We asked, and you answered! For the chance to win $100 worth of groceries, many of you shared your most embarrassing family dinner habits.
We’ll announce an official winner next week, so be sure to check back next Tuesday to see which story has been selected. Until then, please enjoy these excerpts from your entertaining entries!
No Meat, Please
“Our three children hate the texture of any kind of meat/fish/poultry…I’ve tried chopping them so small that they are barely noticeable but nothing works. I can’t tell you how often I have gone to rinse their dinner plates only to find their food smeared to the bottom of their plates…”—Alison
Dinner and a Movie
“Often, on Saturday nights, we have dinner all along one side of the dining room table, where we can see into the living room and watch a movie on Netflix. We feel like we’re at the ‘cinemapub’, but we can be noisy and pause for bathroom breaks!” —Hilary
The Quest for the Perfect Meal
“I never feel as though I have the ‘perfect meal’ to serve our guests, so I almost always try a new recipe or two on them. As you can imagine, we often end up adding a new favorite to our regular repertoire. Other times, we end up with quite a disaster! It’s a wonder some of our friends are brave enough to ever come twice!” —Jennifer
The Grossest Story
“To encourage family communication, a few years back we started having our children tell us something interesting about their day at dinner time. We used a round table format and each of us (hubby and I included) would mention something that happened or something we saw/read/etc. Somehow this has morphed into telling the grossest story you can. Topics range from school friends who can get milk through their nose on command (okay – truth moment – so can my oldest daughter) to someone’s gory injury to anything my husband has seen at work (he works in the wastewater industry – enough said).” —Laura
Breakfast for Dinner
“Since our usual weekday breakfast is cereal and fruit, after a long day at work I like to make breakfast for dinner — scrambled eggs, bacon, toast…Nobody complains, but I don’t tell anyone outside the family we do it!” —Cathy
Trash Night
“On a very lazy over exhausted late afternoon after work, I’ve come home to serve up a mish-mosh assortment of whatever can be pulled out of the fridge and pantry with minimal cooking. The left over iceberg lettuce (form the wedge w/blue cheese) chopped with whatever else I can find and some bottled dressing, boxed macaroni and cheese, and canned tuna. The kids don’t like tuna fish, so it’s cereal or waffle for them – their choice….This may not be disastrous as some, but in our house it is generally considered ‘trash night.’ Ummm, yeah!” —Jenny
The Allure of Fast Food
“My most embarrassing dinner habit would be how every Sunday I plan out meals for the entire week. Usually come Tuesday with everything defrosted and ready to go, I get talked into fast food. I’ve started to make dinner in the afternoon before everyone gets home and nuke it later.” —Sally