Taste Bud Enemies

My husband and I are perfect for each other. We both have areas in our personality that need improvement and we both call each other out when we need too. We work at our marriage constantly but in 7 years of our relationship one area of our marriage where we have yet to meet in the middle and compromise on is our taste in food. We have completely different taste buds.

I like smoothies and chicken salads, oatmeal and secretly eating chocolate every weekend. He loves steak and potatoes, rice and fresh fruit type meals. When we first met, I was a vegan and had been for 5 years. He was fit and healthy and lived off tuna sandwiches and green beans. However, over the years and 2 pregnancies we both have gained weight from pizza's, and candy, and jalapeno poppers (yum!). We both want to eat healthy well rounded meals but we both have different food personalities. 

We both have some compromising to do and because this has been and on and off struggle for years I have been thinking a lot lately how to correct this situation and make a compromise that works for us both. 

As adults we go through phases of what sounds good to us when we do the grocery shopping. During the fall I like lots of soup and warm foods. During the summer we like to BBQ and have fresh smoothies and as the seasons are changing so are our taste buds. 

So, after much thinking I came up with a great way to agree on the weekly shopping list that we usually bicker over because each of us crosses off the others foods...

I devised a simple choice menu. This menu is full of foods I can cook (since I am not the best), and categorized by "Breakfast ideas", "Lunch ideas", "Dinner ideas", "Snack ideas", and "Daily needs". With this list I mention several choices for all and then gave the list to my husband and told him to circle the ones he wants that week or to add ideas of his own. 

After he scowered the list, I was pleasantly surprised that he liked most of the ideas and menu items I offered, allowing for this shopping trip to be a success for all of us. 

All marriages need to be worked on if you plan on keeping them for life and even if it's something like having taste bud enemies, working through those differences allows us to keep our love rich and our marriage strong. I feel like I am learning daily how to become a better wife, since making mistakes and fixing them is what I seem to do best.