I’ve really gotten out of the habit of cooking in the past, oh, six months or so. I’ve never been a particularly avid cook — I’ll bake, gladly, any and every day of the week, but cooking actual food? Meh. — but the kids’ crappy eating habits have totally done me in on meal preparation. No matter what I serve, I’m met with at least one flat refusal to eat, and often at least another one or two of them takes just a couple of forkfuls under extreme duress. I finally realized that the whole thing was much less stressful for me if their protests and insults were made to a meal that I’d taken from the freezer and spent ten minutes warming up instead of something I’d invested any real time and energy in cooking.

Alas, ready-made meals don’t come cheap, and they’re generally not jam-packed with nutrition, either, so I bit the bullet last night and made up a menu with a week’s worth of “good” food and a corresponding grocery list. This morning, as soon as the older kids were away at school (and the chimney sweep had come and gone, but that’s hardly germane), Olof, Brynja, and I made our way to the supermarket in town and came home two hours later with bags and bags and bags full of fixings for quality meals.

Ask me next week if I still think this was a good idea.