It’s no secret that it can be a big challenge to cook for a large family and keep everyone happy. No matter how hard you work, it will always feel like someone isn’t enjoying the meal you put in front of them. Of course, while this may not be the biggest family issue you face, being able to create meals that leave smiles on everyone’s faces is a great way to make this time more exciting. To help you out with this, this article will be exploring some of the best ways to make sure that mealtimes are something the whole family can enjoy with each other.
Giving Everyone A Choice
Giving people a choice of what they want to eat can be an excellent way to make mealtimes better for everyone. This has to be a diplomatic process when you have a large family, with each member of the group getting the chance to choose the food you eat together in a cycle. While this means that you and your kids may have to eat the occasional meal you don’t enjoy as much, this will be balanced by the meals that you get to choose. This approach is ideal when you have fussy eaters in the family, giving you the chance to escape the need to make different meals for each person.
Getting Everyone Involved
Alongside giving people choices, getting your family involved with the cooking process can also help with all of this. People will be more inclined to try foods that they wouldn’t usually enjoy when they have the chance to get involved with cooking them. Not only will they know what has gone into the meals they eat, but they will also have the chance to remove ingredients that they don’t enjoy. While this may make meals take more effort to make, this will be well worth it to make sure that everyone is having the chance to enjoy the food you eat together.
Trying New Foods
Trying new foods is one of the best ways to make mealtimes more exciting. Many people assume that this will be a challenge, but there are countless dishes and meal options found around the world that can be ideal for those who want to embark on new culinary journeys. This can be a little bit difficult when you are living with fussy eaters, and it will be worth looking for recipes that reflect the foods that they usually like. As a parent, though, you will usually have a good idea of what your little ones like and don’t like, and this will make it easy for you to push them to try new things.
Tailoring Difficult Meals
There will always be meals that some people love and some people hate, but it can be hard to balance these out when you want to make everyone happy. Tailoring your difficult meals to each member of your family can be a good way to overcome this. For example, if one person doesn’t like spaghetti bolognese but everyone else loves it, you could look for ways to spice this meal up and remove the elements that aren’t liked. Removing ingredients like onions and meat can be a good way to achieve this goal, giving you the chance to create your own versions of meals that everyone can enjoy.
The Cherry On Top
Most parents will be well aware that it can be easy to convince a child to eat a meal that they don’t enjoy when they have something to sweeten the pot. Having a great dessert lined up can be the perfect way to help your family members along with their meals. This slutty brownie recipe is a great example of this, giving you the chance to make a dessert that will make just about anyone’s mouth water. You can find loads of recipes like this across the web, giving you access to a host of unique and interesting meal options that are sure to keep your loved ones happy when it comes to mealtime.
As you can see, dealing with family meals doesn’t have to be as difficult as you think. Having a large family has always made cooking challenging, though there are loads of ways to overcome this without having to make a different meal for everyone. This will only get easier as time goes by and you’re able to create more unique and interesting meal options for the people you care about.
