Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We sit down to a nice meal 6 nights a week. We prioritize it, because it's important to DH and me - napkins, silverware, kids have manners.

With teens how are you all there at the same time this much?

Not this poster but my teen only had one after school activity once a month or so. We ate dinner together 95% of the time.

But it’s rarely made from scratch. Last night was a frozen lasagne. This past week we’ve had breakfast for dinner, soup and sandwiches, spaghetti etc. If we have a long weekend like this one I will make a meal from scratch.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We sit down to a nice meal 6 nights a week. We prioritize it, because it's important to DH and me - napkins, silverware, kids have manners.

With teens how are you all there at the same time this much?

Not this poster but my teen only had one after school activity once a month or so. We ate dinner together 95% of the time.

Anonymous wrote:What are nice meals?

To me it's everyone sitting together and having a meal I made at least partly from scratch.

what do you mean by "nice"? what an odd term. I am a successful T3 lawyer. If I have to cook, which isn't often because it wastes my time, I do not cook a "nice" meal. I cook a meal to get it done with.

Anonymous wrote:We sit down to a nice meal 6 nights a week. We prioritize it, because it's important to DH and me - napkins, silverware, kids have manners.

So your kids have no activities after about 6 PM? Parents have no PTA or board meetings, exercise classes, book clubs, etc? Everyone is home for dinner every night?

We sit down together if we can get everyone home at the same time at some point, but it doesn’t always happen. If a full family dinner can’t happen, we try to have each kid sit and eat at the table with at least one parent, if at all possible.

Never because I can barely cook. DH cooks nice meals about 4 times a week.

No matter if they’re eaten earlier or later, or with one family member at the table or everyone, I still try to make “nice” meals every day. They may not be fancy on busy days, just a soup on the stove, or a hefty salad that sits in the fridge for everyone to help themselves.

I consult the family and the calendar, make a plan for the week and shop for the ingredients over the weekend. Then whoever has the lighter schedule on a given day does the cooking.

I try to keep all that in mind as I plan, especially everyone’s cooking strengths and individual schedules. So if I have to be somewhere on Tuesday, we’ll have something DH enjoys cooking. If everyone is busy, it will be something that can be prepped the night before, or a crockpot meal.

What are nice meals?

Never ever. DH is the cook. If left to my own devices I eat crap. Tonight I'm on my own and am having cookies, rum, and coke - and some almonds.

My tweens have manners. They also have sports practice 3x week in the evenings (differing nights) plus traveling weekends for tournaments. We do the best we can. Some weeks I meal prep, other weeks there is too much take out or easy meals (like quesadillas). But it is more than not we are eating on the fly, including in the car. It is what it is. They are happy and busy. It’s a season of life.

Anonymous wrote:We sit down to a nice meal 6 nights a week. We prioritize it, because it's important to DH and me - napkins, silverware, kids have manners.

With teens how are you all there at the same time this much?

4-5 days/week. Other nights are usually: homemade pizza with a movie, delivery or takeout/pickup, and leftovers

I cook nice meals about 4 times a week with all the practices, activities, etc.

We sit down to a nice meal 6 nights a week. We prioritize it, because it's important to DH and me - napkins, silverware, kids have manners.

I used to cook pretty nice meals 5-7 days a week. Now kids are in and out with sports, games, work, and I find I am always frazzled to cook unless I prepped during the day. I wah so can some days, but not always. So sometimes we eat really fast meals. Today ds just scarfed down tortellini between practice and going to work, and dd and dh aren't home yet.