Last year, I tried to make the commitment to a meal calendar, and failed miserably. I am trying to figure out why I couldn't stick with it. I was inspired by my family's many camping experiences - you simply HAVE to make a menu plan for camping, or else you aren't going to eat very well on a camping trip. But somehow it requires more energy than I could summon. I've had some luck in the past with committing certain days to certain things - i.e. crockpot day, pizza day, etc. Maybe I should play on that theme and select a main dish style for that day. At the beginning of the school year, I proposed that the cherubs each take a day of cooking. That lasted about a week, mostly because of my failure to plan adequately. By the time I was in middle school, my mother had gone back to work and my sister and I switched off making dinner every night of the week. If my memory serves me correctly, we made a lot of spaghetti with jarred sauce and hamburger. What to do?
Here are my options:
- Monday: Husband cooks - he doesn't work Mondays. It's a busy night for us. We have trumpet lessons and Boy Scouts. We have to leave the house at 5:45 pm
- Tuesday: Kids have catechism, it would make sense for one of them to cook so they could eat before they left. One night a month I have a church meeting
- Wednesday: One night a month I have a church meeting
- Thursday: Kids have piano - it would make sense for one of them to make dinner because we have to leave the house at 6 pm. Not a lot of time to cook and eat.
- Friday: Most of the time everyone's home and no regular commitments
- Saturday: We usually try to go to church at 5:30 Mass...makes for a good dinner that can be in the oven for an hour while we are gone. Farmer's Market day - lots of good food inspiration
- Sunday: Usually my grocery shopping day. Great day for cooking ahead and big cooking projects.
