Dear FlyLady,

I love this month’s meal planning babystep!  My mother always planned our meals, and never seemed to be at a loss about what to cook for a husband, 4 children, and sometimes guests.  Mom always had the ingredients for the meals ready on the day she needed them.  She made it look effortless-but, I just didn’t see her planning all this! The only thing I noticed, as a child, was that you really need a grocery list.

However, with all your help, I’m now figuring out the steps I need to follow to copy Mom’s example.  Thank you so much for this.  I’ve shared your website with my aunt who told me a funny, but kind of sad, story about how she decided what to cook nightly for her children.

She said that each night, when it was dinner time, she and the kids peered into the refrigerator for inspiration.  With the wide-eyed, hungry children looking at the food inside, she told me she repeatedly asked them, “OK, what do you kids want to eat tonight!!!”  Of course, each one either named their pick or just stood there dumbfounded (that would have been me)!  She told me she ended up totally frustrated, or sometimes even crying, and the kids did too.  I asked her what she finally fixed, and Mac and Cheese was what they usually agreed on! Of course, she fed them other food with it.

I sure wish my Mom would have mentored my aunt on meal planning or someone like FlyLady had been there for her!  We laughed about this together, but she told me she had many a stomach ache just thinking about fixing that dinner every night.

Again, thank you for being so generous to us !
Virginia FlyBaby