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Weeknight Family Meals & #ComfortFromHome

This post may contain affiliate links. You can read my disclosure policy here.

This post brought to you by Marie Callender’s. The content and opinions expressed below are that of A Virtuous Woman.

Weeknight Family Dinners @ AVirtuousWoman.org

Weeknight Family Meals

Family meal time should be about sharing laughter and good food with people you love. Most moms know that mealtimes are an important part of family life. Some days are really busy and it can be hard to find time to cook a delicious meal that pleases the whole family. Weeknight Family Dinners @ AVirtuousWoman.org My kids are growing up so fast! Between music lessons, ice skating lessons, homeschooling our weeks are filled to the brim with things to do. The one constant in every single day is that we have to eat. And since we have to eat, I want to eat good food. Like every day. I want my kids to remember eating good food at home. And I want them to cherish memories of us sitting at the table together enjoying a delicious meal and fellowship together.

3 Tips for Making Mealtime Memories

1. Turn off the TV, phone, iPod, and computer. Memories are made easier when family members are not distracted. So many families are experiencing a disconnect from each other because of their connection to the online world. Mealtimes should be sacred family time. Guard that time by setting boundaries and simple rules. Sit together at the table.

2. Enjoy good conversation. Keep the conversation lighthearted and uplifting. Dinner time isn’t the time to talk about stressful things. Don’t use the time to reprimand your children or bring up tense subjects. Your family might even enjoy using a family devotion or discussion starter to get meaningful conversation going!

3. Keep it simple. Mealtime doesn’t have to be difficult to pull together to be memorable. There are days when I feed my family on paper plates. Not everyday but it does happen.And just because we sit at the table together doesn’t mean I have to “set the table.”

Most of the time I call my family to come eat and they fix their plates in the kitchen and bring them into the dining room {or our dining area in the family room} to eat.

Simple also means that sometimes I serve my family prepared foods like those from Marie Callender’s. Tonight we ate a simple meal – leftover chili, peas, and Marie Callender’s Vermont Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese. Weeknight Family Dinners @ AVirtuousWoman.org You see, it’s not the amount of time you spend cooking the perfect recipe or the flair with which you set the table. It’s your smile along with comforting food that will mean the most to your family. {And you don’t get much more comforting than creamy Vermont Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese!} Family is what it’s really all about. 

#ComfortsFromHome Project

Family. Imagine if you had a loved one who was serving overseas in the military this holiday season. Maybe you do! Dinner time isn’t quite the same when a loved one is missing. Weeknight Family Dinners @ AVirtuousWoman.org Our men and women in the military {and their families} sacrifice so much on behalf of all of us! My brother was an Army Ranger who served in Iraq and Afganistan, leaving behind his wife and little ones for several years. He’s a true hero! Weeknight Family Dinners @ AVirtuousWoman.org

And that’s why I’m excited about partnering with Marie Callender’s this holiday season. The Comforts From Home Project helps support USO2GO. When you purchase a specially marked package of Marie Callender’s frozen dinners or desserts it only takes a minute to enter the code on the Comforts From Home website.

For every entry by 1/31/2015 of an 8-digit code found on participating products, Marie Callender’s will donate $.50 to the USO2GO program. Guaranteed minimum donation: $100,000. Maximum donation: $250,000. Limit 5 code entries per person/computer each day. Valid in U.S. Only.

Plus, there’s one more way you can help! Many of you have probably heard of Thunderclap, but for those who haven’t, it is a tool that helps promote wider reach of messages by broadcasting them at the same time through the social media channels of friends – or in this case, a large group of consumers promoting the same good cause. In the coming weeks, the Marie team will start reaching out to consumers through the brand’s Facebook page to get them to sign up to be part of the Thunderclap which will launch on Sunday, 11/30 if we meet our supporter goal.

Think of it like this: a person sees the link to the Marie CFH Thunderclap page on Facebook -> click the link -> land on the Marie Thunderclap page where they can sign up to support Marie Callender’s CFH through Facebook/Twitter/Tumblr -> on 11/30 the pre-populated Marie Callender’s CFH message (below) will be automatically posted on that person’s feed -> our message is seen by thousands and incremental codes are entered!

You can sign up to support this effort RIGHT NOW by visiting Marie Callender’s Thunderclap page. The message, “Help the USO & Marie Callender’s Meals bring the #ComfortsFromHome to troops overseas. Enter the on-pack code today! http://thndr.it/1E3IE6x” will hopefully encourage thousands to enter the on-pack code and therefore drive donations to USO2GO. Help them reach their goal of 250.. right now their only at 47! You can also follow Marie Callender’s Facebook page.

How do you make weeknight meals memorable for your family?

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