What's the easiest dinner when your kids are crazy?
You know the day. It 6:30pm, the kids are going totally crazy and bouncing off the walls, and you have to get something on the dinner table for everyone to eat.
What's your favorite solution?
- Let's go out!
- Call the Pizza guy!
- Stay home and whip something up (Mac & Cheese, Spaghetti, Pancakes, etc.)
4 Answers
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Over the Summer we grew to love the Living Room picnic. I'd spread a sheet on the floor and put on one big plate - sliced baguette, cheese, grapes and other favorite fruit sliced and ready to eat, salami, anything your family likes that doesn't need to be cooked. This is also a great opportunity to try something new. My kids discovered they like different kinds of cheese this way.
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My kids have both grown to hate pizza (they don't like the sauce, and Sammy prefers cold food). Going out is expensive and if they're already hungry it would take too long. If it's me home alone with the kids, I usually give them something quick as a snack (such as crackers or grapes) while I give them simple foods that they like. They love the pre-cooked meatballs from Adell's (we buy them from the Mt. View farmer's market or at Costco). Sammy likes cheese sticks. Some quick pasta with butter (both kids are underweight so we try to add butter when we can) and either broccoli or cauliflour or green beans or corn when it's in season.
Sometimes we do "breakfast for dinner" -- yogurt, cereal, fruit cups, eggs. They find that hilarious and it engages them enough to eat.
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Scrambled eggs. Cubed tofu sauteed in olive oil with salt. Pancakes. Meatballs from Ikea. Quesadillas. Canned green beans. Sliced seasonal fruit.
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We live very near a small park/playground that has some picnic tables. On more than one occasion, we've gone there on a warm summer night, and called the Pizza delivery guy to deliver straight to the park. It's great! Entertainment and a meal all in one!
Sounds like a lot of fun! I'm all for making dinnertime more creative!
- Steve Lacy, Nov 24, 2009