Just Feed the People!
As all of our littles get bigger, we are slowly venturing into the world of cooking for a crowd, every single night! While our family slowly, but quickly grew, I was always able to maintain the diet and meals that I preferred and was used to cooking. The kitchen is where I can let my creativity out. I love to linger and get extravagant for no reason. Go the extra mile, just because it’s fun for me.
For the most part, we would try to be healthy and stick to a mainly dairy and gluten-free diet. In this last year as the twins are now close to three, and eating real portions of food, we have felt the hit in our grocery bill big time! And let’s not get started on inflation ok? I’m not sure when or why, but somewhere over the last six years I believed this lie that, if I feed my kids any form of bread or pasta, I was a bad mom, and setting them up for failure when it comes to eating healthy. Because who can resist a perfect slice of pizza (pepperoni and olive— always!)? Or a fresh loaf of bread?!
I was recently talking with a mom friend of mine and we got onto the topic of mealtime. We were going back and forth about the struggle it is, we want to make good food, delicious food, creative food, healthy food! We want it all, anyone else?! For those of you who can do that, and maintain it, I applaud you. I see you- I was you for a small period. Lord willing we will be there again one season, but this is just not the time! I’m here to say if you’re there with me, that’s ok!
This friend of mine said something so profound, earth-shattering, and revolutionary. Are you ready for it? “JUST FEED THE PEOPLE!”
It felt so good to hear. It’s been so great over this last month moving from trying to have the perfect meals that check the boxes to just feeding the people what I can and looking for ways to make it special. Making it about the meal time, not the meal.
Some nights dinner looks like another basic but nurturing pot of chicken and veggie soup, in the richest most irresistible bone broth you’ll ever taste, I promise. If I’ve got my stuff together it will be served alongside a fresh loaf of sourdough bread, just perfect. Honestly, if I had it my way that would be dinner every single night, but my family is a little pickier than that. Thankfully it’s soup season and I do get away with it often! On other nights we need to be at the church and scramble out the door with barely enough time to grab a hot-n-ready from Little Cesar’s. Our bank account likes that option, and so do the kids, but I’m not crazy about it! But that’s ok because it’s not all the time and at the end of the day we all just need to eat.
I don’t want to be so stressed out about meal times, and following a certain “standard” of good parenting nutrition, because the reality is we don’t have the income to “keep up with the Jones” and I’m not even going to try.
One night this week we had some smoked steak from a deer my husband got a few weeks back— his first deer ever on his first day out! To say I was proud of him was an understatement. We felt so seen and blessed by the Lord. It was delicious, and such a treat! We gathered around the table and ate slices of steak - medium rare, the only way— piled into one large platter, no utensils just eating it with our hands. It was a true Neanderthal moment, and we all loved it! We thanked Cam for getting this special treat for us and then smoking it to perfection. We enjoyed our conversation and all the silliness at the dinner table. We ignored the messy kitchen behind us, and just enjoyed our evening.
I don’t know if I could have done this a year ago. I would have been so embarrassed. “What a bad mother! That’s not a proper meal, not to mention the sad excuse of an environment!” But here we are! It ain’t much but it’s honest work folks! And you know what I think my kids felt happy, seen, and loved, and I know they had a damn good meal too!
And in case you were wondering, the next night we kept it ultra classy and had some top ramen, and of course, added an egg for that protein (life is all about balance). We are all trying the best we can. In this increasingly overwhelming season of never-ending demands, I’m letting go of what doesn’t matter.
Meals matter, and family time is important. We need to nourish our bodies, but also our spirits and our souls. To do that we can’t be slaves to perfection. I long for the cozy winter days ahead that consist of baking in the kitchen with all the kids, and preparing hearty holiday dishes that are both nourishing and coma-inducing, but there’s got to be some give and take on the day to day. If something easy keeps you sane, and in connection with your family instead of stressed and full of resentment, well then I’ll call that a win over the paleo from a scratch meal that took all day and no one ate anyways. That you paid $75 for at thrive market. So I’ll say it again, just feed the people! Feed them what’s easy, feed them what’s good, what’s affordable, what’s nourishing, but just feed them, and enjoy them!
I don’t know about you, but in our home snack meals have always been a staple. They are special, they are fun, and of course perfect for the littles. Some meat, a few veggies, fruit, popcorn, everything but the kitchen sink, you got it! Throw it on a platter, call it a charcuterie board if you must, but sit around that table look each other in the eyes and enjoy what really matters. I’m convinced allowing the everyday to be just that, ordinary, every day, makes room for the extravagant. A special Saturday night dinner well planned out, that took hours to cook or prep. Because I wasn’t dead by Friday trying to make an out-of-this-world meal on the daily. Like I said I really do love cooking, being in the kitchen is a special outlet for me, but the reality is, I have to make time for it, it can’t be what it was, at least not in this season, and I’m so ok with that.
Are meal times a joy or a stress for you? What are your go-to meals in busy seasons of life? Let me know in the comments!