Eating and Mealtime

Several Suggestions

Valentine's Day is fast approaching—only ten days to go! Last year we solicited ideas from all of you and received some super-creative suggestions for blessing your husband, family and friends on this special day. Check them out today (one, two, three, four, five, and six) so you can prepare in advance.

Speaking of suggestions, we received some helpful tips from several of our readers on meal preparation last week. So before we move on to discuss what happens over meal-time we wanted to pass these ideas on to you. Please note that we have not personally researched the websites that are recommended. Enjoy!

MEAL PLANNING

From Mary:   
Please check out the following link for those who feel stumped as to how to do planning and/or are too busy to do it: http://www.dinewithoutwhine.com/. As a single woman with a room-mate; we are both so busy we often "eat out" when we could with a little planning make meals we could take for lunches to work instead of eating out and perhaps even eat with each other instead of on the run or in front of the tube to unwind.  After the first week this is a pay site, but it is nominal and at least I like it and can modify the ideas for two single gals on the go, it at least gives me a starting place and a grocery list!

From Evy:
A friend of mine was inspired by the posts you've done on food recently and she posted some wonderful links on her blog: http://web.mac.com/chilibowl. As a new bride I eagerly explored these sites and they all seem to have some helpful bits and pieces on meal planning, cooking on a budget and lots more.

From Judy:
I have been reading your blog on meal planning and thought I would share some ideas that work for our family.  First, I bought a year calendar that has both individual daily scheduling and a month at a glance page.  Presently, I have meals planned through July without any duplications.  As I am reading my cookbooks I note recipes I would like to try.  I use the month at a glance page to write down the name of the recipe, which cookbook, and the page number.  A money saving tip that I read some time ago is to plan for leftovers.  I do not cook on Monday's or Wednesday's as there are always leftovers from cooking the other five days.  As I am writing down the recipe I take note not to have similar meals within the same week, or four nights of chicken, etc.  Another money saving tip is to shop biweekly.  When I am planning my grocery list I add to the month at a glance page what I will serve with the main dish.  I always try to make an extra special Sunday dinner with dessert (desserts are presently planned through July as well).  I also like to be prepared to bring guests home on the spur of the moment on Sunday, so I always make plenty.  I attend a women's Bible Study every other week and we always take something to share.  Again, I have inserted on the calendar what I will make for these dates.  While the initial planning takes a little time; I love that I don't have to think about it every week.  I have tried many systems over the years, but I have found this plan to work best for me.  My family can also look at the calendar and see what's for dinner.  Around May, I will work on meals for the remainder of the year. 

From Heather:
I have found enjoyment for myself and the rest of the family in planning themes for certain nights. Friday nights I make pizza or calzone, Thursday nights I make Mexican food and so on.  Sometimes I wonder if I am boring to do that, but I find that having a plan and some structure actually helps me to be more creative.  I also have lists of different foods in each category-a list of pasta dishes, a list of different Mexican foods, a list of soups along with lists of desserts and sides to put with each.  It is really helpful as I sit down to meal plan and have distractions.  My lists help me to plan quickly and efficiently.  When I try a new recipe and my family likes it, I often add it to list it goes on so I don’t forget it.

From Amy:
In my college years, my roommate and I had a tradition. We would eat stir-fry with our personal set of chopsticks that she had brought from South Korea (she had spent three months there). We would eat together in our room and pray for some Asian country or for our church missionaries we had in South Korea.

My point?  Something that I thought would be a God treasuring tradition for my family as well as keeping us aware prayerfully for other peoples, cultures, nations, and missionaries was to set a weekly or monthly international meal, and pray for a country or missionary that is in one of those countries. You can have your Operation World handy to select a country and know how to pray for them more specifically.

Here are some websites with international foods, and some suggestions of my own.  It doesn't have to be difficult or take extra strange ingredients. It depends on how creative and how authentic you want the foods to represent the country you are praying for.

International Food's Websites:
http://www.cooksrecipes.com/category/international.html
http://www.recipesource.com/
http://members.tripod.com/~GabyandAndy/Internation_Recipes.html
http://www.masterstech-home.com/The_Kitchen/Recipes/Recipe_Indices/InternationalRecipesIndex.html

Operation World Website:
http://www.gmi.org/ow/

My Own Suggestions ...they are simple:
Black beans and rice any Central American Country
Steak Argentina (you know your family would LOVE that meal!)
Stir-fry (Asian Country)
Chicken Curry and Rice (India)
Hot dogs, Hamburgers, fried chicken (USA)
Tacos - Mexico
Spaghetti or Lasagna - Italy

From Tracey:
Saw this link on home management at http://ordinarymother.wordpress.com/—thought you might like to take a little peek: http://www.squidoo.com/homemaking.

GROCERY SHOPPING

From Mona:
One of the most important things (at least for me) when grocery shopping is to make sure you have all your coupons!  I've found that by using coupons and matching them up to the stores sales, I can save quite a bit or money (sometimes as much as 50% off my bill). 

From Linda:
After reading your recent post about menu planning, I thought I'd send you this little grocery shopping tip I've learned!  I'm attaching my grocery list that's on my computer and follows my traffic pattern through our local WalMart . . . I just post it on my fridge each week, circle what I need as I run out of it and then on Mondays (when I build my menu and shop) I just have to walk through the list in my mind to make sure I have everything needed for the menu!

All it takes to create a list like this for your favorite grocery store is a trip through the store with a piece of paper and a clipboard.  You just write down what is in the aisles that you would normally buy.  Then you come home and type it up.  All you have to do is print it out each week and everything is in the right order as you walk through the store!

No matter how you change it, having this type of list helps me to cut costs at the store because I am in and out faster and more efficiently and I'm not tempted to buy things that aren't on the list.

RECIPES

From Jenny:
When I left home (ten years ago) my mum presented me with a hand written folder of all the recipes we had cooked together, that were fool-proof.  Although the years took their toll on the paper I have typed them out and added to them.  One of my brothers was most distressed that he didn't get one, and so when James got married recently he got his own version including all his favourite recipes.

I wanted to share with you a super website that I use a lot--http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/.  It is linked to a magazine that I subscribe to: The BBC Good Food Magazine.  One of the things I like about it is that there are pictures of every recipe so that you can see what you are aiming for!  The recipes are updated daily, and there is a facility to add recipes to your own "binder" so that you can keep track of the ones that you fancy making.  You can also search by ingredient, or define searches by "ready in under 10 minutes" or "one pot meals" for those times when you just need something quick and easy.

From Marianne:
A couple of years ago when Joanna's vision became impaired, I began typing into the computer and saving each recipe that I wanted Joanna to make.  This way, I could enlarge the font, and bullet each step to make it easier for her to read and follow.   My hope is that this little project will eventually evolve into a LARGE PRINT collection of tried and true favorite recipes that she can take with her.  Typing it one at a time is definitely no hardship, but the accumulated effects will be great.  Thanks for sharing your idea.

From Laura:
I want to share with you one of the most precious gifts I have been given. As a wedding present my grandmother compiled a recipe book for me to take into married life. She asked my family members as well as my husband's family members to pass around this book (it went all over the Southeast!) and write in favorite recipes. This little book contains handwritten recipes and commentary in the handwriting of our parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. There is also room in the back for new family recipes. I use these recipes all the time.

My grandmother went home to the Lord two years ago, and this recipe collection is even more special to me now. I treasure the thoughtfulness of her gift that I will be able to pass down to my own children. I just wanted to share this idea with others and encourage them to create their own "heirlooms" for their families.

From Elise:
Family recipes are golden and too often they become lost between generations. I did a similar idea, albeit backwards, with my grandma when I was single. She was in her late seventies and I was in college at the time. I had no idea as to whether or when marriage might happen (no "beau" was on the horizon) so I gave her a binder with tabs and paper and wrote all the titles of my favorite recipes of hers on the tops of pages.  I gave no definite timeline... just whenever she had time.  I think it took about 3 years. Our family gatherings always centered around she and my grandpa's home (they were farmers) and her kitchen.  She died within the first year of my marriage.

I miss her greatly, but adore that cookbook... written in her handwriting on pages spattered by her making the very recipe she was notating. (She cooked in her head too!) They're precious pages.

From Alanne:
For those ladies who want a quick fix…..
Life's on Fire: Cooking for the Rushed by Sandi Richards

12 weeks worth of recipes for 4-8 adults (can be halved if needed)
20 minutes prep time (or less) and you eat in 25 - 60 minutes.

Weekly grocery lists at the back or print them of the web.
You can plan your day around how long each meal takes
The best book our family ever invested in.

Can also check out Healthy Cooking for the Rushed.

I believe Sandi Richards has 7 kids.  She's been there and done the research. It's fabulous!

From Evelyn:
Have you seen this site?  http://www.abondanteliving.com/  It's a bit over the top for me but I love reading the ideas and recipes.  And it makes me want to do more in the area of hospitality.  Another site full of encouragement on meal prep and keeping the home organized and together is http://www.flylady.net/.

Presentation Matters

All this planning, shopping and cooking is leading up to something. Eating of course! But before we take our first bite of dinner, there’s one more aspect of the meal that needs our attention: presentation.

What’s so important about presentation? you ask. Well, imagine an artist who labors over a painting displaying it without a frame, or a businessman who develops a marketing strategy writing it out on a napkin, or an author who writes a masterpiece sending the publisher a rough draft. Presentation matters after all.

Listen to what Edith Schaeffer suggests:

“It is not necessary to have expensive food on the plates before they can enter the dining room as things of beauty in colour and texture….Eye appeal as well as taste appeal should be remembered…A plate can be thought of at times as a kind of ‘still  life’—not a lasting one, of course, but lasting in memory…a thing of beauty. Not only does this give interest, atmosphere and pleasure to the meal, but it gives dignity and fulfillment to the one who prepared it.”

Now, I doubt you’d call any meal I prepare anything resembling a “still life.” But I’m inspired by Mrs. Schaeffer’s approach toward the appearance and arrangement of food. Attractive meal presentation can give pleasure to our family, it can enhance the dinnertime experience, communicate our love and attention, and maybe even make the food taste better!

Growing up, we did not usually have fancy or expensive meals for dinner, and neither would Mom claim to be artistic. But even as a young person, I noticed that she always gave thought to how the table was set and how the food looked in the serving dishes and together on the plate. She could make even hamburgers seem like a feast simply by the way she put the condiments in little bowls and arranged the tomatoes and lettuce and onions on a platter and filled a basket with individual bags of chips.

Mom taught me to at least try to consider food colors when picking the menu so the meal would look attractive on a plate. Or, as one author suggests, to consider “alternating colors and textures.” Oftentimes, this simply requires forethought as to what vegetable and starch would best go with what meat.

Of course, there are the artistic among us who can make oranges look like swans or do wonders with a few sprigs of parsley or a few motley vegetables. If you know someone like this who excels at food presentation, ask her to teach you some of her tips.

But even for those of us not blessed with artistic talent, let’s consider how we can give extra care to meal presentation. Let’s put that exclamation point on the importance of family dinnertime.

Time to Cook

Planning. Grocery Shopping. Recipe Collecting. Now we get to the fun part of preparing family meals—cooking.

I was in high school when I developed an interest in cooking. I began collecting Bon Appetit magazines, attending cooking classes offered by the county and a local cooking school, and experimenting at home. As a single girl in between jobs I took a couple of months off to help my mom at home. I did all the grocery shopping and cooking—sometimes for eight or more people!

When I got married I had to learn to cook for two on a budget. Now my motto is "easy and quick is best." My children need my time and attention and it does not serve them for me to make complicated meals. But someday, when they are grown and have families of their own I might just re-enroll in that cooking school.

Whatever season we find ourselves—-just learning to cook, plenty of time to experiment, or with a limited time and budget—-we can all continue to become better cooks to bless our family.

I can’t provide an exhaustive list of ways to improve, and I’m sure there are better ideas out there. But here are just a few to consider:

--Add one new recipe a month to your repertoire.

--Buy a new cookbook to inspire you.

--Take a cooking class with your mom, sisters or friends.

--Pick a challenging recipe and practice until you master it.

--Have a recipe exchange with friends (complete with taste test).

--Do a meal swap with a group of friends—-similar to the classic cookie exchange, you make five batches of your favorite meal, find five friends willing to do the same and you go home with five different meals. Don’t forget to include the recipes.

--Try out one of the home meal assembly stores that are popping up in various cities (where you and your friends can make pre-determined meals in a professional kitchen and take them home).

--Learn how to cook several dishes of the same ethnic variety.

--Ask your mom or another woman who is a good cook to teach you.

--Subscribe to a cooking magazine or online recipe service.

All But The Doughnuts

My mom rarely used a recipe when she cooked. That was fine by me as I daily enjoyed her delicious meals while growing up. However, when I got married and wanted to make her yummy doughnuts, it became a problem. I still remember calling her as a new bride to ask for the recipe and hearing something like this on the other end of the line: “I use about this much flour and sugar; add some milk until it’s the right consistency. I throw in a pinch of this and a little of that. I knead the dough until it feels right; let them rise.  And then I fry them in the Crisco until I can tell they are done.”

I tried to make those doughnuts. The whole batch ended up in the trashcan. I even tried them a second time--and again, the trashcan was their final destination. I knew then that if I were to ever enjoy my mom’s doughnuts, I would need her to make them. 

Sadly, I can’t cook like my mom. I have to follow recipes. My daughters are not endowed with my mom’s gift either. They go by recipes too. So, before the three girls got married, and embarked on their cooking careers as new wives, I decided to create a notebook of all the recipes we enjoy.

Eight years later I’m only now finishing the compilation of this notebook. Of course I haven’t been consistently working on it all this time; the project simply got shelved along the way. However, this past summer I made a concerted effort to complete it.

I have taken all of our favorite recipes--found in numerous cookbooks, torn from magazines, accrued from cooking classes, collected from friends, and even saved from my wedding showers years ago--typed them out on my computer, printed them, inserted each one into a page protector (to protect from food splatters) and then placed them behind the appropriate tab of a big spiral notebook.

Though the original intent of this project was to help my girls, it has served me too. I’ve been able to throw away all the tattered recipe cards, messy pieces of papers and folded magazine pages and compile them neatly into one notebook. I no longer have to go searching through fifteen cookbooks before I find a recipe that was a big hit with my family. It’s also made meal planning easy. I can sit down with the notebook, flip through the different sections, quickly decide on a meal, and have all the meal’s ingredients listed right in front of me for my grocery list.

Now, by no means am I sharing the details of my system to suggest that you must do the same. I simply hope to spark your creativity--in case you desire a more efficient way to store and access your recipes and then to pass them along to your daughters (or anyone else for that matter). And if you do decide to create a better system, hopefully it won’t take you eight years like it did me!

All this talk about recipes and food is making me hungry. In fact, my mouth is watering for my mom’s doughnuts. Of course, I don’t have a recipe for them in my notebook. Maybe I’ll just give her a call to see if she’s up for making a batch for me!

Shopping Time

As a young woman still living at home, I used to grocery shop for my mom. Then grocery shopping was fun and easy. I simply drove to the store Mom directed me to, bought the items on her list (plus a few for myself—she said it was OK!), paid for the groceries with her credit card and then took them home and put them in the fridge. Mom would use them to make great meals for the fam.

Then I got married and switched from Mom’s credit card to my credit card. All of a sudden, it got much more complicated. How often do I need to go to the store? What quantities should I buy? Which stores offer the best deals, the most quality food? How do I manage this on a budget?

I still haven’t found that magic list of rules, but the following suggestions have helped me become a smarter shopper:

Go with a list.
Critical for me. When I don’t have a list I end up wandering the store buying things I already have while forgetting the things that I truly need. No good!

Don’t go when you are hungry.
Someone suggested this with me in mind. I lose my ability to think clearly when I’m in the grocery store hungry. Of course I need more Cheetos, and you can’t eat Cheetos without Cherry Coke. I don’t need cereal for breakfast—where are my favorite chocolate donut holes? Need I go on?

Establish a pattern.
Find a routine that serves you and your family’s needs most effectively. Some shop weekly and others monthly. I’m a weekly girl myself, but I have a very shopping-savvy friend who finds monthly shopping (with weekly visits for milk) works best for her.

Do Internet research.
I ran into my friend Jenni at the store last week and she told me that before she heads out to shop she does a quick Internet search of the area stores to find the best sales. This helps her to decide which store she will go to that week.

Tailor a list to your store.
One reader wrote in with a great tip. She created a grocery list on her computer that follows the traffic pattern of her local grocery store. She keeps a copy on her fridge, and when it comes time to plan her meals, a quick walk through the list is all that’s needed to ensure she purchases the necessary ingredients. This maximizes her time in both the planning and the shopping.

We here at girltalk hardly fit the category of “grocery-shopping experts.” These suggestions are just to get you started. We hope they inspire you to fine-tune your grocery shopping technique. Consider doing a google search for more grocery shopping tips. Even better, consider your network of relationships and corner a friend who seems to have this grocery shopping thing down.

Grocery shopping may require time, thought, and skill. But by learning from others we can master this crucial task in order to prepare memorable meals for our family!

A Plan That Works

Last week we reflected upon the powerful effect that consistent family meals can have over time. This week we will consider the meal itself—how to take it from merely an idea in our head (or a craving in our stomach!) to a lovely presentation on our dining room table.

I suggest that we begin with a plan. To do so, we need to figure out where we best fit on the planning continuum.

Some of you can get by with a simple “staples plan.” As long as you keep certain ingredients on hand, you can easily produce a delicious meal in a short period of time—depending on your creative urge that day.

I’m feeling a little envious even as I write this because if I tried to pull off a meal like that, it would be a disaster! Therefore, I’m part of the group who is at the other end of the planning spectrum. I need to rely on a “menu plan.”

Wednesdays are my normal day for planning a week’s worth of menus and grocery list and Thursdays are my grocery-shopping day. I always plan the meals with my calendar. That way, I can coordinate the meal with the day—plan easy meals for busy days and the more elaborate meals for the less demanding days. 

Also, to simplify the menu-planning process, I plan meals from the same category of foods for certain days. For example on Sundays I make a breakfast meal since CJ and Chad like breakfast foods. On Mondays, which is my husband’s day off, I use a meal from my freezer. Then again on Saturdays, I make sandwiches for dinner (and add a dessert to make it a little more special!) because that is the night I babysit my grandsons.

I’ve found it helpful to keep a running grocery list on a tiny dry-erase board (a freebie from a seafood market that I frequent) that is on the side of my refrigerator. The moment I run out of a food item, I jot it down so I won’t forget it come grocery-shopping day. Certain family-members like to add to the list as well. This past week “cherry coke” appeared. I knew immediately—Janelle’s been here. 

Then there are times when all my planning goes awry! The meals don’t get planned on Wednesday. I’m running to the store a few times a week to buy ingredients for a meal that I’m throwing together at the last minute. Or I serve cereal, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and hot dogs and chips for three consecutive evenings. Even though weeks like this are bound to come along, my menu plan helps me get back on track.    

Whether you’re the ultra-creative type who can do a lot with a simple plan or whether you need a more specific plan like me, an effective plan is key to consistently providing well-balanced, delicious, within-budget, and peaceful meals week in and week out.

So take a few moments to consider your plan—how’s it working for you? If one aspect of your plan needs tweaking or if you’ve never developed an effective plan, let me encourage you to draw from the wisdom of other women.  While we are all different, by learning from each other’s strengths, we can all grow in planning meals for our family.

Never Perfect

My husband has been out-of-town since Tuesday. Chad has had a basketball game or a practice for four evenings in a row (definitely out of the ordinary!). Consequently, CJ, Chad and I have not once been able to sit down face to face and enjoy a family meal together this week. I share this, not as a recommendation, but a reality.

On occasion, there will be days or even a week when family meals do not happen. Granted, we should work hard to make this a rare experience rather than the usual. But if a family-meal-lapse should occur in your home, don’t be discouraged or give up. A brief departure from the norm won’t destroy the big picture.

And let me mention one more important point. Even when family mealtimes are consistent, they are never perfect. I appreciate one author’s perspective:

If you have an image of some ideal supper in mind, the only thing you can be certain of is that tonight’s will not measure up. Still, something will happen. The surface will look shaggy, but underneath, over time, a form begins to take shape. Some type of ritual will grow. That overarching ritual, and the dozens of tiny ones that compose it will belong to your family, and to them alone. It will give meaning, frame, boundaries, comfort.

We hope our discussion this week has helped impart worth to all the seemingly mundane aspects that go in to putting a meal on our tables. Next week we’ll chat about all the practical stuff like planning, shopping and cooking meals.

One Of A Kind

What’s wonderful about your family’s “mealtime picture” is that its one of a kind. No one else’s looks quite the same. And as Janelle said yesterday, it’s all the seemingly insignificant habits, etiquette and personalities blended together that make your family unique.

(Speaking of blending, I have to tell you what happened to me last night. My poor husband wasn’t feeling well and so I offered to make him his favorite strawberry smoothie. I was having a little trouble getting our twenty-dollar six-year-old blender to work but that’s not unusual. Then I noticed a big chunk of something grey floating in the pitcher. I fished out a section of the rubber ring that is part of the blender assembly. I’m still not sure how it became the sixth ingredient in my smoothie. I’m just grateful I didn’t give my husband an even more memorable stomach-ache!)

It’s something as small as the way you fold your napkins (rectangle or triangle?), who takes ice in their drinks and where everybody sits. Do you hold hands to pray for your meal or fold them in your lap? Do you pass the food clockwise or do you serve buffet style?

Conversation is another major ingredient. There was always a lot of laughter in the Mahaney home. Even though my dad and Janelle are the only ones graced with a sense of humor, Dad had a way of helping us all laugh—even when our jokes flopped. Other families might be more serious and serene or have lively debates.

Then there are the stories. Simply by hearing about the events of each person’s day, you can build up a storehouse of “shared” experiences. Some of the more memorable stories become part of family lore. (Just ask anyone in our family about Uncle Grant’s picnic story!) Inside jokes and serious fellowship all strengthen—often in unseen ways—that almost indescribable bond.

So here’s something you can talk about at dinnertime tonight—what are the funny, quirky, and significant things that make our family meals one of a kind? Then thank God for these small, unique expressions of His boundless creativity.

More Than Dinner

“It helps to imagine an ornate gold frame. Pick it up (don’t worry; it’s only pretend) and place it around the image that appears when you say ‘supper at my house.’ Bet the picture you see is very specific: These are the seats we sit in, the things we discuss. Here is the person who shows up last. That is the bowl we use for the rice…. Sitting down to a meal together draws a line around us. It encloses us and, for a brief time, strengthens the bonds that connect us with the others members of [our family], shutting out the rest of the world.”

I love photography; that is why I love this quote. It tells you to stop for a minute and observe. To pull up the image of your family mealtime. Can you see it? It can seem so trivial: What’s the big deal? You rush around, trying to get everything hot and on the table at the same time. Everyone comes, eats, leaves and you clean up. However this author is challenging us to take a step backwards and take a long, slow look at this seemingly mundane activity. There is something more that happens here.

Mealtime is a gathering. The people you love the most come to the same place at the same time. Conversations happen; memories are made. There is laughter and tears. A strong family bond begins to form—a bond that grows stronger by doing it again tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that.

The mundane has purpose. If it weren’t for the ordinary duties of food preparation and kitchen cleanup, than this moment, this mealtime, this bond, wouldn’t exist.

So the next time you make dinner, hang that “mealtime picture” on the wall of your mind while you grate the cheese and toss the salad. You are making much more than dinner.

More Than Necessity

Yesterday Mom proposed, with the help of Edith Schaeffer that “meals should be more than just food.”

Today, I want to call upon John Calvin to take us one step further. For a proper understanding of mealtime springs from a biblical understanding of food.

On the subject of food, the esteemed Calvin writes, “If we ponder to what end God created food we shall find that he meant not only to provide for necessity but also for delight and good cheer” (qtd. in Redeeming the Time by Leland Ryken).

If God created food merely to “provide for necessity” then mealtime, although an expression of his sustaining mercy, would be rather unspectacular. However, the fact that God created such a wide variety of foods with an unending combination of flavors and textures for our “delight and good cheer” makes mealtime momentous.

For ultimately, as with all of the good gifts that He freely gives us to enjoy, food is meant to point back to the goodness of The Giver.

In his self-described “happy sermon” about food, one of our favorite teachers, Robin Boisvert elaborates on this point. We want to encourage you to listen to this message as we continue this series. Maybe even turn it on while you’re making dinner!

More Than Food

Meals. They occupy a big part of our lives. Three times a day they show up – morning, midday and again at evening time. We have to plan for them. Shop for them. Prepare them. (Or pick up the phone and order them.) Eat them. Clean up after them. Often our kitchen can feel like a 24-hour diner, and we’re the short-order cook, waitress and bus boy rolled into one.

Given how much time they take up day after day, we thought it might be useful to have a conversation about meals. What is the significance of mealtime? How can I make delicious food for my family (or myself!) with less effort?  What are tips for a peaceful, memorable mealtime?

We’d also like to invite you to our homes for dinner. Not literally of course. Although we’d love to have you visit, our houses are not quite big enough to accomodate everyone. But we will give you a peek into dinnertime at the Whitacre, Chesemore, Bradshaw and Mahaney households as this discussion unfolds. We hope you will accept our invitation.

To answer the question: “What is the significance of mealtime?” I’ve solicited the help of Edith Schaeffer from her book The Hidden Art of Homemaking. She writes: 

There is no occasion when meals should become totally unimportant. Meals can be very small indeed, very inexpensive, short times taken in the midst of a big push of work, but they should be always more than just food. Relaxation, communication and a measure of beauty and pleasure should be part of even the shortest meal breaks. Of course you celebrate special occasions—successes of various members of the family, birthdays, good news, answered prayer, happy moments—with special attention to meal preparation and serving. But we should be just as careful to make the meal interesting and appealing when the day is grey, and the news is disappointing…. Food cannot take care of spiritual, psychological and emotional problems, but the feeling of being loved and cared for, the actual comfort of the beauty and flavor of food, the increase of blood sugar and physical well-being, help one to go on during the next hours better equipped to meet the problems.

Food can’t solve our problems, but it is a gift from God to help us meet our problems. Whether small or big, for a large family or just for you, meals should always be more than just food.