Mumsnet users discuss family mealtime rituals with Uncle Ben's & Dolmio

[AaronMumsnet]

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While some evenings are for a hastily prepared and eaten meal as you taxi your child around to football/ballet/karate, others are for taking the time to share the chopping and stirring, then sit down and enjoy dinner as a family. Family dinners come in all shapes and sizes and can be noisy and often messy affairs - but they’re the perfect opportunity to create family mealtime rituals and spend quality time together.

Uncle Ben’s and Dolmio believe in the power of dinnertime to bring people together:

‘We all know that one of life’s pleasures is to share a meal with family and friends where you can take time to connect with the ones that you love, but in the midweek mayhem it’s not always possible to take time to cook and eat together. We want to hear your stories, what mealtimes in your house are really like, tips and tricks to overcome barriers to a great mid-week dinnertime and the rewards that eating together can bring.’

Did you make your daughter’s first boyfriend sweat over a flaming hot chilli con carne? Is it while your kids help you in the kitchen they have suddenly chosen to open up to you about their feelings, school day, worries or dreams, or did this time together produce a mini Nigella, now boasting cooking skills and flare far beyond what you’ve taught them. Does the dinner table give rise to stage-worthy performances, perhaps an impression of their teacher so legendary that it still leaves you in stitches, even now? Or do you still brag about the famous spaghetti bolognese in which you successfully hid a grand total of four portions of veggies and hit your family’s nutrient quota for the day?

Whatever your meal time wins, and rituals might be, share them below to be entered in to a prize draw to win a £300 voucher of your choice (from a list).

Thanks, and good luck!

MNHQ

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We try to eat as a family most evenings. It's a chance to catch up and discuss our days, the news etc. We share the cooking, setting the table and washing up so it's a team effort.

No rituals anymore! everyone home at different times and all hungry at different times!

We cook a least one dish once a week, altogether as a family and when it is dinner time ,we eat altogether at the table too.

We try to have half of our evening meals as a family together. The kids like to take it in turns to help make some of the dinner - obviously some meals are bette than others for this. We try to have a nice catch up but often it is spent cajoling one of them to eat whatever they are refusing at that particular meal! We have a few family favourites which I like to mix up with new meals which have mixed success.

Not really got any rituals. I make the food and serve it and we all sit down together to eat it.

Who ever lays the table chooses where everyone sits (2 parents and 3 kids so there’s always bickering over who sits next to both parents!!)

No electronics during meal times although we do sometimes read the Week Junior which provokes some discussion on new events from around the world (mostly at lunch times)
Kids choose meals they want to cook on the weekend

Meals where you help yourself seem to make the meal seem more communal and sociable

Our main ritual has always been to eat together as much as possible. Kids eating smaller portions of ‘adult food’ and no kiddy meals. It saves time too.

at the moment they are fairly subdued and peaceful.... I'm sure that won't last!

Midweek I rely on a hot school meal, then it's wraps with varied fillings/snacks/veggie sticks/yoghurts. Any other time I try to cook something healthy yet easy, always tired from work and rushing about as a lone parent, also watching the budget. Love microwave rice or couscous, and pair this with chicken/sausage/fish...then add vegetables such as petit pois, sweetcorn, mixed peppers, red onion and green beans.

Brekkie, Lunch, small snack then dinner!
Dinner is something they choose that we can ALL eat! teamwork in itself x

BREAKFAST IS OUR RITUAL. WE ALL EAT LOTS OF FRUIT, YOGURT ,NUTS AND MUESLI.
I REALLY THINK BREAKFAST IS SO IMPORTANT TO KEEP KIDS HAPPY AND HEALTHY.

Our DC are adults now, but whenever they bring the DGC round to eat, we make it a special occasion, usually a big Sunday dinner with pudding whatever day it is, as none of us seem to have time to make one these days. I have lovely memories of the whole family eating together every Sunday after all but the cook had been out for a beer or two beforehand!

We enjoy food !!!!!!
Very important to keep trying new foods and tastes.
So one ritual is we do a small supermarket shop on Saturday afternoon.
We look for reduced foods especially on the 'deli counters', like meats, pates, cheeses, terrains, so its like a pot-luck.
The backing food would be baked potatoes / crusty bread / pasta ……..
We call this a ''picky meal'', its amazing how the children's tastes have been changed ……….

Enjoy meal times learn table manners and have fun.

mealtimes are a ritual. During the week DH often isn't home in time, so I sit with DC at the table and still insist we do the proper way of eating, telling me about their day, etc etc.

When DH is home we all sit together as a family and eat together. I think it's hugely important for meal times to be an event and cherished and not just rushed on your laps in front of a tv show

DD 18 sets the table
Dinner is served, we all sit together at every evening meal.
DS 16 washes up

DD 18 also has to cook once a week as part of her keep.
I hoped she would be imaginative and look out a recipe to cook and give me a list of ingredients.. but she takes the easy option a cooks what she's told too :(

This is one of the favourite times that I share with the Grandchildren,
We prepare lots of Pizza toppings, grated cheese and mozerella, tomato passata, onions, spicy salami, peppers, sweetcorn, ham etc while granddad makes home-made pizza dough.
the children love rolling it out and choosing their toppings, so much so that they try new tastes more readily and eat all up :)

We try to have midweek meals prepared in advance for easiness, but weekend meals are cooked from scratch unless its good weather for a bbq when we cook and eat outside.

As a child I was brought up to have a clean plate or no pudding.I brought my children up the same way. They'll eat anything on offer. My daughter carried on this tradition and has children who refuse nothing and really enjoy mealtimes round the table. My son's children however are in a very different, more relaxed household that snack throughout the day (often on the sofa) They are very picky about food and are reluctant to try anything new.

We're so busy during the week, I insist that we all sit down and eat our meals together. I used to insist on breakfast, but DS and I leave the house at 7 now so he usually has toast in the car . Now, I make sure there's something ready to throw on for tea, and we have a chat about our day while we eat.

dinner is routinely at 5pm, we all sit at the table, no TV. Although my cheeky DC has started forgetting her manners and also forgets to take her empty plate out, so we're trying to work on that at the moment

We all sit down and have meals together, our little girl eats what we eat, but we don't force her finish her food. She's only 20 months, so she brushes her hands together and says 'all done' then helps us wipe her tray, hands and face

We gather together at dinner and discuss what has been going on that day

We do our own thing for breakfast and lunch depending on what everyone is doing, but the evening meal is sit at the table and chat time.

To send the kids to bed happy on a Friday it's their favourite meal of mac cheese and a low sugar ice lolly.

Kids get to choose a cereal and a toast option for breakfast.

We always sit down round the table in the same places. I sit next to DD2. If DD5 isn't there I sit in her place opposite DD2 which DD2 finds hilarious as 'that's [sister's] seat!'

DD2 likes carrying the plates through from the kitchen.

DD5 has to clear her place of the drawing and crafting she's been doing.