I’m a terrible shopper. Even with a grocery list, I tend to wander the aisles aimlessly, growing increasingly warm and flustered. I went so far as to map my beloved old grocery store and organize my list aisle by aisle to make it less harrowing. I haven’t done that since we moved (mainly because I haven’t yet found a grocery store to call my own). I do still make a list every week, though. I can’t imagine what I’d manage to bring home without one.

Because I’m also weak on culinary improv, I have to make a menu each week so that I can put the list together. Some weeks it goes very smoothly. I sit down, jot down 5 to 7 meals, and I’m done. Other weeks, though, you’d think I had never made a meal in my life. I can’t recall anything we’ve ever had for dinner, and I can’t think of anything that we might want to eat. I made myself a list of standbys to consult a few months ago, but that hasn’t been a cure-all.

I read on some help-me-plan-my-dinner Web site that it was helpful to have a general theme for each night when you’re planning meals. I thought I’d give it a try. Here are the themes I’ve come up with:

Sunday: Cow Appreciation Day (on which we will eat the beef)
Monday: New Meal Monday!
Tuesday: Old Standby (to counteract the shock of New Meal Mondays)
Wednesday: Quick & Easy (because I need all of my faculties to properly absorb “Lost,” whenever it comes back*)
Thursday: Crockpot night (I don’t have a lot of great Crockpot recipes, though, so we’ll see about this)
Friday: Pizza night (I may even stray from our usual pineapple-and-pepperoni equation)
Saturday: Market Day (vegetarian, because it’s farmers market day)

How do you plan your meals? If you use themes, I’d love to hear them. Because I’m sure this plan is going to need some tweaking. And if you have any good Crockpot recipes, please share!

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*Speaking of “Lost,” did you see that Michael is coming back? Can I get a “Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalt?” Yee-haw!