Five Ways to Simplify Supper

Emily Graff with Simplify Supper joins us with some Awesome tips on how to cut down the chaos and bring on an enjoyable family Dinner!

The Ladies with Simplify Supper are Amazing, they’ve created a completely FREE website with all kinds of helps for a Simple Supper! They have menus, shopping lists, calendars and more. Today Emily has joined us with their top five tips to Simplifying Supper time!

Tips:

1. Set your dinner table during the day. This way you’re setting yourself up to follow-through with your plans to prepare dinner.

2. Use www.simplifysupper.com. It’s the easiest way to take the stress out of planning meals. Take one minute out of your day to print off the shopping list from our prepared menu, or take two minutes and customize your own menu! We do everything for you but buy the groceries and prepare your meals.

3. Build up a good pantry stock-pile so that you always have essentials on hand. If you stock up when items are on sale, this is a great way to save both Time and Money! (See “Online Extra” for Pantry Staples)

4. Be prepared to keep young kids entertained while you make dinner. Have a special drawer/container in the kitchen for coloring books, sticker books, puzzles, etc. for little ones to do while you prepare your meal. If your kids get antsy because they’re hungry, let them snack on some healthy appetizers such as little trees (broccoli), ants on a log (celery with peanut butter and raisins), carrots, etc. Or, have some fresh fruit with a simple fruit dip–mix a desired amount of brown sugar into sour cream and you’re done!

5. Assign a dish-night. If your kids are older, assign each a dish night, where they are responsible for taking care of the dinner dishes. For example, if you have 3 kids, one can be assigned to Mondays, another to Tuesdays, and another to Wednesdays. Mom and/or dad can take care of Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Everyone can pitch in and help out on Sundays. Or each person can take care of the dishes for a week, but then enjoy the next 4 weeks off…just do whatever works for your family and your situation. Just remember, you’re not going to want to set your dinner table early in the day if last night’s dinner dishes are still in the sink.

Emily also shared a very fun way to make a Simple but Yummy Reuben Sandwich, calzone style. You can find the recipe under the recipe button!