Making Dinnertime Less Stressful #anythingspastable ⋆ Ok, Dani

This post was created in partnership with Three Bridges pasta for the sake of my sanity…and yours!

My kids argue. Do yours? Or do you have perfect little angel children?

Mine argue about anything. They’ll oppose each other even if they both ultimately want the same thing. If I say “get your shoes on, we’re going to the park.” and one child responds happily immediately, then the other child will be like “noooo I wanna stay hoooome!” Even if they were just begging to go the park. It’s both hilarious and at the same time so annoying I want to punt them both across the street.

Dinnertime is one of the prime drama times. Getting them to agree on what they want to eat is a task. We are working on it, and it has gotten significantly less annoying, I’ll be honest. But it’s mainly because I’ve gotten some new tricks:

I offer less. – I’ll give two options and that’s it. (they both still try to negotiate for more, which is great…they’ll make excellent attorneys in the future)
First one to decide gets to help. – This only works about 75% of the time. They sometimes don’t give a hoot about helping me.
If you are eating, you can read. – This gets dinner eaten faster with less arguing and something productive going on. I’ll admit, it’s not the most mindful choice, but it sure helps my sanity on migraine days.

I also have some tricks that I use for my own planning and preparation to make the evenings easier come dinnertime.

I keep pureed fresh veggies at the ready – I hide vegetables in almost everything I give the kids. I have them pre-pureed and on standby so if a kid is helping me cook or if they’re around as I cook, they wont see me sneaking veggies into their dishes.
I do faux meal prep – Some staple items like brown rice, roasted/grilled meats, roasted sweet potato, chilli, pasta sauces I’ll make on Sunday for the week ahead. I can then just quickly grab and add to it for a full meal.
I keep #easybutton items on hand – I like having frozen nuggets, prepped pastas, and frozen ‘one pot’ meals I know the kids will devour quickly on hand for lazy days or times when I’m just at my wits end.

We recently tried Three Bridges Pastas and sauces and it’s helped dinner time a lot as well. I told you my kids will argue. And forcing them to agree on one thing sometimes drives me to the brink of insanity. With the varieties of pasta that Three Bridges offers, I don’t have to do that anymore.

The kids get to choose the pasta flavor and pasta type they want to eat, and lucky me, I can just throw them both into the same pot of salted water and boom! dinner’s ready for both kiddos in just a few minutes.

When I was a kid we were not given choices like that for mealtimes. It was just eat what you’re given or starve. I’m trying to ensure my kids always feel like they have a choice, no matter what. Products like Three Bridges Pasta (and sauces) help me do that.

Everyone wins. The kids get the pride and autonomy of coming to their own decision and getting exactly what they want, I get no arguments, I get to prepare dinner super quickly, and both kids eat with no drama because it’s what they decided they wanted.

I will say this though… last night Rohan wanted ravioli and Kaya said she wanted tortellini, I confirmed several times. We made it, and served it to her…. and here she is all upset right after saying “I want the ones Rohan’s having!”

::heavy sigh::

It’s not a perfect system… but it’s saving my kids from getting punted outside, that’s for sure.

Outside of keeping my kids alive, the brand is healthy, fresh pasta that is fairly clean! No hormones, uses clean ingredients, includes superfoods, and many varieties have good amounts of protein in it. I feel confident eating it myself on carb days as well as serving it to my children.

Listen, today is International Pasta Day! Perfect time to get yourself some Three Bridges Pasta and chow down! My favorite flavor so far is the butternut squash ravioli. John eats the spinach tortellini with the superfood pesto sauce (made with kale!) and loves it.
There is sure to be a favorite flavor for every one in your family.