Stouffer's Lets Fix Dinner Challenge and Give Away!

I recently had the opportunity to visit Stouffer's at the Nestle Culinary Center in Solon, Ohio. I had a wonderful time catching up with some of my bloggy buddies, including several of the ElevenMoms and meeting new blogging friends as well!

The reason Stouffer's invited us all out was to discuss the Family Dinner at a blogger roundtable. Although my son is only 9 weeks old my husband and I have already had several conversations about how we intend to raise our son including keeping the lines of communication open and making time for one another and our kids in this fast paced society.

Sitting down to a family meal was important to me growing up. My mom always made a healthy meal for our family five to seven nights a week. This was a special time that my parents took the time to talk to my brother and I about our day. I remember our family dinners quite fondly because my parents made it a relaxing time to enjoy one another - no rush to jump up and do something else. The family dinner was so important to me growing up that I am making it my goal to duplicate this for my own family now. This may mean saying no to some engagements and prioritizing after school activities.

Family meal time is a priority to me because it gives us a chance to talk to one another and connect - but it is also a way to save money! Eating at home cost less than eating out. However, after listening to several wonderful speakers at Stouffer's I learned that family meal time (be it dinner - or breakfast or lunch) has a bigger impact than even I knew. Some of the eye-opening facts I learned were:

• Teens who have frequent family dinners are more likely to say thier parents are very proud of them.
  
• Teens who have frequent family dinners are liklier oto say they get mostly A's and B's in school
• The more often teens have dinner with thier families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink, or use drugs.
  
• Teens who have frequent family dinners are likelier to say thier parents are the adults they would go to if they had a serious problem.
  

Now these facts are focusing on those strange animals we call "teenagers" - the members of our family that can be the toughest to interact with - who knew dinner time could be so important to the development of your teenager!

But, family meal time is important at an early age too! Did you know that family meal time is more important to developing vocabulary than story time! WHOA! As a teacher who knows the importance of reading to your children I was floored by this finding!

Family dinner can seem like a daunting task. Especially when you've got kids coming in saying their starving, your pooped from a long day at work, and your kids have after school activities that keep you running all over town.

For those of us who find getting dinner to the table a chore, here are some tips for getting dinner to the table from Top Chef's Antonia Lofaso:

1. Plan a basic menu for the week, shopping all at once, so you don’t have to make many trips to the store. This way, when your kids ask “What’s for dinner?” you have an answer.

2. Keep your refrigerator organized by separating dairy, proteins, veggies, etc. This ensures that you prevent spoilage and know exactly what you have to work with.

3. Have key “go to” ingredients with longer shelf lives in the freezer, refrigerator and pantry.

4. Use a crock pot. Start a stew in the morning, leave it, and by the time you come home, it’s ready!

5. Have themed nights with interchangeable proteins. Example: ground chicken for a meatloaf can be used for tacos the next night.

6. Make Friday pizza night! STOUFFER’S French Bread Pizza with a vegetable salad is quick and easy!

7. Set aside one day a month to prepare a couple of homemade meals that can be frozen and used later in the month, like soups and stews.

8. Let the kids help! Create good habits by letting them make the salad and set the table.

9. Keep it simple! Thirty minutes or less is plenty of time to prepare a delicious meal. You will have more time with your family and for yourself.

10. Cook larger portions so you have leftovers the next day. For example, Turkey Bolognese is perfect as a Sloppy Joe for lunch the next day.

I hope you will find time to have a family meal (be it dinner or Saturday brunch) at least three times a week. And, if you are up to the challenge, go check out Stouffer's Let's Fix Dinner Challenge!

All you have to do is:
1. Register your family HERE
2. Set a weekly goal to be entered in their sweepstakes
3. Update your family dinner status each week to be entered to win even more prizes!

And, because I believe that having family meal time is so important...
I am giving away 5 sets of 5 Stouffer's coupons to 5 lucky readers thanks to my friends at Stouffer's!

Stouffer's has a goal of reaching 1 million family dinners by 9/28/09 - so to qualify for the prize you MUST go enter the Let's Fix Dinner Challenge HERE. Once you have entered your family come back and leave a comment here telling me you did so. You'll be doing your family a favor and you'll be entered to win some fabulous prizes besides the ones here!

YOU MUST DO THE ABOVE TO QUALIFY - Then you can do any or all of these things for EXTRA ENTRIES!!

• Tweet about this give away (up to once per day!). Grab this and post it on Twitter: @CentsibleSawyer is givin away Stouffer's coupons 2 5-winners Enter at: http://tinyurl.com/rdyenz & take Stouffer's #letsfixdinner challenge

• How does your family do family meal time? Leave a comment telling us something about your family's meal time - a challenge, a tip, a fun thing you do... ANYTHING!
  

• Grab my button and post it on your side bar or add a text link to this blog on your side bar - then come back and leave a separate comment.

• Blog about this give away and leave a link in the comments section here.

• Email 5 friends and tell them about this give away and copy it to me at denisesawyer at gmail dot com.

• Subscribe to my feed - you'll get updates in your favorite reader or delivered to your email! You'll be notified when their is a new post - so you'll always be up on the current deals! Leave a separate comment telling me you did so.
  

You have until Friday, May 15 at 11:59 pm EST to enter. On Saturday, May 16 I will choose 5 winners via random.org and post is here! Be sure to subscribe to my feed so you don't miss your name!