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Tell Dolmio what a regular family dinner is like in your home: £200 Amazon prize up for grabs!

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  • A riotous assembly
  • we only manage to sit down all together a couple of times a week due to work commitments. We use mealtime as a time to catch up with the week. I find it my son helps to prepare the meal ( he loves chopping and stirring)  then he is more likely to try different things.
  • Unfortunately due to work schedules, after school activities and all of us being picky eaters, we all eat at different times and just cook for ourselves as and when it suits and its usually something quick and easy rather than prepared from scratch. However at the weekend we always sit down together for at least one meal, be that a BBQ outside, a Sunday dinner at the table or a pizza chilling together and watching a film.
  • I live alone and have many disabilities so I cannot cook anything for myself as my hands are badly deformed. So a typical tea for me is a sandwich in front of the TV.
  • Looking at this thread is making me hungry.. getting new inspiration for our family meals!
     We are a family of 3 & we try to at at the table as often as possible - we all focus on the food a lot more (instead of the forks missing our mouths if we eat while watching TV!!) & it's just a nicer experience.
     My son (7) is taking more of an interest in food preparation & likes to be experimental when he creates a dish - as long as he eats it, I'm ok with that :)
     We've found that meals don't need to be fancy, complicated or take hours to do - as long as it's heavy on the veg & has some carbs & protein thrown in - that's good for me.
     I imagine foodbanks have been more in demand than ever during lockdown with so many people financially impacted, so it's great to see Dolmio partnering with the Trussell Trust :)
  • I love having my grandsons over for tea. I try involve them in making it and they have a fab time. We always sit at the table and talk. I think this is really important. 
  • Ours is a busy house so one day there could be 10 of us, the next day just 2 and the following day 6 so its not easy planning ahead with the shopping!!   I make different meals each day using Dolmio sauces at least twice a week and there’s never leftovers as the oldest boys always help themselves to seconds. Its a great atmosphere with us all catching up on the last day or 2 and there’s always  a good laugh with one or 2 teenage comedians at the table. We nearly always have pudding to top it all off. 
  • Daddy is the cook.The children love pasta and pesto and yogurt.Mum is always hungry after a long day at work.Nan prefers fish and salads.Whatever is made disappears fast.
  • Dinner time is a very important time in our house. We always sit down as a family and all eat the same meal together. Tv and phones are banned and it is such a lovely time together as a family where we talk about our day. We all love our food. We read our own cattle for beef, have our own free range chickens for eggs and a veg patch fully of yummy veg. We try and use mostly our own produce or locally sourced food. We are very lucky to be able to do this. Some of our favourite meals are fish pie, pasta bakes, steak and chips, omelettes, stew and homemade crusty bread.  
  • Family mealtimes are what memories are made of, we have a great times sitting around the dinner table chatting, laughing and eating delicious meals prepared by my foodie hubby.
  • Dinner at the table with no phones so we can catch up on our days without distractions 
  • Our family meal times find the 5 of us gathered around our kitchen table. Daddy does most of the cooking, but is ably assisted by his 2 little chefs. We are starting to wean our baby so we will bring his high chair to the table so he can eat some of our meal as well. We all love pasta, but we mostly need to keep the pasta plain with the sauce to one side as the children become more used to different tastes and become more and more adventurous.  
  • Dinner time is loud lol but great fun we  sit round the table unless its a move night our meals consist of fun easy going meals witch is where dolmio become in handy (great in the slow cooker) alot of our meals are pasta based my two monkeys love simple meals and struggling with food they aren't use to so we are slowly introducing them to new food dinner time for my family depends on the day as we both work so getting to sit round a table as a family is a big thing and great for quality time 
    My daughter is 6 my son is 2 on Christmas eve xxx 

  • Dinner time in our house is a very important time. It's really the only time we get to all sit together, digest the day and tell each other what we got up to. It's really great to hear everyone's adventures from the day! It isn't always healthy food, but it's always together. 

  • (Our Aldi shop.) 

    Hectic, unorganised (much like the way we muddle through the days!)... bargaining- “Bea if you eat another spoonful of your veg you can have an ice cream!” Mummy is a hurricane in the kitchen but often has to make 3 separate meals. We are going through that delightful defiant stage; and a two and a half year old attempting to use food as a weapon! I must confess dinner times are not my favourite time of the day despite my best efforts to conform to some kind of “routine”. 

    Much of the food I make is bulked our with veggies and beans and pulses to make the shopping go further. Who doesn’t love a cheeky tin of new potatoes for speed and ease (I do not have the time to be lovingly handcrafting my own potato creations each meal time!!) We are Aldi shoppers for the bang for the buck! I wish I could say that I always bulk cooked meals but I have found that we waste much less food since moving supermarkets and doing a weekly shop to keep a better track of our spending!! 

    We always start all sat around the table, but my daughter is very much more of a “grazer” than a sit-down-to-eat-a-full-meal kinda girl. She much prefers breakfast (of which she can eat two or three dishes! Always starts off with cereal then may eat bagel/toast/fruit/egg or yoghurt afterwards.) I think as she has a small tummy still (she was a premmie arriving at 33 weeks so she is still only in 18-24 months clothing!) she doesn’t like to feel too full. She will often migrate to the livingroom to play- she is always so busy and will come back to food. Sometimes her dinner is spread over 3 hours! Despite some of her quirks in eating Bea does love vegetables and other healthy food. Carrots are her favourite. We do not have to disguise vegetables in her food. She has a sophisticated pallet. She really enjoys salmon. She is not a huge meat eater but would definitely choose fish! 

    Jasper is our ten month old son and he LOVES dinner. He is already attempting to use cutlery. I always joke that we never actually had to wean him and he went straight from boob to food (he has  always wanted to do what his big sister is doing.) He just loves the experience of finger food. We started BLW at 5 months and he has had a healthy appetite since. His favourite foods are sweet potatoes, broccoli, pasta and chicken. 

    We attempt to finish dinner before 7pm to allow for plenty of digestion time before bed. Eating is a very messy experience and I can’t remember having my food hot for a long time as I feed Jasper and make sure I am policing Bea’s food intake as well as being the general maid I am throughout the day fetching drinks, and wipes and condiments!! 

    I wouldn’t have it any other way though. My family are always fed and full and I am thankful every day that we do not have to experience poverty and know that we will have food on the table every meal. In this way, we are truly blessed. Food is fuel but also we get to experience luxury by having treats and being able to afford lots of different ingredients. 








  • Dinner time is something we all enjoy. A chance to catch up with each other and find out things about the childrens day etc. Recently the children have also loved joining in with the cooking and prep which has been so lovely too! Here is a photo of our little boy helping out with the veggies!
  • We try to make all meals a focused event, at the table, and go to some lengths to make the 2 children aware of the importance of not wasting food, and that some children go hungry, and also to be aware that the earth's resources will run out if we are too wasteful and irresponsible. On the bright side however, it is a time for bonding and discussion of the day's events and planning for the next day. The children are interested in growing and eating their own produce too, and look forward to learning to cook.
  • usually chappatis and and Indian dish (either meat or vegetarian), also have carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers sliced as well and a soft drink
  • Meal times for us are a busy time. We are doing lots of part time jobs to make ends meet after losing work so ships that pass in the night and lots of microwaving required!
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