672-47e6-a287-4835131b581e

Tips for being efficient:

Unopened wraps have a long shelf life so this meal can be saved until later in the week.
Any leftover meat can be used so this dinner is great for the day after barbecue night. Just cook double the lamb/chicken/veg burgers and save them for wrap night.
A great back up option for filling is a barbecue chicken that you buy on the way home from work / netball training / swimming lessons. There is plenty of added fats to a barbecue chicken so it’s not as healthy as leftover chicken. Offset this by adding plenty of fresh salad and it’s still a reasonably healthy meal.

Tips for variety:

Wraps are ideal for trying the different array of raw vegetables out there. Try getting creative with spinach, coleslaw, alfalfa sprouts, beetroot, cucumber, spring onion.
Try a Mexican themed wrap with corn, capsicum, salsa, beans and pulled pork or chicken.
Try a vegetarian wrap by using falafel balls, hommus, tzatziki and spinach.

Roast Night

Tips for being efficient:

The key to an easy roast is having everything needing a similar cooking time. This can be done by cutting vegetables to a similar size. Some cooks can even show you how to make a super easy roast in one pan. This site has a few steps to the roast but it has a great video to show you how to perfect a roast in one pot: https://www.cookingclassy.com/pot-roast-with-potatoes-and-carrots/

Tips for variety:

Even rotating through the main meat groups will give you a different roast each week for a month: chicken, beef, lamb, pork. Further than that, butcher’s usually have different options with bone in/out, stuffings and marinades.
Try a vegetarian roast. This one is a little fancy but boy it tastes good: https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/vegetarian-nut-roast/

An easy vegetarian roast option is to dice vegetables and add 2 tins of rinsed chick peas. Season with salt, pepper and oil. Roast (usually around 30 mins).
Even if you stick with meat, try adding chick peas or kidney beans to your roast tray for some fantastic nutrients. Typically these legumes need to be added to the tray for the last 20-30 minutes of cooking time. Here is a delicious beef and bean recipe: https://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/roast-beef-aubergine-cannellini-beans/
Try baked fish. Here is a one-pot salmon recipe: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/spiced-salmon-traybaked-sag-aloo

Easy Meal Night

Here are some simple ideas for easy yet healthy Friday night dinners. This may be the night off cooking for you and that is fine. Take away shops are usually chockers on a Friday night! For those that are keen to continue the run of cooking at home:

Pita pizzas. Get everyone to make their own. All you need on the shopping list are pita breads, cheese, a tin of pineapple and pizza-friendly vegetables like mushrooms, capsicum and spinach. Then take advantage of leftovers meats from barbecue or wrap night.
Use the kits. Easy.
Frozen fish and frozen chips. If you are interested in nutrition, you may look at the label to see the fish content in your crumbed frozen fish – by law they need to declare it. Nutrition stands up to being frozen so no goodness is lost.
Baked beans on toast. Great way to get beans in the diet.
Pre-cooked rice with tinned fish and salad.

That’s it! I hope there is something in there that eases your burden.

Sarah