What's on the Menu?
Say you are having a family gathering. What is typically on the menu?
I ask you this so that the next time you go to a family gathering that includes food (what family gathering doesn't involve food?) you are certain to have healthy options on the menu.
To help you out, I will use a recent family gathering that was held at my aunt's house to celebrate my mother's seventy-fifth birthday.
Planning the Menu
After many weeks of texting, phone calls, changing of dates, and a near break down because our bathroom would not be done in time to have the party at our house, we kicked off the party in a style that is reminiscent of our family gatherings.
You will see what I mean in a bit. Let me know if you can relate.
We decided on having a brunch rather than dinner.
Somewhere between work, blogging, and preparing for the launch of my book, Diet-Free Me: How to Stop Struggling, Lose Weight, and Embrace a Healthy Lifestyle, the family and I came up with a menu.
It started as follows:
- Chicken and waffles
- Bagels (I had commented at one point that we probably had enough carbs, but we kept them on the list)
- Fruit for waffle toppings or as part of the meal
- Mixed greens
- Macaroni salad
- Mimosas
Expanded Menu
My aunt, in true family fashion, was fearful we would not have enough food.
There is ALWAYS a fear in my family that we will not have enough food.
I know better. I know we will ALWAYS have more than enough food.
My concern was that the menu did not have enough protein.
As a result of our fears and concerns…
as we moved closer to the party the menu grew to include:
- Biscuits
- Sausage
- Orange juice
- Egg frittatas
- A birthday cake (I was willing to bypass a cake, but, well, the day was not about me.)
Menu by the Time of the Party
By the time we said grace, the dining room table was covered with the above items, plus some.
Food was also placed on a table out on the patio where there was additional seating.
Admittedly, as much as I hate that we go overboard with our menu, with a family of diabetics, other health issues, some people trying to lose weight and others trying not to gain weight, I wanted to be sure that we had healthy options.
Sooo….
In addition to all of the above, we also had:
- Grilled salmon
- Grilled skinless chicken breasts and tenders
- Freshly made guacamole
- Freshly made salsa
- Chips for the guacamole and salsa
Needless to say, we had more than enough food. Does that happen in your family too?
What About Being Certain to have Healthy Options?
The best advice I can give is to suggest that you do what I did. Here is how you are certain to have healthy options.
Know your family and be prepared. Even if your family goes off script, you know your family will not go too far off script. Brunch was out of the norm for our family, but what I knew was that we would have plenty of refined carbohydrates. That is why I wanted to be prepared by adding protein to the menu. It is also why we had fruit and mixed greens.
Suggest menu items. Help make the menu by suggesting menu items. When my aunt and I were first discussing the menu I wanted to have protein by way of eggs. My initial suggestion was to have an omelette station that included precut veggies for omelette filling. With so many people planning to attend that idea was not going to work. To solve this problem, one of my cousins came up with the idea to prepare frittatas.
Make a contribution to the menu. I talk about this in previous posts and in my book. One sure fire way to make sure you have healthy options at any party is for you to make something healthy and bring it to the party. That is why I got up at 5:30 in the morning to grill some salmon and skinless chicken breasts. We also made fresh guacamole (good fat) and fresh salsa.
There. The next time there is a family gathering you know what to do to be sure healthy items are on the menu.
Keep the discussion going: What tactics do you use to be sure healthy items are on the menu for a party? Share in the comments, Facebook, or Twitter.