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Time is a precious commodity nowadays. Our schedules aren’t getting any less crammed, anytime soon, and many times one of the things that gets bumped to the bottom of the priority list is the family meal.

In my recent US News “Eat + Run” blog I talked about the importance of family mealtime, and the many benefits that result from more meals eaten together. Benefits like improved grades in school, healthier eating patterns and greater emotional well-being have all been reported. Who wouldn’t want those things, right?

If you’re looking to make family meals a priority in your home, here are a few of my ideas to help make the “revival” a little easier:

1. Talk to your “significant other.” This means talking to whoever else shares in the decision-making and must agree that this is an important and necessary change. Decide together that you want to make family meals a priority.

2. Come up with a realistic plan. How often can you sit down together? And how can the family divide responsibility between planning, shopping, prep and clean up? This should not all fall on mom’s to-do list.

3. Make “the food” the easy part. There are plenty of ways to get quick, healthy meals on the table. Not everything has to be made from scratch, so don’t feel like you need to chain yourself to your stove all day if you simply don’t have that kind of time. Here a few fast meal tips and ideas that you can try:

• Keep your “tried and true” recipes on hand, along with the necessary ingredients. That way you’ve always got a reliable, easy recipe that you’re confident about at your fingertips.
• Boil some pasta and serve it with jarred marinara and a bagged salad. You can even add fresh or frozen veggies to your jarred sauce to jazz it up a little.
• Heat frozen, pre-seasoned fish or frozen pre-cooked shrimp and serve with steamed frozen veggies.
• Order your favorite take-out, but make it “half-plate healthy” by adding a bagged salad or veggies that are fresh, frozen or canned.

For more ideas, and to read the full article, click here.

What changes have you made to your family dynamic?

What other things have you done to try and improve the quality of your family togetherness time? Leave a comment below to share your stories and ideas.

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