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How to make family dinner a priority

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Now that it’s February, the excitement of the new year has probably started to fade for you. And it’s around this time of the year that it can begin to feel like you just want to give up on your goals for 2019.

This week’s episode of The Crystal Paine Show might be just the shot in the arm you need to get back on track! I’m chatting with Tiffany King from Eat At Home Cooks — a woman who has made it her mission to help busy women spend less time and effort in the kitchen and more time as a family. 

Tune in to learn about why eating together as a family has been so impactful for Tiffany and her family (even though she readily admits it’s been a struggle at times — especially when her kids were young!).

We’ll talk about how to stop over-complicating dinner, why it’s okay to have super simple dinners (and we’ll give you some ideas for what might work for your family), and how to deal with trying to juggle multiple schedules and evening activities as your kids get older!

By the way, if you’d like more help, I have put together a free Eat at Home Challenge. I’ll send you a one-week grocery list + menu plan + a quick and easy crockpot recipe for each day and lots of money-saving and time-saving tips and suggestions. Plus, you’ll get access to a private Facebook Group to give you more accountability.

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In This Episode:

[01:40] – This week, what’s saving my life is my very favorite magnesium. I share why I take it, how much I take, when I take it, and how it’s helped me sleep better and be healthier.

[03:41] – I finally picked my top reads from 2018 (better late than never, eh?) I tell you about them on this episode!

[06:52] – This episode’s amazing sponsor is You Need a Budget. We’ve personally used this software for years and love it!

[09:30] – Having a plan for dinner (and having it already made) is one of the best ways I’ve found to reduce chaos in the evening and spend more time with my kids.

[13:47] – If you struggle to get dinner on the table at night, you’ll be encouraged with Tiffany’s tips + you’ll be inspired to hear how eating together as a family has made such a difference in their home.

[16:42] – I ask Tiffany about what to do when you have kids who have evening activities or older kids with differing schedules. She shares her go-to recipes for nights when the family needs to eat at shifts instead of all together at the same time.

[18:53] – Tiffany offers advice on quick and easy meal ideas for people who feel tired and stressed out, or don’t have much time or energy. She also shares about her meal-planning system, and what gave her the inspiration to start making meal plans.

[26:21] – I promised you a freebie at the beginning of this episode and here it is! I put together a week-long eat-at-home challenge based on Tiffany’s menu plans to give you a taste of what they’re like. Head to this link to sign up!

[27:47] – How do you get everyone out the door on time and peacefully? I share some strategies and advice that has worked well for our family — including some words of hope for young moms!

Links and Resources:

How to Listen to The Crystal Paine Show

The podcast is available on iTunes, Android, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can listen online through the direct player we’ll include in the show notes of each episode. OR, a much easier way to listen is by subscribing to the podcast through a free podcast app on your phone. (Find instructions for how to subscribe to a podcast here.)

Ready to dive in and listen? Hit the player above or search for “The Crystal Paine Show” on your favorite podcast app.

YNAB Platforms

Sponsor Spotlight

This episode is sponsored by YouNeedaBudget.com — the budgeting software we have personally used for the past two years and absolutely love.

We were introduced to this budgeting software by my brother-in-law, Justin, a few years ago. He and my husband, Jesse, are both what I would lovingly refer to as “nerds”.

You know the kind of people… those people who think spreadsheets are fun. And who geek out over features in Excel. Yup, those kinds of people.

You might as well poke my eyeballs out with a hot iron rod than get to me be giddy over creating spreadsheets. But nevertheless, I love Spreadsheet Nerds because they help keep people like me in line and on track! 

Anyway, it was around Christmastime and Justin started telling Jesse about YouNeedaBudget — what we call YNAB for short. Jesse and I had both heard of this software before, but we had been using Quicken for so long that we’d not considered changing to anything else.

Well, when Jesse saw the features of YNAB, he was intrigued enough to sign up for the free trial. And it was pretty much love at first sight.

Truthfully, I can’t even begin to tell you how often I’ve heard him exclaiming to me, to friends, or just to himself something about, “How cool and helpful YNAB is!”

I’m such a pen and paper and cash girl, but after all his raving reviews, I finally gave in and downloaded it on my phone and had him show me how it works. It’s really, really impressive. I love how we can see exactly how we’re doing in every budget in just one glance.

And since we have multiple budgets for our businesses and personal, it allows us to track them all in one app. Which is so handy!

Next week, I’ll tell you more why Jesse loves this budgeting software so much and how it has benefitted our family personally, but for now, if you’d like to check it out, YNAB is offering my listeners something special.

They usually only offer a 30-day trial, but they are giving you all a FREE 60-day trial so you can really get a feel for it and see how well it works. 

Go here to sign up for your FREE 60-Day YNAB trial.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, we may receive a small commission — at no additional cost to you. Thank you so much for your support!

Reader Interactions

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  1. J says

    I’m listening to your podcast as I type this and I’m so curious: 1. Is the person who does the introduction a relative (maybe a sister?) of yours? AND 2. do they also do voice work for any Bed Bath and Beyond products?! I was at BB&B the other day, they have TVs EVERYWHERE with product commercials playing (which drives me crazy, but that’s another story for another day!), and my ears perked up when I thought I heard the same woman’s voice on a commercial there. It just struck me as humorous, but I’d love to know. 🙂
    Keep up the good work! I love the pace of the podcast!

    • Crystal Paine says

      She’s not a relative; she’s a voice actor we hired because I liked her voice (that sounds sort of weird, I know!). And I believe she’s done a lot of other voiceover work, so that is very possible.

  2. Guest says

    A coworker in my 20s shared with me that her Italian mom cooked the same thing every week. I’m making this up because I don’t remember exactly but let’s say Monday was Manicotti Monday – all of the kids knew that every Monday they were having manicotti. Every Tuesday they were having spaghetti, etc.

    While I prefer a bit more variety, I have learned that too much variety over complicates and also results in over spending because I have to be special ingredients that don’t get used much. I stick with a portfolio of meals I know we like and try to rotate through those.