The Menu

Some time ago my pastor's wife in Waldheim, Ruth, told me that most people have only 10 regular meals for their family. At the time she was trying to extend that for her family so that they would grow to have 30 favorites, rather than the regular 10. I thought about that a bit, but didn't do much differently until we moved to Kindersley. We've been trying a monthly menu and each person has input - well, Austin won't until he can speak, eat and share an opinion.

At the start of the month I give each person 6 or 7 meal choices. They cannot repeat something already chosen by another member of the family. They also get to suggest a pizza type for our regular Saturday night homemade pizza.

So far it's been great! We now have more than 30 favorite meals. There is a lot more variety to our meals. I'm almost down to shopping once a month. Our monthly spending on groceries is going down and there is a lot less headache to meal planning since it's done at the beginning of the month. The boys know what meal is coming up, so there are fewer questions and complaints. For me, I'm glad that we don't have to have hot dogs all the time. Somehow we seem to have fewer leftovers as well since I can take what is left and freeze it for a shepherd's pie or plan to use it in another dish. If our plans change or if we get an invitation to go elsewhere for supper it's easy to postpone that meal to the end of the month. It's also neat to be able to invite someone over and tell them what is on the menu for that night.

The negatives are minimal. I have to spend a little time organizing the choices from each person so that we don't end up with taco salad, hamburgers and chili in the same week. If I forget something for my once a month shopping spree I feel really guilty about going to the store to get it; like I'm breaking a rule or something. How crazy is that?

When it comes to my personal choices for the menu, I've been exploring my cookbooks and trying out some new recipes. My boys have been pretty good about it.