Quality Family Dinner Ten Minutes at a Time….

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There is SO much more that goes into cultivating quality Family Dinner Time than simply chopping vegetables and popping things into the oven.

The health benefits that come from eating dinner together are real, but so is the stress of coordinating it all if you don’t know all the secrets.

Fear Dinner Stress No More!

Here’s how to make your Family Dinner Time much more successful:

Dinner Secret #1:

Meal planning. It’s invaluable. Period.

Nothing will help you more than taking ten minutes to plan out the meals for the week.

We have family council every Sunday and everyone gets to give input on what they want to eat for the week.

We let every child choose one meal but retain the power to veto their choice.

Otherwise we would have hot dogs and spaghetti.

Every. Single. Week.

YIKES.

Sometimes we have to give them suggestions but letting them choose a dinner gives them a voice and they LOVE it!

Bonus Tip: We like to rotate through types of dinners (Mexican, Italian, Asian, meat/potatoes/veggies, breakfast food, casserole, pizza variations) to keep it interesting. 

Dinner Secret #2: Once you have a list of dinners that everyone can be happy with, assign the easy dinners to your busiest days that week and choose crock pot or make-ahead dinners for days you will be getting home extra late.

I usually like to have one or two complete dinner backups for the inevitable failures that will come.

(Something came up at the last minute, you are missing a key ingredient, you are way more tired than you thought you would be)

Dinner Secret #3 Now that you have planned out seven dinners and one or two backup dinners, it is time to make your grocery list on Walmart Grocery.

Once you learn how to navigate Walmart Grocery, you can whip out a grocery list for the entire week in less than ten minutes.

Then all you have to do is drive to the store, pull into the designated stall, and they will load the groceries for you.

For FREE!!

If you need to save even more time, some Walmart locations will deliver them to your home for a small fee.

As a bonus to our readers, all first time Walmart Grocery customers can get $10 off your first order!

Simply click on any of the links in this post. 

Using Walmart Grocery has changed my life dramatically.

Seriously, if you still get in your car, drive to the store, unbuckle your kids, drag them all in as you shop, stand in a long line to checkout, then haul everything and everyone back out to the car an hour or two later, then please consider checking out Walmart Grocery.

A whole new world awaits you there. Ü

Dinner Secret #4: The earlier you have dinner on the table the earlier you can clean up and get through everything else in your evening.

We used to eat around 6:30 but that was not working.

This school year we change dinnertime to 4:30 or 5:00 and I can’t believe how much more I can get done!

My kids move faster with their responsibilities and are much happier because they are not hungry.

I offer a healthy bedtime snack closer to their bedtime if they are hungry but so far I LOVE the earlier dinner time!!

Dinner Secret #5: The more the kids help with dinner preparation, the more likely they are to eat it and encourage each other to eat it!

If it’s just me against all six of them trying to get them to eat something new, I have already lost.

If I involve all of them with dinner preparations they are happier about the new food 100% of the time.

Have your kids help you prepare dinner and then help you sell it to the picky eaters!

Bonus Tip: Kids can help with dinner preparations beginning at any age, and the older they get the more skills they are capable of learning.

For example, I recently taught my nine year old how to scramble eggs.

Now every time our meal calls for scrambled eggs, he has the opportunity to practice his new skill. 

Children Want To Contribute to your Family Dinner Time!

The whole family benefits from a calm, orderly meal where each person gets to share in the creation and enjoyment.

If Walmart Grocery Pickup is not part of your Family Dinner Time Routine yet, hop on over to check it out!

It is free and very easy to use.

Choose a pickup time and what groceries you need and voila!

They will be there waiting for you!

I can’t even remember what my life was like before I discovered Walmart Grocery Pickup.

But I can tell you this for certain: the quality of our Family Dinner Time has dramatically improved as we have implemented all of these strategies.

Give Walmart Grocery Pickup a try today and let us know how you like it!