4 Family Dinners Kids Can Make
It’s been helpful for our whole family to have our kids get more involved in the kitchen. Here are 4 healthy, hearty family dinners kids can make that our 9 & 7 year olds can do entirely on their own. … Read More
About 6 months ago, we started having our oldest make dinner one night each week as part of our family economy. It’s amazing now, but it took a little while to get into a good rhythm with these dinners kids can make.
The first couple of months, it felt like a constant surprise when Wednesdays rolled around. I had to scramble to think of something for him to make for which we had the ingredients. Then I had to find a recipe and pull it up on my laptop or print it out. He’d have lots of questions about the wording of different recipes, and substitutions weren’t always obvious. It felt like MORE work for me rather than less.
After a few months, I decided I was just going to pick a few recipes that were at his skill level and for which we often had ingredients readily available (or which we could plan in advance). I picked ones he’d made before, so I knew he was capable of putting them together. I was hopeful he’d get better and faster at them with practice. Three of the four recipes could also be made in the Instant Pot, so they wouldn’t take a lot of monitoring and could easily be made after school.
Once I picked the recipes, I rewrote them in very straightforward language with any modifications/simplifications. Then I printed and laminated them so they’d always be available and stay in good condition week after week.
Since he makes dinner once a week, I chose 4 recipes to put in the rotation. That way, it would be easy to master a few meals, and once a month seemed perfectly acceptable to repeat each one.
These recipes for dinners kids can make on their own are all vegetarian friendly since our family doesn’t eat meat, but are also delicious for meat eaters (or so I’m told). (And then you don’t need to worry about a kid dealing with meat sanitation.) They all feel simple and doable, and are reasonably healthy and feel like a real meal (i.e., not mac & cheese or PB&J, although zero shame in using those, too! 😉). Plus, they’re recipes the whole family loves.
At the start of the year, we decided to add our daughter, who is 7, into the family meal rotation. We figured she could help out by making a vegetable side dish on the same day that our oldest makes the main dish. I picked a few vegetables that would require a bit of chopping and preparation for practice, but not so much that it would get overwhelming. Between the main dish and vegetable side dish, these are complete meals kids can make by themselves.
While I wanted our kids contributing to our home, I didn’t want it to take tons and tons of time for them. We have the kids make dinner on our school early release day, so they have a bit more time. Each of the main dish recipes takes our oldest between 10-30 minutes to prepare, and the sides take about 5-15 minutes.
Here are the 4 family dinners kids can make that we chose for their rotation!
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You don’t need these exact items, and you likely already have most (if not all) of these in your kitchen. These are the basic tools that make it easy to complete these family dinners kids can make by themselves.
¾ cup dry black beans
1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground chili powder
1 t salt
1 cup uncooked brown rice
3 cups water
1 cup frozen whole-kernel corn ½ t black pepper
1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
(adapted from here)
1/2 box jumbo pasta shells
2 cups ricotta
1 large egg
Pinch of salt and pepper
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese (about 2 ounces)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (about 4 ounces)
1T milk
About half a jar marinara sauce
Fresh basil for topping (optional)
(heavily adapted from here)
3-28oz cans of whole peeled tomatoes
¼ cup dark brown sugar
½ t salt
4 tablespoons butter
1 large onion
Pinch ground allspice
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 bags frozen tortellini
1/2 cup heavy cream
(adapted from here)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion diced
2 t chopped garlic from a jar
2 t ground ginger
4 t ground cumin
4 t ground coriander
2 t ground turmeric
2 t garam masala
3 t smoked paprika
1 t salt
1 28-oz can tomatoes (diced or crushed)
2 c dried chickpeas
2 cups water
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 cups brown rice
2.5 cups water
1 T oil
1 t salt
4 sweet potatoes
1 T oil
1 t salt
½ bag lettuce, kale, or spinach
2 pieces of fruit (pears, apples, or oranges)
1 cucumber
Crumbled feta, gorgonzola, or goat cheese
2 handfuls of nuts
2 heads of broccoli (or use pre-chopped broccoli to avoid cutting)
2 T oil
2 t salt
2 lbs baby carrots
2 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4-1/2 tsp black pepper