5 Easy Family Meals in Finland
It's imperative to have a meal plan when both parents work, and the kids are in daycare or school, as lunch is usually eaten outside the home. Dinner becomes the only standard mealtime and a time to get together.
To help you plan, here's a typical list of Finnish recipes your kids probably already enjoy at school and at home. If this is your first time making these meals at home, now is the perfect time to start. Most of these recipes are easy to make and will only take less than an hour to prepare. Quick recipes are ideal for families, as you can multitask while waiting for the food to be ready.
This is a classic favorite not only by kids but the whole family. You can eat with spaghetti with tomato sauce or make the brown sauce which is perfect for the mashed potato. Full recipe of meatballs and veggie balls here.
This is a very traditional Finnish food which is one of my favourite. We have an oven above our fireplace and it is always easy to just put the fireplace on to warm the house and leave the Karelian stew cooking. However, it is very easy to make it in normal oven too. The best part?
You can play with your kids, help with their homework or do your remote work while cooking this.
Full recipe here.
Salmon soup is the easiest and of course healthy soup you can ever try. It´s common to have this soup in restaurants menu for the whole year but this is best when serve warm in a cold weather. The taste of fresh dill will make the soup extra special. If you do not have the fresh dill, dried is also as good. You can make this soup also in big portion and freeze the rest. Then you can have it easy food ready to warm when you have less time to prepare food again or why not for the other day food. Full recipe here.
4. Macaroni casserole-Makaronilaatikko
Macaroni casserole is always favourite for kids which they eat not only at home but in school or day care. Macaroni casserole might take an hour to make but it is worth it. You can also spicy it up with a sweet chili sauce instead of ketchup. Complete recipe can be found here.
5. Ground beef soup- Jauhelihakeitto
This is included in the list of easy meals for family because it is easy to prepare even after being outdoor. I sometimes prepare the veggies already like potato, ready sliced and we go outside with the kids before lunch break. You can use also other frozen veggies with potatoes. Then when we arrived back inside, I cook this soup quickly or I prepare this already beforehand and just warm it. Full recipe here.
These 5 easy family meals are an example meal that you can prepare anytime, especially when you want to have home cooked meal and still need to have time with your kids. Preparing food, especially with kids, is a good way to spend time together. They can participate with the preparation and it is good that they are aware how the food is being done. It is always important to have at least once a day to eat together as a family.
Edited by: Gianmarco Crinieri & Mae Lehto