It’s easy to get into a rut with your family meals, especially when you have a schedule that makes it hard to find time to cook. But there are solutions! It’s possible to make meals that are both delicious and easy to prepare, even during the week. This guide shares three tips for how you can create customisable, family-friendly Mexican meals at home with little preparation or cooking!

1. Get everyone involved
The secret to a fantastic Mexican night is the fact that everyone (kids and adults alike) can get involved from planning to plating! All you need is a great base meal and lots of sides and sauces to get the creative juices flowing.

For example, my family have been having fun making personalised Enchilada's every Wednesday night, where we all get involved with choosing what goes on our plate.

We love Michelle's Mexican Enchiladas as a delicious base for our Mexican nights because we know they're homemade from scratch, don't contain any added preservatives and our kids just love them. We buy both the Chicken and Vegetarian versions so that even our pickiest eaters are satisfied.

Michelle's Enchilada's come in serving sizes of 1, 2 and family.

We have everyone in the kitchen excitedly prepping all the sides and lay out our table like an enormous smorgasbord of Mexican flavours. 

But it doesn't just have to be Enchilada's - any Mexican meal can be served in the same customisable way. From Taco's, Nacho's to Burrito's, Burrito Bowls and Fajitas. There are so many options to keep it interesting!

2. Make the table colourful and exciting
Mexican cuisine must be one of the most colourful cuisines with its offerings of fresh and healthy sides. You can have a tangy, fresh homemade guacamole ready in under 10 mins, a red bright red tomato and onion salsa, fresh lettuce leaves, grated cheese, sour cream (or yoghurt), red chilli sauce, green chilli sauce, black beans, charred grilled corn and wedges of lime.

Here's a great recipe for a quick Guacamole by Michelle from FoodSt.

Michelle's Guacamole 
Makes 2.5cups

4 medium ripe avocado's, halved and pitted
½ cup finely chopped white onion (about ½ small white onion) 
¼ cup finely chopped fresh coriander 
1 small jalapeño, seeds and ribs removed, finely chopped
3 tablespoons lime juice (from about 1 ½ limes), or more if needed
¼ teaspoon ground coriander
Salt to taste

1. Using a spoon, scoop the flesh of the avocados into a low serving bowl, discarding any bruised, browned areas.
2. Using a fork, mash up the avocado until it reaches your desired texture.
3. Add the onion, coriander, jalapeño, lime juice, dried coriander, and salt. Stir to combine.
4. Taste and add additional salt until the flavours sing!

If you wanted go all out you could use a bright and vibrant table cloth and serve drinks in colourful glasses. We have a set of Mexican hats for the whole family from the $2 store - the kids love to bring these out for all of us, it's a little silly but a lot of fun! You just have to be committed to wearing these every Mexican night if you go down this path!

3. Get some good music happening

And lastly set the mood with some great music!

Spotify has a great playlist "Mexican Restaurant" which will get you all in the mood for some great flavours and maybe even a bit of singing and dancing. And yes La Bamba is featured! You can find the playlist here.

Now, that seems like a much more fun-filled Wednesday family night, with memories that will last a lifetime. After all, isn’t that what food and eating with family is meant to be?

You can order from our range of Mexican meals here: https://foodst.com.au/collections/mexican