Share your tips for ways to stress less with HelloFresh - £300 voucher to be won NOW CLOSED

[JustineBMumsnet]

Modern family life can be very busy - and this might mean that otherwise simple tasks like thinking about what to have for dinner or getting out of the door in the morning can become overwhelming or stressful. HelloFresh would like to hear about the tips you have for stressing less, whether this is in the kitchen or elsewhere in your family life.

Here’s what HelloFresh has to say: “HelloFresh is on a mission to help families stress less when it comes to mealtimes with the launch of its new Family Box, offering an all new range of tailor-made family-friendly recipes designed to appeal to kids, teenagers and adults alike and bring variety to dinner time. The HelloFresh Family Box has been created to reduce stress levels and help save parents time and energy. The focus in development has been to make meal planning and preparation as easy as possible, whilst serving meals that guarantee to make family mealtimes delicious, but most importantly totally fuss and hassle-free. Want to give it a try? We've got a special offer for you with 50% off your first two boxes with the code HELLOMUMS.”

Do you have tips that mean sitting down to a family dinner in the evening is an enjoyable rather than hectic experience? Perhaps you’re a pro at making tiny changes to meals so that fussy eaters are catered for? Do you and your family cook together to reduce the stress of preparing an evening meal? Maybe you ensure you’re making time for ‘me-time’ every day so that you can wind down?

Share the ways you #StressLess with HelloFresh below to be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher.

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

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We batch cook, which helps a great deal, but we also have a rule that for half an hour, each day for dinner, everyone sits round the table together, DC, DH and myself and we discuss anything and everything - little things from how work / school was to whose turn it is to take the bins out / world politics / what desserts everyone wants when grand aunt mabel comes to stay next week....

It de-stresses because it helps clears everyones heads of anything they need to remember / solve any problems from the day with three heads thinking about it / can just relax you thinking about bins rather than bill payments!

We do some prep towards the week's meals at the weekends, so it's easier to just come home and cook - e.g. chopping and washing veg and pre-cutting meat. We also use the slow cooker on busier days so if I'm getting home late we have dinner waiting for us.

I often do an extra meal when I'm making a fish pie or casserole. There is nothing better than taking a home cooked meal from the freezer when cooking just seems like too much effort!

I prep some things in advance. I season and boil meats and freeze them. Same for chicken too, for a stew

I batch cook every Sunday, because I work very long hours, and my OH is still full time, and not a natural cook. We cook as a family, and the kids help out (or my 1 year old makes a mess!) but I have a plan for the week. We do lots of 'one pot' dishes; lasagne with loads of veg in it, macaroni with sweetcorn and peas and bacon. I let my four year old do everything- chopping with a proper knife even. She loves it and loves cooking. Then it all goes into the fridge and the freezer for the week. It takes the stress out of evenings.

Then we also do wraps and salads meals sometimes, or just a massive bowl of salad with smoked salmon on top, and we all have a fork and help ourselves. It is so nice to sit around our (small) table, and dig in.. plus, the kids seem to love veg! Family times are really important. It's where we all catch up in our busy weeks. We all eat our evening meal as a family at 6.. early, but it works for us.

We try to have a rough idea of what will have for dinner each night that week. Batch cooking is a life saver & perfect if we get in from work late as requires little cooking/preparation.
We are also huge fans of the slow cooker & meals are extra good value.
Luckily my DC aren't fussy and eat the same as we do. I think that alone makes meal times much more enjoyable all round & we are fortunate that we all eat together the majority of time for dinner

My tip to stress less is to take time to totally minimize and declutter your kitchen. Get rid of anything that you don't use regularly. Anything used for occasional hosting can be packed up into a cupboard elsewhere in the house or into the garage. Declutter kitchen countertops and cupboards to a bare minimum of items that you need on a day to day basis, and life is so much less stressful!

I find using the slow cooker helps me destress. I prefer to sort food in the morning as I'm knackered at night!

Meal plans help a lot! It stops over buying and wasting food (and it stops the emergency GET A TAKEAWAY option when you've left it too late and theres only some old ham and some butter in the fridge)
I prefer to be alone in the kitchen and catch up with Netflix etc while I prep and cook.

I tried Hello Fresh and I absolutely LOVED it. Such delicious meals that I never would have tried otherwise!

A menu plan and a "running" shopping list that everyone can add to when they spot something that needs restocking, helps de-stress housekeeping/shopping.

Also a well stocked store cupboard with ingredients for quick meals and things like long life milk is essential, and supermarket/grocery home deliveries are lifesavers at times!

I always do a weekly meal plan and shop accordingly to save money and reduce the temptation to buy other things. We also have several vegetarian meals a week. I have a magnetic notepad on the fridge for a running list of what we need.

I always make sure I include something my fussy toddler will eat at mealtimes, as well as putting on his plate what the rest of us are eating. I also make sure we have things in stock for emergency puddings when we fancy it (custard, rice pud, ice-cream, sweet pastry cases) and I always visit the discounted fridge section of the supermarket to find things I can freeze - like pizzas.

My DC has hot school meals so I much not have to prepare sandwiches in the evening - best stress buster ever! At the weekends I prep the veg for our evening meal that morning and stick it in the fridge.

Just think of all the things you have in life and are happy for. Go and give your kids a big long hug. Soon puts the world into perspective I find!

It's all about the planning here - I know it's really boring but we make lists, plan the meals for the week and pin the list on the fridge. Means spending 20 minutes or so rummaging through the freezer and making shopping lists but saves time in the long run as we know roughly what we're having.

We menu plan for evening meals and often make more to freeze for another night. On week nights when we have activities we plan for an easier, quicker meal. I also make lunches the night before and actually get the breakfast things out too.

I love my slow cooker. It is so nice to come in from work with the kids and have a hot, home made meal ready to eat. It also means the kids don't get overtired waiting for the food to cook

A meal plan so no worrying about what's for dinner tonight there is always something sorted with all the ingredients in the house. We still decide what we fancy each night just from a list of seven meals!

Batch cooking and using the slow cooker definitely reduce stress around meal times here.

Preparation and planning. I spend a few hours on a Sunday planning, shopping and doing any prep I can do. It's so much easier coming home and knowing what I am going to cook so I can get on with it straight away rather than spending half an hour trying to decide.

Planning is key! So we have a meal plan for the week and the food shopping is done with that in mind. On days we know we'll be home late and/or won't have the time or energy to cook from scratch we'll have something very simple like pizza.

Meal planning and online shopping. Then i do a bit of batch cooking and use the slow cooker a few times during the week.

prepping and meal planning is a must

It's all about planning for us. Plan lunches, plan dinner, shopping lists etc. Very boring but takes away a lot of stress.

We always made a point of eating together so it never became an issue, making sure the kids had a range of different food meant we did not really have fussy eaters.maybe we were just lucky as I did see first hand with friends children how difficult it could be.

My husband and I always share the cooking and have set days. The other person is on hand in case help is needed. We always cook double what we need and freeze the other portions....therefore ensuring that some weeks are easy!