Quite simply, cooking for your children every night of the week will not encourage them to make meals themselves. It’s important to teach your children a number of culinary skills when they reach a certain age. This will ensure that they can fend for themselves later in life or when you have to work late.
Easy-to-prepare meals
Cooking doesn’t have to involve a stint worthy of a place on Master Chef and there are various easy-to-prepare, tasty meals available. It’s wise to start small and work your way up. If you’re a busy working mum, it’s important to stock the freezer up with a number of simple meals – such meals can be popped in the oven or microwave and will still create a healthy and hearty dish in a short space of time.
Family time
As well as ensuring the fridge is stocked with goodies for those times when you’re unable to make it home for dinner, it’s also important to ensure you sit down to a family meal at least a few times each and every week. Sitting down and connecting with your loved ones, especially your children, is vital. This is a time when computers, tablets and mobile phones should be switched off.
This is a great way to learn the ins and outs of what’s going on in every one’s life. From school reviews and pupil events to work promotions and discussions on the next family holiday, if you don’t make time for your family, you’ll quickly find that you are missing out on the best part of the day.
Picking one day of the week where all your nearest and dearest gather together is a great idea to find a convenient time to sit down and spend time together. Sunday is often a good day to choose as most spend this day relaxing and unwinding prior to going back to school or work.
If you wish to create a simple yet tasty meal (for the likes of siblings, children, aunts and uncles) you may wish to consider the many offerings from McCain. They have a great range of products including classic roast potatoes – perfect if you decide to go all-out and whip up a Sunday roast.
Help is at hand
If you shy away from the idea of preparing a large family meal alone, it’s important to know that there is help at hand. This is a great occasion to invest in the assistance of your children.
Giving each individual a different dish to prepare – from checking on the roast potatoes to making the batter for the Yorkshire puddings – is a great way to lighten your load. Contrary to popular belief, it’s actually a relatively easy task to get the kids to help you when it comes to cooking and this will increase the opportunity for family bonding too.
