Life is busy. Especially in the spring. We are on the go many nights during the week and many times are eating dinner somewhere other than the dinner table.
I love the idea of healthy family dinners where everyone gets to unwind and chat about their days. So instead of sacrificing mealtime or making the kids miss soccer practice I’ve decided to think outside the box and make it work for us.
Here are some of my favorite tips for taking dinner on the go!
Thanks Horizon Organic for sponsoring these mealtime solutions.
Mealtime Solutions for Dinner
You don’t need a lot of special materials to pack dinner to go. You can use your kids’ regular lunchboxes and containers–when you’re busy simple is always good!
Put it on a stick or in a jar.
Dinner on the go doesn’t have to be boring! Make it fun by putting their food on a stick or layering it in a jar. You can put fruit and cheese on a wooden skewer or layer a salad in a jar.
My kids love to eat chicken bites on a stick and I love how simple they are to make!
How to Make Chicken Bites on a Stick:
- Use kitchen shears to cut boneless, skinless chicken breasts into bite-size chunks.
- Put a large handful of Horizon Cheddar Snack Crackers into a quart sized plastic bag and let the kids crush them with their fingers and then pour the crumbs into a small bowl.
- Pour a little bit of Horizon Organic Milk into a small bowl.
- Dip the chicken pieces in the milk and then coat them in the cheddar cracker crumbs.
- Lightly fry in a pan with olive oil. Let cool and stick on sticks.
Get the kids to help.
This year we’ve been working on teaching our kids to pack their own school lunches and it’s been great. They can help with dinners too. Kids can choose meals to make, help prep and pack their food, and assist with clean up. Cooking and preparing food is full of learning opportunities for children and is a great way to build independence.
Be green.
Use reusable containers to pack your dinners in. This not only saves you money (yay!) it also helps keep unnecessary waste out of our landfills.
Keep it warm.
Just because you’re not at home doesn’t mean dinner has to be cold. Use a thermos to keep your favorite hot foods hot while you are out.
My kids love to have breakfast for dinner so I like to switch things up and pack oatmeal. And adding flavor makes it even more fun!
We like making ours with Horizon’s Strawberry Milk and Chocolate Snack Grahams.
Just swap the strawberry milk for water or milk when you make plain oatmeal and add some crushed chocolate snack grahams to the top. It’s delicious served with fresh strawberries.
Add some conversation.
Chatting about what happened that day is a big part of what makes family dinners so special. Make sure to get your kids talking even on a busy day. Add fun tongue twisters, table topic questions or jokes to their dinners to help spark conversation.
Dinner on the go doesn’t have to be stressful! Make a point to connect with your family each day even if it’s in the car in between practices or while waiting for a sibling to finish music lessons.
Visit Horizon Organic website for many more snack and meal options for busy nights and follow them on Facebook and Twitter for the latest product info!
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Horizon Organics. The opinions and text are all mine.
