Family Mealtimes Set For A Comeback
 British mums are fighting back against the breakdown of traditional family mealtimes, according to a new survey.
More than half of Britain’s mums aged 25-50 are sitting down with the family to eat together more often than not, research by Lyle’s Golden Syrup reveals. Only one in 10 ‘hardcore’ working mothers stated that work commitments meant that their family ate separately most days of the week.
An overwhelming nine out of 10 say that they always make the family meal themselves, rather than using complete ready-meals and take-aways.
Even more encouragingly, despite the hype about the premature death of home cooking and family mealtimes, 80 per cent of UK mums say they’d like to sit down together even more frequently. Of these, 90 per cent say all they need are easy recipes they can prepare within 20 minutes.
According to celebrity chef Gary Rhodes, the influence of TV chefs, cookery programmes and books, offering quick and easy solutions, has been the key to creating a new breed of family mealtime enthusiasts. Having already written a cook book aimed at making life simple for cooks Gary is well placed to comment.
Gary says: “These indications seem to show that modern family lifestyles are starting to come full circle with more focus and priority being given to spending time together. Traditional times for families to get together were always over meals and this research suggests that this is once again becoming popular.”
Even Gary, who has two sons aged 15 and 17, finds it difficult to make the time to cook at home and sit down to family meals.
“My wife Jennie does most of the cooking in the week but I do try to cook at home at weekends when we all sit down as a family,” he said.
Although more mums are cooking from scratch, 90 per cent of those questioned are still looking for ways to cook scratch meals faster as time is the biggest barrier, especially among working mothers. Over three quarters of mothers surveyed said that they would cook from scratch more often if they had a ready supply of easy recipe ideas that would avoid having to spend hours in the kitchen.
To help them Gary Rhodes has joined forces with Lyle’s Golden Syrup to create a new 16-page recipe booklet – ‘Simply Delicious with Gary Rhodes’. It aims to demonstrate how you can make use of the most basic ingredients to create interesting family meals that are easy-to-prepare, taste great, and can be ready in minutes.
To receive a free copy of the booklet send an A5 SAE (37p second class) to Simply Delicious with Gary Rhodes, 4-6 Althorp Road, London SW17 7ED or log onto www.lylesgoldensyrup.com for a downloadable version.
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