It's "Frantic Friday" at the Maclise house, because there are only 45 minutes from the time both parents arrive home from work until their two boys need to leave for hockey games. Getting supper on the table seems almost impossible, and fast food is starting to look like an appealing option. "Some days it can be a real challenge to sit down at the dinner table and eat a healthy meal together," admits Natalie Maclise, a registered nurse.
"Even though we know it's important, it can be difficult to find the time and energy to make it happen." With the hustle and bustle of today's busy world, many Alberta families struggle to eat healthy meals together and the Maclise family is not unusual.
The good news is there are ways to make healthy eating easier and get your family back around the dinner table. Incorporating more nutritious meals into your daily life can be faster and simpler than you might have imagined. And besides the obvious health benefits, there are other long-lasting advantages. Recent research has indicated that the simple act of dining together with your children provides opportunities to discuss important topics and makes kids less likely to use drugs and alcohol. Other benefits include better grades in school and lower rates of obesity.
Any meal eaten together can have a positive impact on the family involved, but supper tends to be the best choice, because it comes at the end of the day when it is easier to unwind and communicate. "Enjoying dinner together is a way to strengthen the family and improve overall health and nutrition," says Robin Anderson, a registered dietitian at the University of Alberta Hospital. "In my experience, families that eat meals at home generally enjoy a healthier diet and have fewer weight problems."
Whether you are a single parent, are two working parents or simply have a family schedule filled with sports, piano lessons or other extracurricular activities, finding the time to enjoy a healthy meal together should be a priority. Here are some simple strategies to help make it happen.
Plan Ahead
Anyone who has ever stared hopelessly into their refrigerator trying to decide what to make for dinner knows that planning ahead helps reduce the stress associated with getting dinner on the table and improves nutrition and variety in the diet. "Meal planning is really about uncluttering the mind, reducing stress and saving time," says Sandi Richard, author of Cooking for the Rushed: The Healthy Family and host of Canadian Food Television's Fixing Supper. "Five minutes spent meal planning can save you hours of wasted time later."
When planning your weekly menu, be sure to include the entire family in the process, taking into account special dietary concerns, your budget, seasonally available foods and individual likes and dislikes. Variety is the key to good nutrition and it is important to plan menus that include items from each of the four major food groups in Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating. Choose foods and recipes your family likes and knows how to easily prepare and then gradually add new recipes to increase the number of choices in your menu.
Planning your meals ahead of time not only helps you make more nutritious food choices, it can help reduce your food bill when you take advantage of sales and coupon specials, use up leftovers, and reduce the number of times you eat out. Another added benefit is the time and money saved when you decrease the number of visits you make to the supermarket.
Make it a Team Effort
Whether you are a family of two or a family of six people, it is important to involve everyone in meal planning and preparation. Even very young children can help plan meals, set the table and prepare simple items like salads. "We're finding that some young people aren't even sure how to recognize a balanced meal let alone prepare one. This can be a real problem when they get out on their own," says Capital Health dietitian Robin Anderson. "By involving children in meal planning and preparation, you are helping them develop important life skills."
In addition to teaching valuable skills, involving children in meal preparation can help to take some of the stress off parents. A teenaged child is quite capable of putting a prepared casserole into the oven, making a salad and setting the table so that dinner is almost ready when his parents arrive home from work. On busy nights when children have sports or other commitments, it can be especially helpful for them to get a head start on the family dinner.
Think Collectively
Collective kitchens are small groups of people who get together on a regular basis to plan and cook meals. Members share ideas and recipes and learn to improve their basic cooking skills while preparing meals that can be frozen and used at home later. "Joining a collective kitchen group is a good way to learn cooking skills, save time and money and enjoy nutritious homecooked meals. It's also a good way to get out and meet other people in your community," says Diane Thursby, Capital Health's collective kitchen consultant. Thursby explains that most collective kitchens operate in community centres, churches and schools. In Edmonton alone, there are more than 50 collective kitchens in operation and most charge only $2 per person to cover the costs of the food. If there is no collective kitchen near you, consider starting up your own cooking club with a group of friends.
Take it Slow
Crock pots and slow cookers are convenient appliances, especially for busy families. Just put your ingredients into the slow cooker in the morning and you can enjoy a delicious homecooked meal at suppertime.
In addition to being convenient and timesaving, the process of slow cooking allows fl avours to blend and spices to meld. It also has the ability to tenderize less expensive cuts of meat, holds in moisture and vitamins, and decreases the number of pots you have to clean at the end of the meal.
Slow cooking is a safe process, but requires a few safety precautions to ensure that food is cooked at a safe temperature. Slow cookers should never be used to thaw or reheat food and should not be used to cook large roasts or whole chickens. If you are not sure if your slow cooker iis heating up properly, you can test it by filling it two-thirds full with water and measuring the temperature with a thermometer after two hours and again after eight hours. The water temperature should be at least 165°F (75°C) after two hours and at least 185°F (85°C) after eight hours on the
low setting.
Hire a Little Help
For some families who are simply too busy to prepare home-cooked meals, a personal chef can be a real lifesaver. "Many people have the misconception that employing a personal chef is costly, but it is actually quite reasonable," says Gwen Hiebert, personal chef and manager of Home for Dinner, a personal chef service in Edmonton.
"Personal chefs can tailor meals to the wants and needs of the family, making it easy to accommodate special diets with vegetarian, dairy free, heart smart, diabetic, or caloriereduced menus. It is a convenient way to ensure a healthy diet and lifestyle and a good option for busy people who want to enjoy home-cooked meals around their own dinner table."
While the cost for a personal chef can vary, it starts at about $350 for 10 meals for two people. For larger families, add $65 for each additional person. The personal chef supplies all the ingredients and equipment, prepares, cooks and save time and packages the meals in your own home, then either refrigerates or freezes your meals and leaves you with complete thawing and heating instructions. When hiring a personal chef, be sure to check references and look for a personal chef who is a member of the Canadian Personal Chef Association.
Make and Freeze
Spending one weekend each month cooking meals and then freezing them in meal-size portions is one way to ensure you can make a healthy food choice when you need a readymade meal. A big batch of healthy soup, stew, or lasagna can be a real time-saver and is more nutritious and less costly than a ready-made frozen dinner.
When cooking in big batches, it's a good idea to prepare two or three different dishes that have some common ingredients to economize your time. For example, you may use ground beef for lasagna, hamburger soup, spaghetti sauce or an enchilada casserole. Always buy the freshest, highest quality ingredients possible. Make sure to cool the dishes completely before freezing. Label containers with the preparation date and the name of the entree and organize your freezer so that you eat the meals in the approximate date order they were prepared. Always defrost your frozen meal in the refrigerator or microwave. Never leave a frozen meal on the counter at room temperature to thaw.
Eat Out the Smart Way
Even with great menu planning skills, makeahead meals and other strategies at your disposal, it is likely you will end up dining at restaurants on occasion. Unfortunately, most restaurant meals tend to have more fat, salt, sugar and larger portion sizes than home-cooked meals, but you can still eat right by choosing healthy menu options. By supplementing a hamburger with salad and milk instead of French Fries and pop, for example, you can decrease the fat and calories and increase the nutrients in your meal. It's a good idea to dine together inside the restaurant or take the food home and eat it together around your own table rather than eating it in your vehicle.
Dinners in a Dash
For those nights when you didn't plan ahead and you have no idea what to fi x for supper, it's a good idea to have ingredients and recipes on hand that can be prepared in 30 minutes or less. Paste a list of your favourite 30-minute recipes on the inside of your cupboard door and try to keep ingredients in your fridge or freezer for quick and simple meals. Some basic ingredients to keep on hand might include frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts, fresh or frozen stir-fry vegetables, rice, onions and lettuce.
Ready-to-use ingredients can also be a real lifesaver when you are in a time crunch. Pre-cut vegetables, packaged grated cheese, washed and bagged salads, brown-and-serve buns and diced chicken are just some of the ready-to-use ingredients that can be combined to make a quick and nutritious meal. With the right techniques, cooking healthy meals for your family no longer has to be a chore.
Helpful resources:
- Cooking for the Rushed: The Healthy Family by Alberta author Sandi Richard (http://www.cookingfortherushed.com/)
- Slow Cooker Recipes and Slow Cooker Dinners by Company's Coming, an Edmonton-based company founded by Jean Paré (http://www.companyscoming.com/)
- Great Food Fast by Bev Callaghan and Lynn Roblin, published by Robert Rose/Dietitians of Canada
- To find out more about personal chefs or to find a personal chef in your area, visit the Canadian Personal Chef Association website at http://www.cdnpca.com/ or http://www.cook4me.com/
- The Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association offers an online nutrition calculator to help you calculate the calories and nutrients found in the food served at many of the major restaurant chains in Canada. (www.crfa.ca/foodandfitnessfacts/consumerinfo).
- Debbie Olsen
Your Health Magazine - March/April 2006 Issue
Disclaimer
Reviewed by Alberta clinical experts. Brought to you by HealthLink Alberta. Copyright.
This material is designed for information purposes only. It should not be used in place of medical advice, instruction and/or treatment. For more health advice call Capital Health Link at 780-408-LINK (5465) 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In Alberta, call Toll-free: 1-866-408-LINK (5465)
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