Resources for intentional mealtimes
Times are strange right now - the world is changing quickly, and it’s hard to keep up. We’re all trying to figure out how to make it through long days, balancing families and work and taking care of ourselves. Building some routines and rituals into different parts of our days can help break up long days at home together — and mealtime can be a good time to do that. Rev. Aisha came up with some ideas for rituals and routines you can add to your mealtimes to give you some structure and stability - and some fun disruptions to keep things interesting! Everything in here is free to use, share, and change to suit your needs, the needs of your community, and the needs of your family, but please attribute them if you do share! Nourish is not affiliated with any of the resources linked.
Planning and cooking
One way to make mealtime feel special is to get everyone involved in preparing the meal. You can decide together what you’ll be cooking, or rotate who gets to decide. Depending on the ages and abilities of the people in your house, divvy up tasks like chopping, peeling, stirring, measuring, etc.
There are all sorts of food blogs, recipe sites, and YouTube channels out there where you can find fun things to cook! This is just a small collection to start with:
PBS has a collection of kid-friendly recipes
Raddish is a cooking club for kids that delivers boxes of ingredients and recipes, and also shares recipes and a lot more online
Budget Bytes is a food blog that has a lot of simple, cheap, easy, delicious recipes!
When I have ingredients I’m not sure what to do with, I often search for them on The Kitchn, a site that has a ton of recipes and tips
The podcast Home Cooking, by Samin Nosrat and Hrishikesh Hirway, is all about cooking in our quarantined kitchens - how to cook pantry staples, interesting recipes with things you’re tired of, etc. The notes for each episode include the tips and recipes they discuss
Do you have cookbooks around the house that you rarely use? Pull them out and come up with something fun and new to try cooking!
Setting the table
If you are able, take the time to set the table. Use placements and napkins, put the food in serving dishes, clear whatever you’re storing on the table off for now. This helps make mealtime feel different, especially when you might already be spending a lot of your day sitting at the table already right now.
Learn how to fold napkin shapes online (check out the YouTube account Epic Napkin Folding) - or invent your own!
Decorate the table with flowers, candles, or whatever else you have around. What sort of amazing or ridiculous centerpiece can you make?
Be fancy for no reason other than you want to: drink out of wine glasses! Use your good china! Try to set all the silverware for a full fancy meal!
Photo credit Alix Klingenberg
Ways to start your meal that help set it apart from other time
If you’re spending more time in your house that usual, you might find that you also spend more time at the table during the day, and more time with the other people in your house, too. It might be helpful to do something intentional and special at the start of your meals to set them apart from other time you’re spending together, and other time you’re spending at the table.
Light a candle when everyone sits down together
Take turns reading a poem each night; look through the books of poetry you have at home, or find some online at poets.org or another site
Pick words to say together or a song to sing that expresses gratitude for the food you’re going to eat. Check out a collection of interfaith table blessings, pick something meaningful to you, or write your own!
Hold hands for a moment of silence and reflection before you start eating
Share one thing you’re each thankful for that day
Questions and conversation topics
During the meal, ask each other questions, or share things with each other. Even if you’ve been spending a lot of time together, there’s plenty you can still talk about!
What was your favorite part of the day?
What’s something that you’re thankful for today?
What’s one thing you want to try to do tomorrow?
What’s one intention you want to carry into the next day?
What made you feel brave/sad/proud today?
What’s the silliest thing that happened today?
What do you hope you’ll dream about tonight?
If you had to describe today in one word, what would it be?
Cleaning up together
A very important part of eating together is sharing the cleaning. When we all do it together, it goes much faster, and no one is stuck doing the dishes while everyone else has fun doing something else.
Decide what rules you’re going to work with. If one person cooked the meal, maybe they don’t have to help wash dishes. Maybe everyone clears their own plates, silverware, and cups into the kitchen, and you take turns washing the dishes. Figure out what works for your family!
Besides washing the dishes, you also want to make sure the leftover food is put away, and the table is wiped down if it needs to be. Can someone’s job be finding Tupperware that’s the right size and with a lid that fits?
Mealtime adventures
While structure and stability are helpful to keep us grounded, mixing things up every once in a while can be a fun way to have a new experience. Try some different ways of eating together!
Have a picnic on the living room floor
Make only food that you can eat with your hands
Cook a meal where everything starts with the same letter, or that includes all the colors of the rainbow, or another fun rule
Have breakfast for dinner, or dinner for breakfast
Try eating together in silence for the whole dinner
Virtual mealtime
You may be isolated alone, or apart from some of the people you care about. While it’s not the same as being together in person, there are some things you can do to have meals together online!
Get on a phone call or video call and chat while you all cook
Find a recipe that everyone has the ingredients for and cook the same thing for dinner, either together on a call or before you start the call
Incorporate some of the other suggestions in this resource for ways to start the meal and things to talk about during the meal
Give your meal a theme or topic, to spark conversation and learn new things about each other
As many of us have experienced, there are many different platforms that can be used for video calls, and different ones have different features
Zoom allows a gallery view where you can see everyone on the screen at once, which can make things feel a little more like you’re all together
FaceTime works well if everyone has an Apple device (iPhone, iPad, Mac)
Other video chatting programs, like Google Meet or Skype, or anything that is easy for you all to use!