Every Saturday, maybe Sunday, I go grocery shopping. Before grocery shopping, I make a grocery list; before the list comes the menu.

Virtually every diet book out there tells you to plan your meals but I’m pretty sure I do it because Mom did. Every week, I pick what we’re going to eat from Sunday to Friday. Saturday is special, but that’s another blog post.

There isn’t anything fancy to the menu; something done routinely is whittled down to the essentials. I do it without thinking. It’s a piece of the paper with the days of the week and the corresponding meal stuck to the fridge with a magnet.

I choose the meals based on all kinds of factors that are hard to quantify. The season, what’s in the fridge, something I saw on the TV, a sweet deal at the grocery store; anything will make me pick that meal for that week. For example, we’re going through a bullshit bus driver strike in Ottawa right now. This has completely messed with our commute, and our wake up times. I get home from work having no desire to cook. So I’ve been rockin’ the slow cooker these past few weeks and picking meals based on that: trying out new soups, stews, braises, that type of thing.

I’ll probably come back to meal inspiration in some other posts. The important thing about the weekly menu is the plan for leftovers. I pick meals based on how many leftovers there will be over the week for lunches. I don’t plan lunch, except that I plan dinner the night before or the night before that. If I’m bringing last night’s chili to work instead of going to Bob’s Fat Sandwich Shop, I’m doing my waistline and wallet a favour. Know what I’m saying?