Editorial: Dinner table is key to family

Eating together at the kitchen table helps families to bond.

Eating dinner together as a family every night was a given growing up.

Mum had dinner ready and on the table not long after Dad walked in the door every night.

The meals were varied and were healthy - not to mention affordable.

I always enjoyed having dinner together. Some nights it was fairly quiet. Other nights there was plenty of chatter.

It's a shame to read 16 per cent of Bay of Plenty and Waikato residents almost never sit down with their family for dinner.

Even now, my husband and I make a point of sitting down at the table to eat most nights. Life can get so busy it's important to prioritise time to sit and find out what's been going on in each other's lives when you're not distracted by the TV or a computer or a phone.

It's a tradition and a habit I hope to continue and instil in our own kids one day.

Hand-in-hand with that goes the meal itself.

Nutritionist Fiona Boyle recently told the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend that families had become time poor and many people lacked basic cooking skills.

I'm glad I learned basic skills by helping my mum and my nana cook as a kid. I also picked up new tips and skills from flatmates when I moved out of home.

When I started cooking I largely stuck to recipes - any one can do that. With a bit of experience you learn to wing it more and more.

It's not hard to cook quick, healthy, cheap meals if you make it a priority. If you shop wisely and stock up on groceries every week, making dinners (and even lunches) becomes much easier. It really does come down to being organised.

What doesn't surprise me is that 29 per cent of Bay of Plenty and Waikato people say they cook fewer than six meals that they repeat each week.

I am often guilty of that. We have our quick easy staples that we eat most weeks (at least for the most part they are pretty healthy).

When you come home at 6pm after a long day at work and you're starving, quick and easy is often appealing.

I hope home cooking and family meals are not a thing of the past.