More than what's for supper

I started making menus in 1987 as a young bride and newly minted eighteen year old. It was a suggestion from my mom.

One I actually followed.

To me menus are invaluable. Menus help me plan my grocery list and keep me from standing in the kitchen at 5:00 pm wondering what I can make out of a can of tuna and a tub of cream cheese frosting because that is all I can find in the pantry.

Menus also keep me out of the McDonald's drive-thru on my way home from work. Menus also ensure that we eat vegetables on a regular basis and not just those found under the cheese on a pizza.

I wish I had all of the menus I have prepared over the years. It would be comical to say the least. When Brian and I were newlyweds it was not unusual for supper to be peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with a side of peas.

It's all about eating healthy.

As the kids were born and life became more complicated, so did my menus. As I would sit every week and prepare our menu, I would include on it what was going on that week. Church events, home school gym and swim, library outings. These things later changed to include nights I would be gone at nursing school, classes Brian took at Bible College, basketball games, school programs, piano recitals . . .

My weekly menus have grown from just what we were going to eat to a blue print for our life each week. Crockpot dishes are planned for days I work. Quicker meals are planned on basketball game nights. Lunch menus have been added to accomodate Joel's hollow leg and Levi's high caloric need for working at FedEx.

As life has changed, my menus have chronicled it. My regret -

I should have kept them all.

Love Me