If you need to get healthy, family-friendly dinners on the table every night without feeling stressed or spending hours in the kitchen, Dinner on the Table: 30-minute Meals You Actually Have Time For was created exactly for you.
Dinner on the Table is a self-paced guide, designed for time-poor mums who want to feed their families well, even when they’re stretched for time. It helps you to plan a week’s worth of meals quickly and efficiently, thanks to the unique combination of simple meal templates, prep tips, and time-saving strategies, enabling you to finally feel in control of your family’s nutrition.
A few years ago, I was in the same boat. I was juggling work, my kids, and the never-ending task of figuring out what to make for dinner, night after night. I often ended up scrambling to get something on the table, only to end up with a meal that felt rushed, unhealthy, or just plain uninspiring.
Within a couple of years of preparing food day in, day out, while coping with the mental gymnastics of working around my children’s whims, I started to dread preparing meals. Juggling work, school runs, the never-ending demands from the kids, I found myself exhausted come dinnertime, staring at the fridge looking for inspiration.
One day I realised that I never cook for ME anymore. And what used to be my favourite time of day suddenly became my most dreaded.
Something had to change.
I tried meal planning but I’d get overwhelmed by all the choice out there. Plus it felt too much to spend the time going through recipes. And what if I DIDN’T want to eat that after all?
I came up with a few ‘formulas’ that I could follow for regular meals that allowed for my family to build their own plates (so they could just choose what they wanted to eat) and still allowed me to cook the food I wanted to eat.
And just like that I rediscovered my love of cooking again. Now, I’ve distilled all of those lessons into this guide, so you can benefit from everything I’ve learned.
Just a few months ago, I went from feeling frazzled at dinnertime to consistently serving up healthy, balanced meals in 30 minutes or less. And I’m sharing the exact steps I took in this guide.
In Dinner on the Table, you’ll discover a new way of planning meals, starting with some simple concepts, so you can streamline your dinner routine and get dinner on the table within 30 minutes every day.
Simple, adaptable meal templates to take the guesswork out of dinner
Time-saving tips for prep and cooking
Tips on accommodating fussy eaters to create meals that everyone will enjoy
Strategies for making leftovers work harder so nothing goes to waste
A 6-week done for you meal plan with recipes, so you can get started right away (full permission to skip straight to that section!)
This is for you if:
You’re tired of scrambling at the last minute to get dinner ready.
You want to stop feeling overwhelmed by the thought of meal planning.
But you don’t want to compromise on nutrition or end up in the kitchen for hours.
Yes, when you spend a little time upfront in thinking through your meals for the week, you save time and energy later on, because the decision is made just once! Plus you'll have the exact ingredients you need for that week, so no more wasted food or dashing out to the shop for a forgotten ingredient.
This is not a rigid plan! I don't just tell you what to eat for the week and leave you in the lurch. In this guide I show you how to plan flexible meals using a resource of simple spice mixes, sauces and marinades, to repurpose leftovers into a variety of meals. You'll n ever get bored and – most importantly – you'll learn how to do it yourself!
In the guide I encourage you to build a pantry of staples so you can have endless options to bulk out meals cheaply with what you already have. Over time you will build your own instinct on how to adapt recipes to suit what you have rather than rushing out for a new ingredient you'll use just once and forget about.
The template system makes it easy to adapt meals based on your family's preferences and fussy eaters. Plus, I share a super important step you need to take before you start planning that will help ensure everyone's preferences are accommodated.
The recipes are completely customisable, and I offer options to substitute meat options for vegetarian ones. I hope over time you will develop an instinct for adapting to suit you – most recipes aren't as rigid as we believe! I have also included a whole week's worth of vegetarian recipes, including 5 incredible nut roast ideas.