Dear Flylady,

As a full time homemaker,  I have found out that taking the time to plan weekly menu plans is the most important part of kitchen duty. After being married for 25 years, we were bored to tears with shopping the same grocery list, eating the same foods, and having the same boring culinary skill set. Our car failed inspection, so we had to switch from shopping for the entire month at one time to weekly shopping that could be done within a reasonable walking distance (4 miles round trip or less).

At first, I began to panic, but then I remembered you telling us Flybabies that it is ok to ask questions. I asked my husband how on earth I could know what food we needed on any given week. He must be a Fly Guy. Hubby answered, look at what is scheduled on the calendar and plan your meals around that. Duh! So simple. Dinner Diva has been telling us that for years.

Anyway, we decided that each week will get a different theme. We have had comfort food week, travel around the world week, culinary adventures of America week, and simple back to basics week, so far. We are both losing weight, we are feeling better, our energy has improved, and hubby reports that he likes me being less stressed and cranky about cooking.  Plus, we have the additional benefit of being able to travel through our culinary adventures, anywhere in the world we want, without having to spend money on passport, accomodations, etc.

Our finances are too tight right now to afford a vacation, but being able to eat foods from around the world has helped our attitude tremendously go from self pity to empowered. Hope this tip of having weekly menu themes helps somebody else.

From Flybaby Rachel