You are picking up the mistakes you are making which is a very good thing.
As for the shopping...I agree with your wife, once a week. Shopping multiple times a week has been proven to lead to high shopping costs overall....Just too many temptation items to buy.
As for dinners....ask the night before or the morning of...if she is unsure, say what you would like. Then if she says that is fine, then pull it out and defrost it.
Microwave is good too, but does take some time to learn not to microwave cook things.
