Each week, this page offers suggested dishes to serve for Dinner Tonight.

But today, the focus is going to be on Wednesday dinner. Because Wednesday is Dine In Day, a first-time event intended to promote having families prepare and share a healthy meal together at home.

Jennifer Bayer, who teaches Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS, formerly known as home economics) at Maumee High School, has registered her International Foods class to participate.

“This initiative comes at a perfect time for people to truly ’get’ and appreciate the importance of family around a table,” she says, as we’ve just finished celebrating Thanksgiving and will “prepare for various holiday/religious experiences in the month of December.”

“The challenge for most families is how we do that more days than not during the rest of the year.”

Ms. Bayer continues: “Although Thanksgiving for many families involves much planning and preparation —often among many cooks to prepare one feast — this initiative is to create meals that fit within the dynamics of each family on a frequent basis. I have wrestlers who need low calorie nutrient dense food choices, other athletes on a strict schedule away from home, students who work and families members who work second and third shift, schedules for each member that are quite diverse based on many factors.”

The goal of the project is not to disparage families who aren’t able to join each other ’round the dinner table each evening, or to dismiss the very real concerns of time and financial constraints that many face.

Instead, Dine In Day is meant to encourage people to make family meals a priority, scheduling time together to enjoy a homecooked meal. This supports communication, cooperation, good nutrition, budgeting, kitchen skills, and creativity, as well as offering a chance to relax with loved ones.

Ms.Bayer is using Dine In Day as a class project. Her “students will use various websites that meet their needs as they consider meal options” for Wednesday.

“They may decide to make the food ahead because of a tight schedule” — for example, a breakfast strata that rests overnight. Or “they may reschedule activities as they can to make this meal a priority for the day, they may create a new dish with leftovers to accommodate a tight budget or find ways to make an appealing meal from foods found in their freezer and cupboards."

"It's an everyday goal for students/​families to find ways to share meals together," she says. "What may seem overwhelming at first due to schedules, especially with older children, can be possible with a plan."

Felicia Page, a retired family and consumer sciences teacher who sometimes works as a substitute at St. Ursula Academy and at Whitmer High School, says "I am participating by spreading the word" about Dine In Day, as she doesn't have a regular class to work with at this time.

"As far as dining in for my family," Mrs. Page says, "we try to do that a few times a week. With adult children and their kids, we just do it when we can! Like many other families."

December 3 was chosen for the first annual Dine In Day, being held in conjunction with Family and Consumer Sciences Day, in honor of Ellen Swallow Richards, the first female graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and founder of the American Academy of Family and Consumer Sciences. This was her birth date.

You can participate in Dine In Day, too, along with nearly 60,000 other registered families and groups. Go to aafcs.org/​FCSday/​commitment.html to sign up and to see the interactive map that shows where all of the participants are located around the country.

Then, all you have to do is make and eat a healthy meal with your family Wednesday.

Be sure to take a picture of your loved ones and the food you've prepared. Share the photo on your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts using the hashtags #FCSday and #healthyfamselfie.

Also be sure to post the photos to The Toledo Blade Food Page on Facebook and tag @BladeFoodPage on Twitter.

Ms. Bayer is excited to be participating in Wednesday’s Dine In Day, as it encourages "the power of family connection around a dinner table."

And this is something that can be repeated "any day of the week."

First Published December 2, 2014, 5:00 a.m.