Share your tips and tricks for harmonious family meals - £200 voucher to be won

[EllieSmumsnet]

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We all know how busy family life can get, so mealtimes can be a great way to come together, bond as a family and share great food, but it isn’t always easy; picky-eaters, wasted food and a lack of time to think of and prepare healthy meals that the whole family will enjoy. How often does your family eat together? What are your best tips and tricks for happy, healthy family meals and empty plates?

• Share your tips and tricks below for happy and harmonious meal times
• One lucky MNer will win a £200 voucher for a store of their choice.

Here’s what Veg Power has to say:

“Half of mums tell us that they struggle to get their kids to eat more vegetables, with many admitting that they have given up trying. Our mission at Veg Power is to get kids excited about vegetables and to help parents and carers serve up those vegetables with confidence. Families enjoying positive meal times together is an essential part of that and sadly in many homes that's a challenge. Although we're supported by an amazing panel of nutritionists, psychologist and chefs we find that the best ideas often come from parents. We'd love to hear your views.”

Love the airfrying idea, I am going to try that -maybe with some veg dips.

I think that blitzing vegetables is definitely a good way of them being eaten easily. Also preparing something like a dip that you know that your children enjoy and putting veggies with it to encourage them to be eaten with something that they enjoy.

We eat together every night as a family, we always have and now they are teens it’s even more important to have that time together.
it’s not always easy to get them to eat healthy, but I always have a plate of crudités on hand so if they really don’t like the meal and pick at it, then can fill up on raw veggies instead.
I don’t make a big deal over them not eating, I want them to remember meal times as a happy occasion and I’ve found kids tend to eat more when laughing and talking rather than forcing them to eat in silence.

I find that if I get dc involved in helping make dinner or I give them a choice of what they'd like to eat then dinner times seem to run a lot smoother

I find my kids eat more and try new things if I put the food in serving dishes in the middle of the table and let everyone help themselves.

Also agree that getting them involved in buying and preparing food also helps.

The best thing I have done is learn to serve dinners "family style" and allow the children to serve themselves from shared dishes at the table. It has cut out so many arguments as they can please themselves with portion sizes

Bide your time. Offer them time and time again and kids will eventually eat what you eat.

I tended to serve the dc a version of what we were having - ie curry with yoghurt added to theirs or chilli with extra spice for us and more plain for them.

The worst thing you can do is serve them beige food like chicken nuggets and then complain that's all they will eat!

Blended soup is a great way to get veg in, mine like it with cubes of cheese and lots of bread and butter.

Now at 11 and 14 they eat most things that we do - Altho the 14yo still doesn't like chewy things like steak. So he gets slow cooked beef.

Eating altogether with no tech part of the meal is the first thing, so you all can focus on family time, which includes better appetites in my experience.

I will hide certain veg in mash or sweet potato, for example. I also involve them in the choices and don't put too much out.

For example, my granddaughter loves crunchy veg and fruit. Soft fruit and veg don't work for her. She loves carrots, cauliflower, and brocoli, so I stick around them. My grandson loves all veg and some salad.

I don't make them into smoothies. I just put a small quantity out retrying certain veg every few weeks or so

There are other ways to get fruit into them, through drained tinned fruit and ice cream.

Stop stressing about it. I know it's easier said than done. Think of other ways and make it fun.

Let them choose veg in the supermarket is an example. Chop up salad small in a bowl and put a little in a sandwich with mayonnaise is another way.

The more you stress, the more your children will pick it up and be more difficult

Mind games 😂 the trick in our house in presentation: setting out various elements of the dinner in a 'help yourselves' kind of way instead of 'here is your plate of food- clear it.' I think there's something in allowing children to think they are choosing for themselves what they are having, even though you've chosen what's on offer.
Also ties in with 'make your own pizza', 'make your own wrap filling', 'make your fajitas'. They like it and because they've made it themselves they are more likely to eat it.

Mealtimes have become more peaceful in our home after building the weekly menu together - that way, we don't have eye-rolling & groans when I respond to the frequently asked 'What's for dinner?' question!
We agree on 7 different meals for the week - son helps prepare 2 of these (more in school holidays) - establishing cooking skills, giving him more independence & teaching him that food can be fun! He definitely enjoys meals more when he has been actively involved in creating them. He does often say his versions are nicer than mine now though.. so it's me doing the eye-rolling!

Now my kids are old enough, I get them involved with cooking when I can. They're much more likely to eat it if they helped make it.

I use the help yourself for meals, with a the meal I have prepared, either a casserole, or 'meat and 2 veg' type meal. They feel more grown up and in control, and eat more, and sometimes seconds. Putting them in control has much better results.

My tips would be to plan the weekly menu with your DC's, they choose what they want, (from what they know I will accept - so silly suggestions) and we choose whether to boil, bake or airfry the vegetables and if they want any seasonings. I have a whiteboard with a menu in the kitchen - sometimes we have Spag Bol twice a week - but easier for me (plus I can get more hidden veggies in) Seems to work and helps with my weekly shop.

Meals used to be really stressful witha really limited palate of acceptsble foods until i realised how happy she became thinking she had one over on us. I put a plate of raw veg sticks on the table an hour before dinner, and say....those will be a nice snack for daddy later. The child couldn't eat them fast enough if she thought they were only for someone else.

Sometimes I announced its a new recipe, too delicious for children, put it on the table with a bit close to the edge of the plate so the child can take it, giggling away at how they've outfoxed you.

Things are much better now, bowls of things to help yourself to work better I think than a portion served up.

I put grated carrot in meatballs. And chocolate cake with courgettes.

With a child who will only eat a limited range of food, I focus on managing anxiety by presenting safe foods, while trying to make sure there is something from every food group.

I agree with other MNetters, create a menu together, and at the weekend we choose and they try foods made up of things we feel they would enjoy and mostly they will. The airfryer is your friend as are herbs to alter the flavour of carrots, parsnips and roast potatoes, I feel negotiation is a good way of trying the keep the dinner table. I think if you let them have all the power at meal times you are doing no favour for when they start school and have to eat school dinners - which on the whole are nutritious and necessary.

We try and eat breakfast and dinner together most days unless someone is out at a club/class. Picky tea works best for encouraging trying new things. Have one child who thinks a salad bar is the most amazing thing in earth and another for whom beige is life. She even notices if stuff is snuck in!! But she's getting better with raw veg. Perseverance and trying to act nonchalant seems to be the key.

I think I picked this tip up on here years ago. Give them a ramakin of raw veg either as a starter or on the side their meal ( raw carrots, cherry toms cucumber)- very likely to get eaten. Also as my DM would say " you don't have to eat up, you do have to shut up"- No moaning at the table they have sit there with their food in front of them and make conversation neither they or us comment on how much food is being consumed ( usually all of it goes).

We had reached a point where only the same 3 veg and 2 fruit were being accepted, every single day.
The biggest change we made was to put dinner on the table and serve ourselves. Yes, at first it was just meat and potatoes being selected by DS but within a week he was adding in the veg he already liked, and now he will also add salad (which he previously hated).

I also find that having him eat dinner with his friends, either here or at theirs, is a good way to expand the diet as they are more likely to eat something that someone else has served up, or eat veg that their mate likes.

I do add extra veg to things but I only hide it once: after the first time I will say what was in the sauce/curry/pie etc, because if I keep hiding it then it's not going to help long term: by telling him something he likes contains something he thought he hated, he's gradually starting to accept those 'hated' veg in other, more obvious ways. Eg, I made a chicken pie with cauliflower mashed into the creamy sauce. Once I'd revealed that, I was 'allowed' to make cauliflower buffalo nuggets!

I opted for fun cutlery and a pick plate, it really helped the smaller middle had smaller amounts of diced carrot and brocolli to try - with no pressure to eat if all, but lots of encouragement to try. We have a charator plate now.

Make sure veg tastes nice; is cooked well and seasoned-add a knob of real butter or garlic/chilli oil

Become a bad cook who can’t get timings right: serve the veg up first whilst they’re starving and they’ll tuck in whilst waiting for the meat/potatoes/pasta!

We make a list when shopping to see what they will want for dinner the following week, and always have dinner at 5:30 every night. No tv in the room. Because we have agreed what we want to eat it tends to work well, and on Friday I will pick, and make a lasagne or cottage pie, where they can take a portion from the casserole dish, and I make a selection of vegetables and they can take as much or as little as they want. I think if you have time, bring them into the food prep, chopping peppers, and carrots and squirting the tomato puree into the bolognaise mix.

Get children involved in the prep and planning of food. This involves them. Likewise getting them involved in growing food. Looking through cook books for ideas and giving family members some decision making over what dish to cook on a day can be good. As teens we were responsible for cooking on a Friday night. It was only simple but fun.

The old fashioned approach.

If you don't eat your food or at least try some then you don't get your pudding.