Do you dread cooking dinner every night? Suffer no more! I’ve got easy tips to make cooking dinner more enjoyable.
You’ve heard the popular adage penned by Benjamin Franklin: nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. Well, Ben, you missed something for moms: making dinner. And unlike death and taxes, the certainty of making dinner comes every single day. It’s a lot.
Because you have to make dinner every night (or at least most nights), it can beat you down if you let it. That’s especially true if you’re also juggling things like work and kids on top of dinner plans. So that cooking dinner doesn’t start to be something you dread (or to bring it back from being something you do dread), it’s important to find ways to make cooking dinner more enjoyable.
The good thing is that you’re in luck. I have cycled through all the feelings about making dinner. It went from being the best part of my day to the worst part of my day and now it’s back to at least a tolerable part of my day because I have found ways to make cooking dinner more enjoyable. Through my evolution, I have gathered both general tips to make cooking dinner more enjoyable and tips for making cooking with kids around more enjoyable. If you’re struggling with the dinner hour, read on to find joy in cooking dinner, whether for the first time or for the first time in a long time.
Tips to Make Cooking Dinner More Enjoyable
General
These tips make cooking dinner more enjoyable no matter your situation. Whether you’re cooking for one or for a whole soccer team, you’ll enjoy it a whole lot more when you’re keeping these things in mind.
Cook what you like
At the risk of stating the obvious, my first tip to make cooking dinner more enjoyable is to make something that sounds good to eat. Now, I’m not suggesting that you should make burgers and fries or pizza every night of the week. Your arteries wouldn’t appreciate that. But you don’t have to eat rabbit food every night either. You can still make healthy, kid-friendly food that is delicious for the whole family.
Not only does making dinner that sounds appealing make for a better eating experience, it also makes cooking your dinner so much more enjoyable. You know that you have a prize of delicious food to eat once your work is done.
Play music
Again, playing music while you cook dinner might not be earth-shattering advice, but it has been a game-changer for me.
When I was in the throes of my “I hate to cook dinner” period, the only sounds to be heard coming from kitchen were banging pots, fighting kids, and a yelling mom. Then one day I turned on the tunes and watched in awe at the change to my mood and the mood of the whole house. Now I’m singing along to my favorite songs, which I’m introducing to my kids and making them fall in love too. I don’t think it will ever get old hearing my son asking me to play the Beatles or my daughter asking for the Sara song.
If you’re not playing music while you cook dinner, give it a try. I promise it will make cooking dinner more enjoyable.
Ask the magic question
If you’ve been a reader of Sara in Season for any amount of time, you probably know that I am a Lazy Genius devotee. And although I use and love all 13 lazy genius principles, the one that I use the most is without a doubt the magic question. What is the magic question, you ask? The magic question is what can I do now to make something easier later and it definitely helps make cooking dinner more enjoyable on a nightly basis.
Now, I work from home, so it’s easier for me to implement the magic question into my dinner routine on a daily basis. When I get up from my desk to use the bathroom or fill my water bottle, I simply do one thing that will help me make dinner that night. Most of the time, it’s as easy as filling a pot with water or setting up a cutting board. You might not think that doing these things ahead of time would make that big of a difference. You would be wrong. When I have everything I need to make dinner out and ready to go when it comes time to cook, I’m a much happier person.
Mix it up
Variety truly is the spice of life, and when you’re adding variety to your dinner menu, it helps to make cooking dinner more enjoyable too. Sure, there is merit to setting a meal plan schedule. Who didn’t grow up with Taco Tuesday or Pizza Friday? Even within a meal plan schedule, though, I urge you to add variety.
Let’s say your family celebrates Taco Tuesday every week. Instead of basic ground beef tacos each week, try a different taco recipe every other Tuesday. Try a fish taco recipe (this was the key to get my kids to eat fish!) or a taco skillet. Don’t underestimate the power of a new recipe to get you out of a dinner rut and make cooking dinner more enjoyable.
Have a drink
Turn the chore of making dinner into a treat by making yourself a special beverage to drink while you’re cooking. I don’t recommend having an alcoholic beverage every night while you cook dinner, but alcoholic drinks aren’t the only fun beverages. Make yourself a fancy decaf coffee or brew a cup of herbal tea. Pop a can of flavored sparkling water or pour yourself a tall glass of lemonade. Whatever drink feels fun to you will make cooking dinner more enjoyable.
With kids
My husband isn’t often home when I’m cooking dinner, but my 5-year-old and 3-year-old are. Because I’m primary parenting while I’m cooking dinner, that adds an extra degree of difficulty to making dinner that can make it go from tedious to dreadful pretty quickly. If you find yourself cooking dinner with kids around too, here are some tools you can have in your toolbox to make cooking dinner more enjoyable. Sorry, I can’t guarantee that your kids won’t fight while you’re making dinner. That would be the ultimate dream.
Go potty before you start cooking
If you have kids who need help in the bathroom (or are wearing diapers), it is imperative that you take care of the potty business before you start making dinner. I have learned this the hard way. If you don’t take care of the potty before you start making dinner, your kids will need to go right at the most critical time. Think you have raw meat on your hands or the broiler is on.
Luckily, this is usually pretty easy to accomplish. We have a rule now that kids go potty before I start cooking dinner. This usually means we go straight away once we get home from school (which has the added benefit of a good hand wash to get rid of the school germs). Since I instituted this rule, my dread level while making dinner has plummeted. I’m no longer waiting for someone to yell, “Mommy, I have to go potty!” If you have young kids who need your help in the bathroom, going potty before you start the dinner process will surely make cooking dinner more enjoyable.
Set them up with an activity
As you will see, I like to get my kids involved when I cook dinner. But they are 5 and 3, so they don’t always stay engaged in the dinner-making task I’ve set for them. I’m pretty sure gnats have longer attention spans. That’s why I always set up an alternate activity for them to do while I’m cooking dinner. They know where to go and what to do when they grow disinterested in cooking dinner so they don’t start making mischief.
When you’re setting up an activity for your kids to do while you’re making dinner, make sure it’s something they can do without your assistance. You might have raw meat on your hands, remember? Lately, these are my favorite independent activities for kids that make cooking dinner more enjoyable for me. I set them up somewhere within ear shot and let them come to the activity as they please.
Age-appropriate game
My kids have been really into games lately. They are learning that they have to follow the rules and work together if they want to spend a few minutes of fun. I have found that they can absolutely work together to play simple games without adult intervention. Some of there favorites are Eye Found It!, any sort of matching game, and Hi Ho Cherry-O.
Stickers
My 5-year-old is losing interest in stickers, but a sticker activity fits right into my 3-year-old’s wheelhouse. She loves stickers of any kind, but the best sticker activity to make cooking dinner more enjoyable for me is the Seek & Find Sticker Pad from Melissa & Doug. I just help her flip to the page she wants and make sure she has the right stickers and then she’s on her way to independent play while I’m cooking. Melissa & Doug, if you’re reading this, please make more of these!
Search & find
We also do a lot of search & find at the kitchen table while I’m cooking dinner. Our favorites are reusable kits from Skillmatics that come with dry erase markers and an erasing cloth. Just be careful – the markers aren’t washable!
Movie
Some days just call for a movie. No, I don’t turn on a movie or TV show every day while I’m cooking dinner, but sometimes it’s the right fit. Use your discretion, but do what you have to do to make cooking dinner more enjoyable.
Give them a job
I love to give my kids a job that has something to do with dinner while I’m cooking dinner. Not only does this practice allow me to delegate a task or two so I can get dinner on the table quicker, but it also makes the kids more likely to eat dinner. When they’re invested in it, they eat it. It’s magic.
Of course, when you’re thinking about giving your kids a dinner job, you need to make sure it’s age appropriate. My 5-year-old and 3-year-old can do the following tasks that make cooking dinner more enjoyable (and easier) for me:
- Set the table – My kids are great at grabbing forks, napkins, and beverages. They also take their plates to the table once I’ve loaded them up with dinner.
- Chopping and scooping – We have a set of kid-safe knives that get a ton of use. My kids love to chop vegetables with their very own knives! They also love to use the food scoops to make meatballs (and cookies). If you can give them a novel utensil to use, it’s a fun job!
Let them pick
Another sneaky way to make cooking dinner more enjoyable that also results in a higher likelihood of your kids eating their dinner is to let them pick. I include options for my kids surrounding dinner at every turn.
- When I’m meal planning, I ask them one thing they want to eat for dinner the next week.
- I almost always let the kids pick the fruit they want to eat for each meal. My only rule is that they can’t repeat fruits in a day, so if they had a banana for breakfast they can’t have another one for dinner. This is my way of ensuring that they eat the rainbow and stay regular. Too many bananas is one outcome, but too many raspberries is the exact opposite outcome, if you know what I mean.
- Another great way to incorporate choice into dinner for your kids is to let them pick their plate. If your cabinets look anything like mine, you have a plate in every color of the rainbow. That many options means you’re liable to never choose the right color. So, let them pick the plate (or the fork or the cup). They’ll be jazzed about eating off the purple and yellow plates, and you’ll be jazzed because you just made cooking dinner more enjoyable.
Other posts
Want more tips to make cooking dinner more enjoyable? Try these posts:
I hope you try out some of my strategies to make cooking dinner more enjoyable. What do you do to turn dinnertime from drudgery to enjoyment? Please share down below in the comments or over on Instagram @sarainseason.