Recipe for Disaster

I have hunkered down and decided to get through this entire week without a trip to the grocery store. I might have to give in and go get some milk and meat tomorrow, but we are making our way through the shelves of canned food and soups... one by one. I am bound and determined to save some money - eating out is killing us. Beans are a good source of protein, right? Man doesn't live on meat alone - isn't that the verse? :) Ha! No - here it is:

Deuteronomy 8:3 - He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

Wow... that's an entire sermon, right there. I consider myself humbled from this experience, certainly. I can't believe there was a time I hadn't ever used coupons at the grocery store. We got whatever we wanted and let it rot in the fridge while we ate out at fancy restaurants. We let meat go bad because we had a better offer to eat at a friend's house instead, or decided to go out because that was quicker than cooking.

I've heard it said "Give me convenience or give me death." Well, I'm learning that convenience sometimes really does lead to death... the death of luxury, the death of ignorance, the death of pride. Asking for help is humbling. Eating every meal at home teaches you to really appreciate those meals you do get to eat out. How unbelievably spoiled we are in America. I've heard that some houses in California that are being built hardly have any kitchen space at ALL! What is happening to the American Family? We are all about plastic (credit cards), fast food (over-weight), and eating on the run (bad health habits). It's no wonder the doctor, the lawyers and the psychiatrists are making a killing off of us. We create our own stress - we reap what we sew.

Using coupons is also humbling at first, and then it really starts making a lot of sense/cents! Why didn't I think of this before? If I could have the 50$-100$ a week I'm saving by eating smarter that I have spent the last ten years, I could buy a new car in cash - and not pay anyone interest! Talk about eating your money... but wait - it wasn't really MY money to begin with.

Philippians 4:11-13 - I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12) I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13) I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Matthew 6:25-27 - "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26) Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27) Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

So, I'm going to follow God's recipe for being a good steward with what I am given in the kitchen (and all the other rooms of my house)... and stop bringing disaster on the checkbook (that spills over into every other aspect of our lives)! Time to bless my family with culinary joy and stop dining on debt.

Matthew 25:23 - "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'