Family Meal

Each day of the week offers a menu aimed at a different aspect of meal planning. There's a family meal, a kids' meal aimed at youngsters tastes, a heat-and-eat meal that recycles leftovers, a budget meal that employs a cost-cutting strategy, a meatless or "less meat" dish for people who may not be strict vegetarians but are trying to cut down on meat, an express meal that requires little or no preparation, and an entertaining menu that's quick.Sunday/FamilyPrepare your own juicy roast chicken today.

Once a year on Thanksgiving Day, families all over America sit down together for dinner. When you think about it, that's pretty amazing. It's one of the few times nowadays people regularly gather for a family meal. If we aren't careful, though, it's a day that can go by in a gluttonous blur of giblets gravy and pumpkin pie. To keep that from happening, some families make a conscious effort to savor the holiday through their rituals and traditions. The ritual can be something as simple as going around the table and having people say what they're thankful for. Or as elaborate as working together in a soup kitchen Thanksgiving morning before returning home to enjoy the big meal.

Bryan Voltaggio and Hilda Staples wanted their third restaurant, Family Meal, to be an alternative to chain restaurants for Frederick families. So, the food is wholesome and adults can get liquor in their milkshakes. On Nov. 2 (7:30-10 p.m.), Family Meal will give families an extra reason to show up, when the restaurant presents a Drive-In Movie Night on its parking lot. The attraction is 1959's "Attack of the Giant Leeches. " There will be a cash bar outside and full-service will be available inside the restaurant.

If you're looking for quick and easy ideas to bring your family to the table, they're here in Betty Crocker's Easy Family Dinners (Wiley, 2004, $22.95). Many of the dishes featured in this 190-page book are hardly inventive. Ready-made foods such as fish sticks, hot dogs, deli meats and canned pasta sauce make frequent appearances in the recipes. Some, such as the Turkey-Cheese Wraps, are so simple that they hardly require a recipe. (Spread herb-and-garlic spreadable cheese over tortilla.

When Weber's opened in Canton last year, longtime resident Marylynn Lynch remembers admiring the updated tavern, with its muted colors, mahogany bar and patterned tin ceiling. But she never expected to eat there."It's kind of expensive, especially when you've got three kids," said Ms. Lynch, 30. "I don't go out much. But I did go in once, just to see what it looks like."But yesterday, Weber's came to Ms. Lynch, one of nine participants in the Canton neighborhood's Super Pantry, a program designed to teach women how to feed their families on limited budgets.