Monday, June 06, 2005

What's on the menu?

I have gotten quite good at planning a menu for a week or so. Mainly I would do that so I could make my grocery shopping list. I generally shop with at least one child in tow, so organization is key.
Some of my fellow moms at Family Corner have been discussing how they make a menu for two weeks or even a month at a time.
I really wanted to try that, because it would free me from doing this planning on a weekly basis and help with the grocery lists. But it took me several weeks before I finally was able to get a whole month's menu together. I was very proud to do it.
I printed out the menu in calendar form and posted it inside one of my kitchen cabinets. The Big Kids were thrilled. They are used to monthly menus from school lunches, and look forward to the new menus. They pored over my menu and pointed out where their favorites were listed.
The menu was a source of confusion to Himself, though. He didn't get it and wondered why I was bothering.
What he doesn't see is that what looks to him like unnecessary structure is actually freedom to me. I only had to make this plan once. I can change it if necessary. I know that I have most of the ingredients for these meals in my freezer and pantry already, except perishables. And in the morning before I have consumed the vast amounts of caffeine necessary to get me going, I don't have to think too much about what to defrost. The menu is there to tell me.
Sometimes structure is freeing. Order can be a Good Thing.
Maybe he'll see the light when he walks in the front door tonight and discovers that on the menu is his favorite dinner, Chicken Parmesan.
Yes, order can be a Very Good Thing.

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