Skip to content

Family Food

Lunchboxes, weeknight dinners, meal planning, fussy eaters and feeding a family without overspending.

Articles in this topic

Latest in Family Food
Slow cooker casserole beside a saucepan of thicker gravy and a small bowl of cornflour paste.
australian families

Why Slow Cooker Meals Turn Out Watery, and How to Fix It

A thin slow cooker sauce needs a different fix from a bland…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
Pantry shelf with food packets at the front and matching spare stock in a shallow tray behind them.
australian families

How to organise a pantry so nothing expires unnoticed

A tidy pantry can still hide forgotten food. Give opened packets, earlier…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
Pantry ingredients and an egg carton arranged beside a notebook on a kitchen bench.
australian households

How to build a one week family meal plan from what’s already in the pantry

Turn partly used packets and tins into a dated dinner plan. A…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
A small selection of dinner ingredients arranged beside a notebook on a kitchen table.
australian families

Budget family dinner checklist for the last week of the month

Make the remaining dinner budget match the evenings ahead. This checklist helps…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
A simple menu grid and pencil beside dinner plates on a kitchen bench.
australian families

Setting up a rotating family dinner menu that actually gets used

A dinner rotation needs more than a list of favourite meals. Turn…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
Packaged foods on a kitchen bench beside tape and a pen for recording opening dates.
australian families

Reading use-by vs best-before dates on packaged food

Food dates answer different questions. Learn how to read the wording, keep…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
Tomato sauce in meal containers beside separately prepared pasta and grated cheese.
australian families

Freezing cooked meals without ruining the texture

Better freezer meals start before packing: decide which components belong in the…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
Tomato sauce beside lentil pasta, a bean and rice bowl, and chickpea curry on a kitchen bench.
australian families

Batch-cooking one sauce base into three different dinners

A mild tomato sauce can become pasta, bean bowls and chickpea curry.…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
A covered container of leftovers with a dated label sitting on a fridge shelf.
australian families

How long leftovers actually keep

Most cooked leftovers are safe in the fridge for up to three…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
A kitchen bench with a separate cutting board and pot set apart while a meal is prepared.
allergy aware

Meal planning for a family with allergies

Planning meals around a food allergy works best as one household system,…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
A kitchen wall planner showing two blank weekly grids side by side, with a notepad and pen on the bench below.
australian families

Planning a fortnight instead of a week

Most households plan week by week because that is how the first…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
A shared bolognese sauce served separately from a bowl of plain pasta and a small bowl of grated cheese on a dinner table.
australian families

Dinners for a household with one fussy eater

Cooking a second dinner every night is not sustainable long term. A…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
Three separate containers of meat, rice and vegetables on a kitchen bench, kept apart so each can be served at a different sitting.
australian families

Feeding a family when everyone eats at a different time

When nobody in the house eats at the same hour, the fix…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
A loaf of bread in a paper bag on a kitchen bench next to a fruit bowl and a separate container of leafy vegetables.
australian families

Stopping bread, fruit and veg going off so fast

Most early spoilage is a sorting problem, not a quality one. Which…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
A week's grocery shop laid out on a kitchen bench, including chicken, mince, rice, pasta, tinned pulses and vegetables.
australian families

A $150 week: a real shopping list and five dinners

One worked example of a $150 weekly shop: the list, what each…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
A blank weekly meal planner on a fridge door with two different magnets at each corner and two phones lying face down on the bench below.
australian families

A shared meal plan two adults can both update

A meal plan only one adult can update is a plan that…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
Roast chicken dinner, chicken and bean wraps, and roast-vegetable lentil soup shown as three separate meals.
australian families

Sunday roast that stretches to three meals

A roast can start three different dinners when you plan the extras…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
Salad and bread rolls beside a blank notebook and shopping bag on a kitchen bench.
australian families

Cutting food waste and what it saves

A smaller bin does not tell you what happened to the grocery…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team