Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for July 12, 2020

Where’s Gourmand Arlo??? Haven’t seen him in awhile!

Just swap menus with the neighbors. Make sure they can cook better than you do, first.

At least now you’ll know what you’ll be tired of each day.

Add steak. I often eat it 7 days a week, and I never get tired of it.

Well, Janis, other options may be groundhog, raccoon, the neighbor’s cat or dog, some roaches or rats from the local dump, stray children, miscellaneous roadkill, or maybe you could dig some grubs and roots out of your back yard. Variety is the spice-of-life I hear.

Add pizza on Friday and you’ve got a high school cafeteria menu. I wonder if they can convince Ludie to wear a hairnet.

Tofu meatloaf would be a change. It would change their minds about the other meals.

We cook up manicotti, lasagna and more. Plus simple pasta meals with some sauce or with some gravy (brown) since many people think “tomato” sauce whenever you say red sauce.

Joy of Cooking, Frugal Gourmet, Betty Crocker, et cetera. Many, many cookbooks available. Do a search!

Janis comes up with a menu herself: "Monday: Kale Suprise, Tuesday: Artichoke bottoms wrapped in Lettuce; Wednesday: Lemon Grass in a potato bisque: Thursday: Quinoa and Kale, etc…..

Cookbooks were mentioned above. Betty Crocker once published a firmback cookbook which was meals for newlyweds … so it was really meals for two people with not the greatest cooking skills. Over time, we doubled and quadrupled the yield of many of the excellent recipes and created family traditions. I recommend this type of book for those who are bored with their repetitive menus.

to find that balance between variety and comfort. At home I cook quality comfort. I go out for variety. (thank goodness for outdoor patios at restaurants)

All of my adult life, the paycheck has come in every other week. Since most of our meals are vegetarian, I can’t just toss a packet of pork chops in the cart and think “Monday”, a chicken for Tuesday and Thursday, etc. Hubby and I make up a menu for two weeks and that way I know what to purchase. We may have Thursday’s dinner on Monday, but the ingredients are in the house. This also saves running to the store at the last minute and spending $30 for a box of pasta.

And a gallon of milk. And those crackers look good. . .

Dome folks don’t have enough to eat, let alone a variety like that, which would be considered heaven-sent.

they forgot hot dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches

Add king pao chicken, hot and sour soup, and pot stickers. Thursday’s.

Day 7 is Potpourri. Everything leftover in recent days, was a good idea at the time it was bought, got freezer burn or is about to turn is thrown in a pot. Heat, serve and enjoy!

Just switch the days around.

Add soups.

When husband worked full time I did the planning for food and we basically had a weekly repeating menu. After he quit his job we gradually moved to buying food for dinner daily for that night (sometimes for 2 days or if snow coming, buying for a few days).

Now we have gone food shopping 3 times since mid March and some days have preassumed meals and others do not. We have to figure out dinner at lunch time (2:30 pm) in case it has to be defrosted. Lunch is peanut butter (nothing added) sandwich for me and either half a can of soup or peanut butter/jelly or baloney sandwich for him.