The Reset · Edition 15 · 17 September 2026
One Dinner, No Negotiations
How to feed everyone from the same tray without turning into a short-order cook.
Photo: MealPro / Unsplash
How do you cook one dinner that the whole family will eat?
The most reliable answer is this: one base, built so everyone can take what they want from it. A traybake with chicken and veg goes into the oven as one thing and arrives at the table as three — the adult plate with everything, the cautious child plate with the plain bits pulled to one side, and the "I only eat beige" plate with just the chicken and a piece of bread. Nobody feels targeted. Nobody wins, nobody loses. Dinner happens.
The trick isn't compromise. It's architecture. Cook the components together so the flavours develop, but lay them out so each person can compose their own plate. It takes no more time than a normal dinner and removes the negotiation almost entirely — which, after a school-run day, is worth more than any recipe.
For the move this week, I've kept things realistic. Eight minutes on the sitting-room floor after dinner, with the children quite possibly climbing on you. That counts.
The move — 8 minutes, no kit, kids welcome
Winding the body down after dinner — hips open, spine released — helps the whole household settle, and doing it on the floor makes it easy for small people to join in without disrupting it.
- 01Sit on the floor with your legs crossed. Roll your shoulders back and take 5 slow breaths, letting the exhale be twice as long as the inhale. Do this even if someone is sitting in your lap.
- 02Move into a low lunge on your right side — right knee forward, left knee on the floor. Hold for 45 seconds. Feel the front of the left hip open. Switch sides.
- 03Come onto all fours. Drop into child's pose: knees wide, arms stretched forward, forehead on the floor (or on your hands). Hold for 60 seconds. This is usually when the children decide to sit on your back, which, honestly, adds a bit of weight and isn't the worst thing.
- 04Roll onto your back. Hug both knees into your chest and slowly rock side to side for 30 seconds.
- 05Extend your legs long. Let your feet fall out. Arms by your sides, palms up. Stay here for 90 seconds — no phone. Just the ceiling.
The plate
Build-Your-Own Traybake Chicken
One tray, one oven temperature, and a laid-back approach to who takes what. The chicken and root veg cook together so everything tastes of something, but the components stay separate enough that a fussy seven-year-old can pretend the courgette isn't there.
- ·6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- ·3 medium carrots, cut into batons
- ·2 courgettes, cut into thick rounds
- ·1 red pepper, cut into strips
- ·2 handfuls of cherry tomatoes
- ·4 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
- ·Olive oil
- ·1 tsp smoked paprika
- ·1 tsp dried oregano
- ·Salt and black pepper
- ·To serve: flatbreads or rice, a big spoonful of yoghurt, lemon wedges
The shortcut: Do all the chopping the night before and keep everything in one container in the fridge. The next evening it goes straight onto the tray — ten minutes of actual effort, tops.
Where we eat
Fait Maison, Gloucester Road
Fait Maison is a relaxed all-day café on Gloucester Road, a few minutes' walk from the studio in SW7. It's the easy answer for the days when you want to sit down and eat something properly made rather than eat standing up over the kitchen counter. The name means "home-made" in French, and the feel backs that up — unhurried, neighbourly, the kind of place that works equally well after a morning session or in the middle of a long Tuesday. Kensington & Chelsea has no shortage of places to grab something quickly; Fait Maison is one of the few that makes you want to stay a little longer.
144 Gloucester Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 4SZ, UK · View on map →
The note
Once this week, eat at the table with no screens. Not every night — just once. No phones face-down on the table (that still counts), no television on in the background. It doesn't need to be long or special. Ten minutes of actual dinner-table noise, even chaotic, even with someone complaining about the courgette, turns out to be one of the better parts of the day.
Train with Barone
Sessions are 60 minutes, one-to-one, at home or in-studio — no gym membership required. The 20-session block works out at £110 a session and is where most clients land.
Alessia Barone runs one-to-one Pilates and personal training in South Kensington (SW7), a few minutes from Gloucester Road, serving Kensington & Chelsea by appointment.
Book a session →Good to know
- How do you get fussy eaters to eat the same dinner as everyone else?
- Keep the components of the meal separate on the tray or plate so each person can take what they're comfortable with — it removes the feeling of being forced. A build-your-own approach means the same dinner works for everyone without anyone feeling singled out.
- What's a quick post-dinner wind-down routine you can do with children around?
- Eight minutes on the floor — a low lunge, child's pose and a gentle supine rest — works well because it's quiet, requires no equipment, and small children tend to join in rather than interrupt it.
- Is there somewhere near South Kensington to have a proper sit-down lunch after a Pilates session?
- Fait Maison on Gloucester Road is a few minutes from the SW7 studio and has a relaxed, all-day feel that suits a post-session lunch well.