Why Family Meals are Important to Me
When I first launched Rooted in Foods in 2013, it was my way of combining my passions for genealogy and food history. Over the years I’ve shared family stories, details about my ancestry finds, recipes, and sometimes the reasons that drive my love for these two things. Albeit somewhat irregularly.
As my stage in life has shifted, so too has my focus … at least a little bit. I’m all too aware of how difficult it can be to raise a family, work full time, and still get dinner on the table. Not to mention finding time for myself and my hobbies. Adulting is hard, folks! I am very blessed to have an amazing husband – and I’m not just saying that – and a decent sized village beyond him.
Family Time is Important
Life is different today than when I was a kid. Mom almost always worked, but that wasn’t necessarily the norm with her generation. She also always had dinner on the table in the evening. She made it seem so simple!
Constant running to kid activities, working long hours or having long commutes, the Internet, gadgets, and a whole host of other things has cut down on the amount of time we spend together as a family.
A recent study out of California indicates families only spend 37 minutes of quality time each weekday together. That is only slightly higher on the weekends. This is more than slightly scary to me.
While the statistics around how many nights a week American families eat dinner together ranges, around 50% of us are sitting down together 4 or fewer nights a week with nearly half of that under 3 nights per week. Another interesting idea is how mealtime has changed. In the mid-20th century – think Leave it to Beaver – the main meal that was eaten together lasted for 60-90 minutes. Today, it’s less than 20 minutes depending on the research study.
You can extend this time by having kids or the whole family help in meal preparation a few times a week. You get help and your kiddos develop cooking skills!
The Pandemic Changed Us. Sort of.
The COVID-19 Pandemic sent us all back into the kitchen – some kicking and screaming. We learned a lot about cooking in those few years of shut downs and ups and downs. We started cooking again, an art that had been long lost to younger generations. Some folks caught the cooking bug for the first time while long-time home cooks like me took up bread baking (my waistline did not appreciate that!).
But, did it stick?
Not really.
Several recent research studies indicate we’re back to eating out (or carrying out) and doing so more than we did pre-pandemic, even though early surveys indicated “cooking at home would be the new normal”. Oh, well.
I’m still baking bread.
Meal Time is Important
My daughter just started her junior year of high school. She used to wear tutus and dance. Now she wears ripped jeans and tee-shirts (she’s a little like her mama that way). Teenage years are important and, at least for us, that means I’m determined to have us around the dinner table… talking… with a teenager. That can sometimes present its own challenges, oof.
Having dinner together is important for many reasons, least of which is the overall health and wellbeing of my family. Sometimes, we even invite Grandma and the “Aunts”. It’s that village thing again.
While dinnertime can be a little crazy during the school year, I do my best to make it work. That sometimes means cutting a corner or two on weeknights. Sometimes it means using my electric pressure cooker or my Ninja Foodi indoor grill to make dinner. They are my kitchen shortcut workhorses.
In the last 20+ years of cooking for myself and my family, I’ve learned a lot. I’ve found shortcuts that work for me. I’ve figured out how to still have the Sunday dinner flavors on a Monday night.
I want to share with you how I make it work so you can make it work, too. I want you to spend more time around the dinner table together with your family.
Family History Will Always Play a Role
I feel like life is shifting. I’ll have a college student in just a few years and she probably won’t be at the dinner table as often. Getting her in the kitchen now to teach her how to make Papa Joe’s famous chili or Great Grandma’s German Potato Salad means she carries those recipes with her.
She won first place at a local chili cookoff with her own twist on Papa Joe’s chili recipe!
Dinnertime can also be story time. When I make recipes that were passed down from my German grandmothers, I usually talk about it at dinner. I want my daughter to know where we came from. Food can do that in ways that little else can.
I’ll continue to share those stories in hopes that it will spark the story-telling bug… and cooking bug… in you, too!
This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please read our policies. Affiliate income simply helps offset the cost of Rooted In Foods and is greatly appreciated.
