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Family Food

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

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Latest in Family Food
An open compartment lunchbox filled with cheese, tomatoes, cucumber, crackers, egg and grapes, with a freezer brick beside it.
back to school

A week of lunchboxes that are not sandwiches

The trick is formats rather than recipes. Five shapes of lunch that…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
slow cooker and oven
air fryer

What it costs to run an air fryer, slow cooker and oven

Every article that gives you a dollar figure for this has guessed…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
A slow cooker and an air fryer side by side on a bench with diced beef and halved potatoes between them.
air fryer

Air fryer or slow cooker: which one for which meal

These two appliances solve opposite problems, which is why households that own…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
An open pantry with sealed clear containers on an upper shelf, tins one deep, and a low basket at child height.
australian families

Pantry organisation that survives a family

Most pantry systems fail because they are organised by food type rather…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
An open fridge with one clear eye-level shelf holding a few grouped items and a covered container on the bottom shelf.
australian families

Fridge organisation for a full family fridge

A fridge has zones whether you use them or not. Where things…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
An open lunchbox on a kitchen bench with most of the food still in it and a school bag beside it.
australian families

Packing lunch for a child who will not eat at school

A lunchbox that comes home full is usually about time, packaging or…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
Individually wrapped muffins on a tray beside an open freezer container and an open lunchbox.
australian families

Freezer-friendly muffins and slices for lunchboxes

One baking session covers weeks of lunchboxes if you freeze it properly.…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
A child's plate with raw carrot sticks, cucumber rounds, corn and a small bowl of dip in separate groups.
australian families

Vegetables a fussy child will actually eat

Texture is usually the objection rather than taste, which changes what to…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
An open pantry with sealed clear containers of pasta, rice and flour above a row of plain tins.
australian families

Freezer and pantry staples worth always having

A pantry is only useful if it produces dinner on the night…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
A filled and covered slow cooker insert sitting on a fridge shelf beside ordinary groceries.
australian families

Slow cooker meals you can prep the night before

Prepping the night before is what makes a slow cooker actually get…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
An open fridge with one eye-level shelf holding grouped items in plain containers and a blank note on the door.
australian families

Feeding a family of four on a weekly grocery budget

Four changes account for most of what a household can realistically cut…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
A pan of bolognese on a stovetop beside a tin of lentils, grated carrot and mushrooms on the bench.
australian families

Mince, chicken and lentils: stretching protein

Meat is usually the largest line in a family food budget. How…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
A ruled four by seven grid pinned inside a kitchen cupboard door with some squares ticked.
australian families

A four-week rotating family dinner plan

A rotation removes the decision entirely. How to build a four-week cycle…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
A fridge whiteboard wiped almost clean with a marker lying on the bench below, lid off.
australian families

Why meal planning fails in week two

Almost every meal plan collapses in week two, and there are only…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
A blank wall planner above a kitchen bench with an open blank notepad and pen, and a wiped whiteboard on the fridge.
australian families

The 30-minute weekly meal plan method

Meal plans fail because they are built from recipes instead of from…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
A frying pan on the stove with an unlabelled tin and a jar of dry pasta on the bench beside it.
australian families

Beating the 5pm what-is-for-dinner panic

The 5pm problem is a decision problem, not a cooking problem, and…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
Flat sealed freezer bags of sauce stacked on their sides in a freezer drawer beside a shallow container.
australian families

Freezer meals that actually taste good reheated

Some meals improve in the freezer and some are ruined by it.…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team
A packed school lunchbox with a frozen drink bottle beside it on a kitchen bench.
australian summer

Keeping lunchboxes cold through an Australian summer

NSW Food Authority testing found lunchboxes containing a frozen item had three…

Dovelyne editorial team
Dovelyne editorial team