There are people in this world who find routine liberating. I am not one of them!

The only "regular" meal I had growing up was Monday night "Yuck Night." It wasn't really yucky at all. My parents just made a rule that once a week, and always on Mondays, we'd have to eat all the leftovers in the fridge... even if they didn't make "sense" together. Lotsa mouths and little money: it would have been wrong to let things rot.

I'm finding my August menu is pretty much variations on a theme:

• Sat: Homemade cream of roasted tomato soup and grilled cheese (Havarti & fresh mozz on crusty rosemary bread with caramelized onions)

• Sun: Venison burgers w/ fresh tomato and roasted peppers

• tonight: stuffed baked tomatoes with rice & Swiss chard on the side

• tomorrow night: Ham

  and fresh tomato quiche

(Can anyone figure out my "theme?" LOL!)

My concern with a fixed menu (in addition to the ones Meldy mentioned) would be that it would not lend itself to cooking with fresh, unprocessed, locally-produced, seasonal ingredients.

I don't always enjoy carrying the burden of menu planning, but it's never gotten so bad that I'd resort to a small, fixed repertoire... Partly because I consider becoming an ever-better cook an important part of my ongoing personal development and an act of love towards myself and my husband.

There are people in this world who find routine liberating. I am not one of them!

The only "regular" meal I had growing up was Monday night "Yuck Night." It wasn't really yucky at all. My parents just made a rule that once a week, and always on Mondays, we'd have to eat all the leftovers in the fridge... even if they didn't make "sense" together. Lotsa mouths and little money: it would have been wrong to let things rot.

I'm finding my August menu is pretty much variations on a theme:

• Sat: Homemade cream of roasted tomato soup and grilled cheese (Havarti & fresh mozz on crusty rosemary bread with caramelized onions)

• Sun: Venison burgers w/ fresh tomato and roasted peppers

• tonight: stuffed baked tomatoes with rice & Swiss chard on the side

• tomorrow night: Ham

  and fresh tomato quiche

(Can anyone figure out my "theme?" LOL!)

My concern with a fixed menu (in addition to the ones Meldy mentioned) would be that it would not lend itself to cooking with fresh, unprocessed, locally-produced, seasonal ingredients.

I don't always enjoy carrying the burden of menu planning, but it's never gotten so bad that I'd resort to a small, fixed repertoire... Partly because I consider becoming an ever-better cook an important part of my ongoing personal development and an act of love towards myself and my husband.

There are people in this world who find routine liberating. I am not one of them!

The only "regular" meal I had growing up was Monday night "Yuck Night." It wasn't really yucky at all. My parents just made a rule that once a week, and always on Mondays, we'd have to eat all the leftovers in the fridge... even if they didn't make "sense" together. Lotsa mouths and little money: it would have been wrong to let things rot.

I'm finding my August menu is pretty much variations on a theme:

• Sat: Homemade cream of roasted tomato soup and grilled cheese (Havarti & fresh mozz on crusty rosemary bread with caramelized onions)

• Sun: Venison burgers w/ fresh tomato and roasted peppers

• tonight: stuffed baked tomatoes with rice & Swiss chard on the side

• tomorrow night: Ham

  and fresh tomato quiche

(Can anyone figure out my "theme?" LOL!)

My concern with a fixed menu (in addition to the ones Meldy mentioned) would be that it would not lend itself to cooking with fresh, unprocessed, locally-produced, seasonal ingredients.

I don't always enjoy carrying the burden of menu planning, but it's never gotten so bad that I'd resort to a small, fixed repertoire... Partly because I consider becoming an ever-better cook an important part of my ongoing personal development and an act of love towards myself and my husband.

There are people in this world who find routine liberating. I am not one of them!

The only "regular" meal I had growing up was Monday night "Yuck Night." It wasn't really yucky at all. My parents just made a rule that once a week, and always on Mondays, we'd have to eat all the leftovers in the fridge... even if they didn't make "sense" together. Lotsa mouths and little money: it would have been wrong to let things rot.

I'm finding my August menu is pretty much variations on a theme:

• Sat: Homemade cream of roasted tomato soup and grilled cheese (Havarti & fresh mozz on crusty rosemary bread with caramelized onions)

• Sun: Venison burgers w/ fresh tomato and roasted peppers

• tonight: stuffed baked tomatoes with rice & Swiss chard on the side

• tomorrow night: Ham

  and fresh tomato quiche

(Can anyone figure out my "theme?" LOL!)

My concern with a fixed menu (in addition to the ones Meldy mentioned) would be that it would not lend itself to cooking with fresh, unprocessed, locally-produced, seasonal ingredients.

I don't always enjoy carrying the burden of menu planning, but it's never gotten so bad that I'd resort to a small, fixed repertoire... Partly because I consider becoming an ever-better cook an important part of my ongoing personal development and an act of love towards myself and my husband.

We had an older friend who just passed away last spring. His wife does that. You could take it to the bank what meal they had on any given day. I never, ever, deviated. He had type II diabetes, and it would have been an easy chore for him to balance his portions and allotted foods, because he'd only have to do it once. But, they had the meal plans long before he ever became diabetic.

I can see the advantages, I suppose........but can also see the disadvantages. But, boredom isn't the biggest disadvantage I can see. Some days I feel like cooking for the fun of it, and some days I don't want to deal with it at all. If I had to cook a specific dish just because it were Monday, and I had other things to do or weren't hungry, seems like a foolish concept. I also plan my meals around what it on sale at the markets. You can say huge amounts by only having to buy what is on special, and that changes every week. We get a great variety in our meals, and I can save up to 30 percent on my food budget by doing it that way.

The conversation here is generally:

"what shall we have for dinner"

"I don't know. I'll see what's good at the store".

I want to buy vegetables in season. I want to take advantage of the price deals (like suzy). My DSD on the other hand likes what she likes what she likes: she pretty much has a routine for the week too. You could phone on a Tuesday and know they were having chicken. Friday was taco night. I forget the rest. We used to tease her about it terribly.

It's all gone to Hades now they've got a baby though . . . .

My late DH used to be like that, he'd asked in the morning, often when I did just have the first sip of my coffee, and here he says "what's for dinner?" I used to tell him something and oh boy, sometimes I didn't feel like making it or some ingredient wasn't handy and I do something else "...but you promised!!!" Got tired of it, so the answer to "what's for dinner?" became "Food"
Now that I cook for myself, I am very flexible - take advantage of specials, double up and put part in the freezer, sometimes decide just to graze and not cook
Today's project: convert 2 lbs. ranch-fed beef into meatballs to be baked and frozen, used as needed. This beef is so lean it needs some fat added, so I got half pound of hamburger to add, breadcrumbs and enough egg to glue it all together...should last me for a while.

About the only planned meals for us come on Friday. Or maybe Saturday. I like to do a pot roast of big meat loaf so I will have leftovers for the weekend.

Other days, it's going to be chicken, beef or pork. Whichever I grab from the freezer first.

What you do is, grab a calendar that you can write on. Then you go to the "Cooking" forum and read the "What's for Dinner" threads. You get the greatest ideas and never the same thing twice. The biggest problem is narrowing down what you'll get! What you end up with is precise menus known ahead of time and themes to which you can look forward.

I can't imagine having a staid menu every day of every week of every month of every year. UGH! I like to be inspired.

I always plan my menu for the week based on the grocery specials and any sugestions from family which is usually none. They get this vacant look when I ask what they are hungry for. I never make the same thing for the same day of the week, also has to match who is home and if I have evening meetings. And they are subject to change. if I don't feel like cooking, the meat can go in the freezer for another night. I always have stuff on hand for Shelf suppers.