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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sitting down together is so important and a routine is too. we always sit down at 6 oclock and have a home cooked meal together

We do try to sit down as a family in the evenings but I have to say eating together is difficult as my husband can arrive home too late. If my son has a friend round I make the effort to sit with them while they eat even though I might wait to eat with my husband later.
However a Sunday lunch is always a family affair ...with phones off and screens shut it is an enjoyable time where we chat relaxed and unhurried. For a long time it was the only decent meal my son would eat and I believe he stocked up for the week!

It's so difficult to balance mealtimes for everyone and fit in with our lives. We've got kids clubs, work, different ages to contend with so we end up cooking at least twice an evening to make things work. We do though ensure that we all sit down together at least once over the weekend.

my daughter sets the table and pours everyone drinks, my hubby arranges to food on the plates, we talk about our days during our meals, no tech at all at the table

No idea why but we still have fish on fridays - be it fish fingers, a takeaway, grilled fish - any kind but always fish!

we talk about our day/ week

We always ensure we're all sitting together at the table for dinner. The TV is off and all phones, tablets etc. put away. It's the only time we can have a real conversation as a family with no distractions and I love it.

My kids cook us a meal on Saturdays, they used to every Saturday but it's getting less often now.

Having a dining table in the kitchen enables the kids to sit and do there homework/wait for food. This is the best time to start up a conversation and an o chance to get everyone to wait for me to get home from work so we can all eat together

Weekdays - eat at the dinner table. Weekends - eat in front of the TV.

We all eat together apart from Friday when there's too many activities to logistically manage it.
We do a batch cook o Sunday with everyone helping out so we know there's always a tasty dinner in the fridge freezer no matter how short of time we are

We always make sure we have our evening meal together so we can catch up on day and have some family time

As much as my entire family would like to do it we cannot share a meal together unless we set ourselves for it because work, school, errands, appointments, etc etc prevents us from doing so.
As a rule a meal together is on a Sunday but even that sometimes, not always but sometimes is not possible.

Alot of time is spent preparing food, quality and presentation are important and things that can be lingered over! Meal times are quality time, no phones allowed!

Make food, feel proud, give to kids, kids say YEUCCH, beg them to eat it, sob, cry, beg some more

When I was a child my dad would never let us talk at the table - it was such a shame and I always hated the silence - I encourage talking when we eat (but obviously not with a mouthful!) and finding out about each other's day as I think it is very important to spend the time together.

there's no routine at the moment as my Husband, daughter and I all eat completely different food....but I hope in future to make sure we all sit down to eat together like I did with my family when I was a child

We like big bowls of serve yourself in the middle of the table... lots of nibbly bits!

Sit down together for dinner.

We sit down together to eat and the main rule is no electronics at all, including phones, we then chat about our day... :)

Family meals are always sat around the table all together. It’s a great time to discuss our days and find out what Olivia has been doing at school, she loves telling us about it as she loves school and learning and is doing so well in her first year, we’re really proud of her

We have that many after school activities that 3 times a week everyone eats at different times. However, I try twice a week to all eat as a family and we all sit together and go round the table telling each other any news! The kids love it and ask each individual what their news is.. 😁

We always sit down together at the table for dinner and the children help lay the table and clear up afterwards

The only consistent ritual we have is sitting down as a family to the evening meal. We then start of by talking about what's happened to everyone that day.

The only ritual we have is that I cook whilst trying to entertain the toddler!
My OH 'doesn't cook' and works late so I try and juggle cooking and entertaining so we don't eat too late