Most people put a pretty clear divide between eating in and eating out. Eating in is routine and passes without much fanfare. Eating out is an occasion and an opportunity to really enjoy a delicious meal.
But who says it has to be that way? Not only are great meals possible at home, but they’re easier to achieve. After all, at home you’re in charge of everything: the menu, the atmosphere, and who’s in the space.
Plus, great meals aren’t as complicated to put together as you might think. If you’re already cooking at home, then a few simple upgrades are usually all that’s required to take dinner time to the next level.
In this post, we’ll outline some handy tips that can turbocharge your family’s meal times so that they’re consistently offering an experience that often exceeds what you would get from a restaurant.
Set a Time
There’s one thing that tends to undermine family dinners, and that’s: a casual approach. While sometimes they’re necessary, if they’re the rule, not the exception, then it’s hard to make the claim that dinnertime is highly valued.
There’s one easy way to get around this issue, and that’s to set a time. This builds it into the family’s routine, all the while demonstrating that it’s an important part of the day. You’d be surprised at how much this influences the quality of the dinners. Once momentum is there, you’ll find that the family simply gets into the groove as soon as they sit down.
Upgrade Your Kitchen Setup
The quality of the kitchen influences dinner more than you might expect, and for one simple reason: if you don’t enjoy being in your kitchen, then it’s unlikely that you’ll be happy to spend time there — and good cooking requires time, or at the very least, can’t be rushed.
You don’t need to undergo a full kitchen renovation unless the space needs it. A few simple upgrades can have an impact. Decluttering the space can help to lower cooking-related stress, while investing in a great knife, cutting board, and spice rack can genuinely make cooking a more enjoyable experience.
Create a Restaurant-Worthy Dining Space
People tend to think that creating a restaurant-worthy dining space is difficult, but actually, it usually just involves incorporating a few simple additions. A good tablecloth, napkins, and a few candles on the table can have a transformative impact on the overall ambiance of the space.
And aside from simply looking pretty, it can help to set the tone for the dinner, since people are more likely to engage with the occasion if there’s an environment to match.
Master a Few Key Recipes
It can be fun to try a new recipe on occasion, but you can argue that the best dinners are the ones where the cook has truly mastered the dish.
You’d be surprised at how good you can make a meal if you do so over and over again. Plus, aside from simply tasting better, mastering a few dishes can make cooking dinner more enjoyable, since you’ll be able to work intuitively, without having to check the recipe.
Choose around 5- 7 dishes to make again and again, but also have one dish that becomes your signature. Over time, you’ll become such a master of it that people will end up requesting it — and there’s nothing like praise for your cooking to motivate you to get back in the kitchen.
Host Special Menu Dinners From Time to Time
Mastering a few key recipes will elevate your nightly dinners, but what about those special occasions? For those, it’s worth pushing the boat out slightly and delivering a dining experience that you would typically associate with a top-quality restaurant.
Putting together a showstopping meal can sound intimidating, but it’s much easier than you might think. Mostly, it comes down to including one special food item that you and your other diners do not usually get the chance to eat, such as a delicious ribeye steak or stone crab claws. You can find ribeye steaks from a specialty butcher and buy stone crab claws online, so they’re a lot easier to source than you might think. Additionally, they’re a lot easier to prepare than you might think, too, especially stone crab claws, which offer a truly delicious meal in just a few simple steps.
Embrace Dessert
Dessert can be a wonderful addition to dinners at home, but most families underutilize it. Often, desserts involve a quick ice cream or are eaten on the couch. That can be fine for most of the time, but there’s something to be said for making a habit of occasionally having a great dessert at the dining table. It’s usually at that moment that the best conversations happen. And talking of which…
Long Dinner Conversations
Humans have held great conversations over dinner for thousands of years, yet it feels like it’s becoming a bit of a lost art. Setting the intention to change that can take dinnertime to the next level, turning what might just be an eating experience into one that’s creative and intellectually stimulating.
The best conversations happen spontaneously, but they’re also usually a result of the right conditions. If there’s one thing that can kill a great conversation before it even starts, it’s phones at the table. You and your family have plenty of opportunities to be on your smartphones; the dining table doesn’t need to be one of them.
Another fun idea is to have a list of dinner table questions on hand. Asking those deeper or unusual questions can be the launchpad for a terrific conversation that has everyone at the dining table for hours.
Final Thoughts
Dinnertime is about much more than feeding ourselves. It’s a chance to connect and to really enjoy the simple pleasures of life. Done correctly, they really can serve as one of the most enjoyable parts of the day, a chance to spend quality time with your loved ones, all the while savoring a nourishing meal.
