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

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

I'm very particular about everyone sitting together at the table with no phones. Everyone also has to stay at the table until the last person has finished. It's great to have a chat about our days. Everyone apart from the person that cooked then helps clean up straight away. We also have a cooked dinner once a week . Not necessarily on a Sunday. But on Friday nights we have a movie night and everyone is allowed to eat in front of the TV. Xx

we love to have a breakfast meeting in the mornings talk about what the day may bring what we hope to get out of the day. We even get the posh t-pots , cups, saucers and tablecloth. It's a simple pleasure and a nice way to start the day.

The only real ritual we have is eating every meal at the table and together.

My mealtime rituals vary day to day. On a nice sunny evening we will sit in the garden together and eat but a general day the kids will want different food to myself and my OH so in that case they get their dinner as soon as they are back from school and my and my OH will have ours around 6.30pm.

due to work and nusery commitments we struggle to eat together so sunday tea time is always sit down together and eat

Each child has their own item to lay the table with, even the 4 year old helps, his is currently napkins!

I like to batch cook and freeze meals so I've always got food ready for my 1 and 4 year old. They eat earlier than me and my husband but we will hopefully all eat together and have family meals once they get little older

We always try to sit down together and no phones / devices at the table

Quick-fix meals have their place but it's nice to go all out, allow yourself plenty of time and create a monumental dinner. Whether it's making pizza from scratch or cooking up a big pasta dish with plenty of herbs and seasonings. My boyfriend, when the mood takes him, serves up a wonderful risotto. You don't want to see the state of the kitchen afterwards but it's so delicious that the aftermath is worth it!

No real rituals set in place yet apart from always sitting in the same place. I tried sitting in DS's place once and I won't be making that mistake again. Oh and we have to sit together until everyone has finished, no wandering off allowed. Oh and Friday is always chicken and chips as I'm too tired to be inventive .

Congratulations to BrieAndChilli for winning the £300 voucher

My favourite dinner party moment was cooking for friends (we'd over invited and ended up with 14 dinner guests!) and getting quite stressed during the day.

I normally manage the cooking but hubby (then bf) helped out to relieve the stress and announced that he had dessert in hand - his "famous" coffee choco mousse pot. Which is delicious! Super rich and sweet, but also slightly bitter. Filling so you only need a small amount. Job done.

Dinner went well and then dessert was wheeled out - in lovely glasses (from ikea) originally intended as schnapps glasses, I think.
Only problem was, the mousse was more of a block. Nothing would shift it. A dozen bent teaspoons later, we resorted to a bag of chocolate buttons from the cupboard. Split between the group.

It took about a week to melt the chocolate and clean the glasses.
#Neveragain #untilnexttime ;)