Just Enough for Today
I still remember the day my dad firmly said it: “Kari, don’t ever worry about money.”
He wasn’t making a promise of his personal funding, but he had watched my anxiety over the years and finally stepped in. It was a loving rebuke. I received it.
That year, 2008, many things turned around and one of them was that–with a resolve as firm as his rebuke, I quit worrying about money. Budget, yes; steward wisely, yes; but worry, no. I was convicted of my tendency to look ahead in fear, and by a generous work of God’s Spirit, that fear is gone.
But there are plenty of other things to take its place.
It was no coincidence that we were fasting when I read Exodus 16 the other day, when the children of Israel complain to Moses,
“You have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger!” (v.3)
Funny how UN-critical you become of the Israelites when you’re really, really hungry. Instead of wagging a finger, as I usually do, my only thought was, “Yeah, you know what? I can totally understand this complaint!”
Funny how physically identifying with others changes our perspective.
And God Himself proves compassionate to their plight as well. He doesn’t rebuke them (yet) but rather sends daily provision in the form of manna, to be collected each day, just as much as they needed for that day. They were strictly forbidden to gather more and store it up.
Just enough for the day.
And all over again this timeless truth pierced my heart with power of God’s kind conviction.
You only need just enough for today.
Because while I don’t dwell on tomorrow’s money anymore, there’s plenty about tomorrow I do dwell on. Mostly teaching notes, retreat prep, the capacity to handle the flood of responsibilities that inevitably come each day. When deadlines loom and projects stack and emails sit unread for way too long.
And while I can honestly say I am disciplined to be with my kids during the day and I don’t physically pull away to tackle those tasks, they hover there in the back of my mind.
Do you have something hovering in the back of your mind? I’m pretty sure we all do.
Whether it’s a task, a fear, a need, whatever, when tomorrow hovers in my head, it always silently steals the slightest bit of my joy and attention and affection.
It slowly lures me away from entering into the joy, the peace, the glory of each day.
God’s command was clear: Gather enough for today.
My Father (the Heavenly One) firmly said it this week as well. It was kind but firm. A rebuke to be sure: Kari, don’t ever worry about ____________. I will always provide for you.
Jesus taught us the same thing: “Give us this day our daily bread.”
Just enough for today.
Just enough money. Just enough food. Just enough energy. Just enough wisdom. Just enough creativity and inspiration.
Gather just enough for today. There will be more for tomorrow. Let that something hovering go, give over tomorrow to Him, and gladly receive this day and the just enough it brings.
{How will you gladly receive this day and trust Him completely for tomorrow? Thanks so much for reading.}
*Originally published Jan. 27, 2014
How to throw a Bean Party (and why!)
Reader Lacey created this fun way to bless those in need through fun, fellowship, and good friends! Check out her idea for a Bean Party, then get creative and throw your own! Enjoy…
My heart broke as I watched a video describing the suffering in Africa. For years I never wanted to hear, because what in the world could I do about it? Still, my heart beckoned so I asked God,
“Will you please show me if there is something more I could do? ”
His answer: Rice and beans.
Did you know that most of the world lives off of this simple meal every day? Here’s why…it’s cheap, healthy, versatile, and filling! An idea was birthed. I invited several of my friends, made two crockpots of beans, and two rice cookers full of rice.
My friends were sweet. They came. They brought their kids. Everyone ate and they were pleasantly surprised it actually tasted good (I prayed hard!). People brought whatever money it would’ve cost them to feed their family that night. We pooled our money together and sent a check to an organization that helps fight poverty through the hope of Christ (my favorite is Compassion International).
What resulted was hanging out with people I love, a practical teaching example for our children, prayer over those less fortunate than ourselves, and the satisfying feeling of taking something mundane…dinner…and turning it into something more…glorifying.
How to throw a Bean Party::
1. Invite friends.
Pick a date and let your friends know about the party and the cause. Decide ahead of time what organization to give toward. Be enthusiastic!
2. Make beans.
To make the beans, any beans, you can buy them dry, they are super cheap this way. You soak them overnight in water. (Fill jar 1/3 full of beans, then fill to the top with water.) Then drain and rinse, then boil them in water, or stick in crockpot. It takes about 1-2 hours for them, and sometimes you have to add more water. Don’t cover them completely or it will boil over. You know they are done when you can squish them in between your fingers. (You can add onions and salt for flavor.)
Italian beans:
Saute onion and garlic in olive oil til cooked. Add to beans with water and chicken boullion (as much as you want for flavor) and either dry or fresh basil (fresh basil definitely tastes better). Cook on the stove top for about 15 min or in a crockpot for 2 hours.
Thai beans:
Combine 1 T. soy sauce, 2 cloves minced garlic, 2 teaspoons brown sugar, and 2 teaspoons peanut butter. Stir in about 1 c. of beans (the more beans you have you should double/triple your recipe above), heat on stovetop for about 15 min or in a crockpot for 2 hours.
Chinese beans:
I like this best with white beans…Saute onions and garlic in butter. Add beans and soy sauce and chicken boullion for flavor. If you like more juice, add water b/c this can get salty (probably why I like this kind so much)!
Mexican beans:
Blend black beans, salsa and water with chicken stock. The salsa I ended up using was really hot, so I added Sassi Fresh Dips Chili Cotija dip to it that we got from Costco…it mellowed the heat a little. You could also do plain Greek yogurt or sour cream.
3. Eat beans.
While giving money is an important part of the party, it’s also important to eat the meal. When we eat the rice and beans we’re identifying with much of the world that lives on that meal day after day.
4. Pray
Pray for those bound by poverty. Pray specifically. Choose a country. Look up online for specific needs.
5. Give
Count the money everyone contributes and give through a reputable organization to those in need. Do it right there at the party, so everyone can be part of the process. Pray over the gift, that it can be distributed to just the right people at just the right time.
6. Go home full … in every way.
Good food, fellowship, and the joy of generosity. THAT sounds like a party to me! Thanks for reading.
#2 Make a debt-free plan {52 bites}
This week I wrote the Sacred Mundane chapters on money. Yes, chapters. I thought there’d only be one, but it became quickly apparent that Jesus has plenty to say on this topic so I should too. And since our hearts go wherever our money is, and since giving goes straight to the jugular of greed, this topic is critical to embracing the truly sacred mundane life. If anything matters, money matters.
If our hearts go where our money is, I’d rather not someone else own the deed to my heart. Not that debt is selling our souls to the devil, but is it any wonder that our nation’s spiritual condition and financial condition are related? We are drowning in debt and spiritually bankrupt all at the same time. Tsh Oxenreider begins this chapter like this:
It’s about as straightforward as you can get—if you’re in debt to someone else, you’re in bondage. And that bondage keeps you from living the life you want, the one that feels right in your own skin. Until you’re debt-free, you just can’t live as simply as you want.
So true. Even though I don’t love renting, there is something freeing about knowing we owe no one anything. Perhaps we will have a mortgage again someday, but something I read by Larry Burkett last year really stood out to me. He explained that although debt isn’t recommended in scripture, it isn’t absolutely prohibited. In the Old Testament, provision was made to release people from debt every seven years. Then, of course, after seven sevens, they enjoyed the year of Jubilee. But even just after seven years, debts were cancelled. In other words, accruing debt was a legitimate method used to help those in need, but …
… it wasn’t meant to last long.
It was intended as temporary help, not as a permanent state.
Today, the “normal” mortgage length is 30 years. THIRTY years. That’s almost one’s entire adult, working life-time. If a child grows up in a 30-year mortgage family, then gets a 30-year mortgage himself, that means that almost his entire life is spent paying off debt. I don’t know…
Please hear my heart: Not throwing mortgage stones. Not throwing debt stones. The purpose of this post isn’t to make you feel bad about debt. I understand it is often unavoidable, and some of you (you know who you are) have heard me cheering for you from the sidelines as you work hard to pay off that debt.
My heart here is to look at our “norms” with new eyes. For us, one of our goals, Lord willing, is to someday purchase a home that we can pay off in seven years or less. (OR save up and buy one cash.) Yes, that gives us a very, very low price range. Oh well.
The purpose of this Bite is that you would make a Debt-Free Plan. Note that it isn’t that you’ll be debt free. The idea is that you work toward it. That might mean, like some people we know, moving in with your friends part-time. 🙂 That might mean selling your house. That might mean following Dave Ramsey’s Financial Steps, using the snowball effect to pay off debt. Do whatever it takes today to move toward life debt-free. Where to start? Here are some ideas:
- Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover
- Snowball Plan for Paying off Debt
- Tsh’s basic get-out-of-debt plan
- Tsh’s Financial Roadmap
We’ll be talking about more of these steps in future Bites, for now, let’s think about debt, why we have it, and how we can get out of it. Please know I’m cheering you on from the sidelines! Thanks for reading.
#24 Switch to Non-Toxic Household Cleaners {52 Bites}
Months ago I printed SPRING CLEANING across this week in my calendar. I’ve looked forward to it for months. No, don’t love cleaning, but I do love having cleaned. I love having a home of peace, order, beauty. Not perfect, not spotless, but fresh and fun. I feel happier when things are reasonably clean and as my husband says, “A happy wife is a happy life.”
Now here’s the thing — I don’t think any of us love cleaning, so how can we make the whole thing more enjoyable? For me, I feel better about my cleaning when I feel better about my cleaners. A simple switch to natural, homemade household cleaners can be better for the environment, better for your body, better for your budget, and beautiful to boot.
::Better for the environment::
“Conventional cleaners seep into our water, and it’s difficult for water treatment plants to handle a large volume of these chemicals. Many cleaners are also petroleum-based, which further depletes our natural resources.” (Simple Mom)
::Better for our bodies::
Conventional cleaners pollute the air around us. Since many of us clean with children running around, we’re wise to keep the air clear of these harmful fumes. Natural homemade cleaners can be used while pregnant, used near children, and even used by children. A three-year-old eager to help can squirt a vinegar-and-water solution onto the floor as the two of you tackle chores together.
(If natural cleaners enable my children to do more chores at a younger age, I’m sold!)
::Better for our budgets::
Homemade cleaners cost pennies. Borax, washing soda, bar soap and vinegar can make up most household cleaners. (Winco carries both Borax and Washing Soda in the laundry aisle.)
::Beautiful::
It sounds silly, but somehow a pretty bottle of clear-and-healthy-cleaner inspires me to clean much more than a neon-yellow bottle of Lysol that reeks of chemicals. So, I mix up the natural stuff and store it in Mrs. Meyers bottles. For the laundry detergent, I mix up a large batch and keep it in a hot-chocolate tin covered with paper from an Anthroplogie catalog. Just a pretty little detergent-container can make sorting stinky socks a little more enjoyable.
How to make your own? My two favorite homemade cleaners are Tsh’s All-Purpose Cleaner and Dry Laundry Detergent.
All-Purpose Cleaner
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 1/4 gallon (1 liter) water
• a few drops of essential oil (optional)
Combine the ingredients, stir, and pour into a spray bottle.
Laundry Detergent:
- Take some mild bars of soap (Here’s what I do with all those little bars of soap you use in hotels. You know how you usually use them once and then leave them in the shower? I put them in a baggy, bring them home, then keep them all in a big ziplock and make laundry detergent.) Take the mild (DRY) soap bars and toss them in the blender. Pulse until grated/powdery. You’ll want about a cup of grated/blended soap. (Be sure to wash the blender well afterward so your next smoothie doesn’t taste like Irish Spring.)
- 1/2 cup Borax
- 1/2 cup Washing Soda
- 1 drop essential oil (optional). I used Rosemary oil and then dry clothes with Mrs. Meyer’s Basil-scented dryer sheets. The laundry scent is heavenly and the cost even better!
Your turn: What are your favorite all-natural cleaning products? How do you add beauty to your household cleaning routine? Thanks for sharing and reading. Happy cleaning!
Queen Candi's 35 Ways to Save
Candi Seifer is the most frugal person I know.
When we met, 9 years ago, she was a Manager for Nordstrom. I think her purse cost more than my rent. But she had (and has!) a heart of gold and was (and is!) eager to bless her husband, Aaron, and grow in her walk with the Lord. She became, over time, one of my most treasured friends and has taught me much about life and the Lord.
Since we’d been talking frugality, I asked Candi if she’d email me with a few of her favorite frugal tips. I expected, oh I don’t know, five. Bless this girl, thirty five ideas came my way and I just had to share them with you. These are all things that Candi herself does, along with her husband and two children, earning her the title in my book: Queen of all things frugal. I love her adventurous spirit and willingness to try new things. Perhaps her ideas will bless you too:
Candi’s Crazy List of Frugal-living Ideas
1. Cook from scratch. (Whole chx, homemade bread, applesauce, any desserts.)
2. Buy as little processed food as possible. Skip juice, crackers, breakfast cereal, granola bars, fruit snacks.
3. Meal plan. If you do the same meal plan over and over this reduces cost, (ie. 10 meal plan), no/little special ingredients to purchase.
4. Empty the pantry. If there is food in the cupboard I shouldn’t need to spend money.
5. Use those leftovers, when I meal plan most of my leftovers will morph into the next meal. (ie. spaghetti night to chili night)
6. Keep an extra freezer if you can (we fill ours with stuff from the garden, meat I get on sale or free, and on sale cheese)
7. Get your husband (family) on board with you. If you’re trying to be frugal and serve chicken, but your honey wants a fillet Mignon, you may need to compromise. Aaron always says “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”
8. Don’t eat out at restaurants, make your own latte/coffee too.
9. Couponing doesn’t always save you money, sometimes generic is cheaper.
10. Make all baby food
11. Breastfeed
12. Drink tap water
13. Skip expensive hygiene products (shampoo,conditioner, body wash). Buy the cheapest stuff.
14. Cut out all the expensive cleaning products, just use vinegar and dish soap.
15. Make your own laundry soap with washing soda, bar soap, and borax.
16. Hang dry your clothes
17. Shower less. Wash your hair fewer times.
18. Put two water bottles half filled with rocks and the rest filled with water in your toilet tank, it will save h2o with each flush. This also lessens the strength of the flush so be careful and aware of your household’s “needs.”
19. Compost.
20. Reuse ziplocs when storing homemade bread.
21. Use clothe napkins, dish rags, and clothe towels (not paper)
22. Turn down the thermostat and wear layers instead. (We keep it at 60 during the day and off at night. At night we keep it at 63ish in the kids room.)
23. Leave the oven open after cooking (free heat), watch out for little ones.
24. Minimize your media “needs” (ie. cable, internet, land line, newspaper, magazines, long distance, smart phones, etc). Each family has specific needs so this will vary from family to family. We not only do this for the savings, but also as we feel it necessary for our walks with the Lord as well as raising our children.
25. Use your public library (this can help with the above one).
26. Consignment or thrift! We buy clothes, toys, appliances, and anything else used. Mostly friends and family provide our clothing, toy, and furniture needs, but we have had great success buying and selling second hand.
27. Only spend money in the yard if it will benefit you (buy plants that you can eat and use in the home, or help the other food producing plants in your yard). Buy perennials. Use lavender (decor, air freshener, drawer fresheners, put in laundry soap). All herbs (eat them, medicinal uses). -Calendula flowers (put them on a salad, yum), Marigolds (slug deturants)
28. Things we grow and freeze: jalepenos (we use them in place of canned green chiles), they de-seed and chop super easily when they’re frozen,bell peppers, tomatoes, green beans, carrots, corn, peas, strawberries, blueberries.
29. Things we buy in season or grow and can: tomatoes, peaches, apples, strawberries, blackberries, pears.
30. Things we grow and eat or store in a “root cellar” environment (the garage) in addition to what is mentioned above: squash, beets, cucumbers, zucchini, lettuce, onions, cherries, chives
31. Don’t buy fertilizer and plant food (use your compost)
32. Don’t drink alcohol.
33. Don’t have house pets.
34. Don’t use deodorant or other fragrances
35. Don’t buy a gym membership, run, get some weights, or use workout videos.
{What are your favorite frugal tips and tricks? Candi wants to know! 🙂 Thanks for reading…}
#51 Get Help {52 Bites}
Today I’m flying down to Southern Oregon to speak at a retreat, entrusting the sweet babes to Jeff and his mom. No better time than today to celebrate help!
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All of us have choices about what we will do. Whether it’s raising four kids or working full-time or growing your own food or writing a book or regularly serving in your church, we all have things we do and we all have the responsibility to manage the homes, habits, and hearts that God has entrusted to us. And sometimes, in order to do this well, we need to get help.
We talked about this about a month ago when we asked the question, “How do you do it all?” Two quick thoughts from that and then let’s talk about getting help.
1. Maintain constant conversation with God.
This has been the huge lesson for me the past few months. My friend and discipler, Elisa, always reminds me that she gives God her schedule. Every day. No principles can ever replace the Person of the Holy Spirit who is able to direct our very steps throughout the day. All our well-intentioned time-management solutions will fall short if we haven’t simply asked God what His will is for our day.
2. Be just as purposeful about what you don’t do as what you do.
I think this was the big lesson of our discussion a few months ago. We talked about what we don’t do and how we can relax about it. Again, back to #1 — we need to seek God daily to ask Him which things we need to let go.
3. Get help.
Now onto today’s topic. This portion of Tsh’s book is straight from her excellent post here. Meagan Francis also has a great post on the same topic.
For me, help comes in the form of family and friends. Jeff is great about making Fridays Daddy Day so I can write. He’s also just a really low-maintenance guy, so just the fact that he’ll eat anything I make helps me a lot. My parents also help, now that my mom is back on her feet. They’re aiming to come on Mondays so I can write then as well. Huge blessing.
And then, of course, where would I be without friends? Most often it is my friend Danielle who can take the kids for an hour, bring me soup when I’m sick, grab that 10 lb. bag of carrots from Costco. I truly think that simply living in community is the greatest source of help.
Here’s my point: Chances are there is someone in your life who wants to help. Be it a grandparent, friend, sister, aunt, spouse, usually there is someone who would be happy to step up if there were a clear way that he or she could serve.
When Heidi was born things were nuts. Dutch was just 2, I was in seminary full time, Jeff was in seminary, our house sold 6 days after she was born, and we had nowhere to move. I made a big list entitled: “Ways people can help.” So whenever someone called or stopped by and asked that question, I always had an answer. (And yes, people I’d just met scrubbed my toilets and packed all the dishes in my kitchen!)
So, do you need help? If so, where will you go to find it? First, pray (then pray some more) and then:
1. Make a list of people who might like to help.
2. Make a list of ways people could help.
3. Ask.
Then, receive the help graciously.
And now my application: I’d actually love to ask for some help from you.
1. If you enjoy writing, love Jesus, and have a blog, I’d love for you to guest post. If you’re interested I can send you more information and guidelines, just contact me here.
2. We’ve had some technical issues with this site, so we’re in the process of redoing a number of things. One of these is the subscribers. If you’d like to receive posts slipped into your feedreader or email each day, please click the icon above-right to do so. (Email is the one that looks like an envelope.) If you have already done that in the past, could you please re-subscribe so that we can have everyone together in one place? Thank you for your help!
{Also, would you help by your gracious prayers for me this weekend? Thank you Jeff, M&D, Nana for all your generous help! And thank you, all, for your grace and kindness, and for reading.}
A Realistic Look at Living on Less
Every email my friend sends from Africa contains her signature quip:
From a distance it looks like an adventure … up close it is filled with challenges.
Isn’t that always the truth? It’s easy to look on the lives of others from afar and simply see the adventure. The success. The end-result. But making meaningful changes in our lives involves far more than adventure, right? It involves challenges. Obstacles. Hard things. The key is looking honestly and realistically at these challenges and still believing it’s worth it in the end.
We all would probably agree that “living with less” is a worthy goal. I doubt that any of us made “buy more, consume more, eat more, spend more” a New Year’s Resolution this year. We all want to live on less, but statistics show that few of us really are. Americans are spending more, weighing more, and consuming more than ever before. Where is the disconnect? Could it be that we romanticize this “living with less” lifestyle, making the reality of it so surprisingly disagreeable that we jump ship before making much headway at all? … {Find the rest at FrugalLivingNW…Thanks for reading!}
#5 Start Menu Planning {52 Bites}
*Note: For those of you interested in the Food Stamp Challenge topic. There is a new documentary out called Food Stamped, a couple who did the same challenge that we did. This documentary is showing this Monday, February 20th at 7pm at the Baghdad Theater at 7pm. Admission is free with donation to Oregon Food Bank. (For trailer and more information click here.)
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In one hour I’ll get up and turn on the rice-cooker. The chicken stock made itself in the crockpot last night as we slept, and the shredded chicken from last night’s bird is ready to toss into tonight’s Chicken Rice Bake. I’ll double the recipe, add a simple green salad, and take half to our friends who just had a baby.
I love meal-planning.
There are plenty of things I don’t do well. Like buy baby gifts. Just now as I write this I’m realizing I don’t have a gift to give this family. But I have food to give, thanks to a simple system of meal-planning.
Why meal plan? Tsh Oxenreider of SimpleMom lists some great reasons:
• You can extract a grocery list from your menu choices. • Because you buy only what you need, less food is wasted. • You know with plenty of notice what’s for dinner— no more frantic 5 p.m. craziness. • Cooking is more enjoyable, because you’ll have what you need on hand. • You’ll have more variety, because you’ve planned it. • It’s healthier, and it cuts down on drive-thru runs. • It’s cheaper, too, because you’re eating out less, you can menu plan around your coupons, and you can intentionally cook with seasonal ingredients.
Convinced? Me too. Meal-planning made it that much easier to take the Food Stamp Challenge and really give our budget and diet a handsome makeover. For us, to maximize our budget and keep things simple, we just have 10-12 meals and eat each one twice a month. I switch things up with the seasons but keep things pretty simple. I’m not winning any culinary prize, but my family’s healthy and fed and we have extra dollars to give away. That’s all the prize I need.
So where can you start? Although I’m including a sample menu with prices and grocery list, I sometimes find (especially with kids) it’s really hard to just copy someone else’s plan. We all have different allergies and aversions. Each family has their own unique food personality. So, here’s an idea of how to make your own:
- Determine your meal planning goals. Is your main goal to save time or money? Is it to get more variety or to simplify and make fewer meals? List our a few guiding principles that will help you determine your menu choices.
- Determine how many different meals you’ll make each month. (Does your family love variety and need a different meal every night? Or do you have your basic standbys that everyone loves? Are you trying to limit meat to once a week or grain to once a week? I make about 10 different meals a month.
- Determine any items you want to limit or increase. For example, are you trying to limit red meat to once/week. Or vegetarian dishes 3x/week? Trying to add fish once a week? Write out a rough guideline such as: Chicken 2x, meat 1x, fish 1x, beans 1x, vegetarian 1x.
- Ask each family member to list 3-4 of their favorite meals. (Give your husband more votes than the kids!!) Make a plan for how every single night can be a meal that pleases your husband and is reasonable for the kids. Perhaps you alternate between “adult” food and “kid” food every other night. Whatever works for your family and your own mission.
- Start filling in the blanks. Whether you’re planning for a week or a month, fill in the spots based on how busy you are that day, how it will go with dinner the night before, and whether you can re-use some portion of the previous night’s dinner (e.g. chicken stock, shredded chicken, leftover tortilla chips, etc.).
A few more things:
::List out ingredients and think about how long things keep. For example, if you use cilantro for one meal, use it again in another meal within a few days. Plan to make meals with many perishable items right after your grocery-shopping day and longer shelf-life items later on in the month. At the end of the month we’re usually eating lots of carrots, potatoes, and grains — things that don’t spoil quickly.
::Plan where you will shop and when. Make your grocery list and a plan for where and when you will shop.
::Plan prep-time: If you’re busy (is there anyone who’s not?), plan some time to chop/cook large amounts of food ahead. I usually spend several hours chopping carrots, onions, and meat and freezing them in large ziplocks. That way I can toss together a soup in mere seconds, dumping frozen pre-chopped veggies into a pot of stock.
Hope this can be helpful! And now, it’s time to go turn on the rice-cooker, let the dinner-making begin. {Thanks for reading!}
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Sample week’s menu, with price/serving:
Breakfast: Oatmeal (pennies/serving)
Snacks: Sliced cheese, apple slices, carrot sticks, bananas, homemade bread.
Lunch: 6 options listed here for pennies/serving.
Dinners:
Monday: Whole Roast Chicken ($6 total), Organic green beans ($5 for 5 lbs. at Costco), homemade bread (pennies). After dinner shred and save 4 cups of chicken. Make stock overnight or the next day.
Tuesday: Hobo Dinner ($6 total). One pound local, grass-fed beef ($4.50 at Afton Field Farms), one pound organic potatoes, one pound organic carrots ($5.99 for 10 lbs. at Costco). Brown and season beef, slice potatoes and carrots, layer in Dutch oven and bake until potatoes are soft. Serve with ketchup.
Wednesday: Chicken Rice Bake ($4 total), Organic peas ($5 for 5 lbs. at Costco)
Thursday: Tortilla Soup ($4 total)
Friday: Quick and Easy Pansit ($4 total)
Week’s dinner cost: $24 total. $6/person. Less than $1/day per person.(Scroll to bottom for grocery-shopping list)
If these recipes aren’t your cup of tea, here are a few other great ones:
Barley Risotto ($3 total)
Baked Mac ‘n Cheese ($6 total)
Delectable Banana Bread ($1.50 total)
And more ways to use any extra chicken stock:
Herbed Chicken and Dumplings (Just use the shredded chicken (from above) and this comes together in a flash.
Tarragon Chicken-in-a-pot Pies (With or without tarragon this is delicious. This is also a great way to use that frozen zucchini from last summer!)
Chicken Vegetable Soup (I skip the parsnips and turnips. The leeks make this delicious! Just use shredded chicken (from above) and your homemade stock.)
Winter Lentil Soup (You can tweak this soup to use anything. I don’t usually use tomatoes, and often substitute frozen spinach if I don’t have kale on hand–and who usually has kale on hand? I always add chopped carrots or carrot puree.)
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5-Day Dinner Plan Shopping List (assuming basic cooking staples are already in your pantry. Please check recipes to be sure you have these on hand. Also, I rely on FrugalLivingNW for the latest updates on deals around the Portland area.)
:: Thriftway, Azure Standard, online, or other grocery source:
- 1 Whole chicken (Draper Valley & Zaycon are quality, affordable choices)
- 1 lb. local grass-fed beef (Afton Field Farm $4.50/lb.)
- 1 lb. Organic potatoes (Azure)
- Organic Fuji apples (Azure)
- 5 lb. bag organic green beans
- 5 lb. bag organic peas
- Yeast (if making homemade bread)
- 10 lb. bag organic carrots
- 5 lb. bag organic corn
- Whole-wheat flour
- Tillamook Cheese
- Bananas
- Organic Brown rice
- Onions
- Taco seasoning
- Dried black or pinto beans
- Whole-wheat or brown rice spaghetti noodles
*More Links:
The dinner table, a family altar …
How would you describe your family dinner table? How do you see your role? Richard Foster, in his book on prayer, says this:
“Today the family table can be a significant altar where meals are celebrated and all the great and small events of our personal histories can be recounted. Here mothers and fathers fulfill the priestly role.”
Consider that the family table can be a significant place of ritual, instruction, fellowship, communion, blessing. What family-dinner activities does your family engage in to create a place of worship?
Ann Voskamp writes that they read Scripture after each meal.
Perhaps you pray together, holding hands?
We all recite the Lord’s Prayer together before we eat.
The new Common Prayer book has readings and meditations for each night of the week.
Growing up my mom read a version from Our Daily Bread, a little plastic bread loaf that sat in the middle of the table.
How can you transform an ordinary meal into a significant altar by inviting Christ into your midst and being intentional with your time around the table? I’d love to hear from you … and thanks for reading.
KATU Frugal Family Meal Plan {& Frugal Workshop}
For those of you visiting from KATU, welcome!
And for those of you Portland-friends who are interested, our little family will be on KATU Channel 2 tonight at 5pm and 11pm sharing our journey into frugal living.
*Also, Portland-area readers: This Wednesday night, Feb. 15th at 6:00 I’m teaching a workshop entitled Faithfully Frugal — how to live more and spend less. Beaverton SDA church is hosting this event as part of their weekly family night. Dinner and childcare are provided, and the event is FREE. (Such a deal!) Perhaps you might want to join me there? (14645 SW Davis Road, Beaverton)
As most of you know, I’m a bit of a frugal-living enthusiast, not as a goal in and of itself, but as one way to faithfully steward the resources God has given to us.
One of our greatest privileges, as Christ-followers, is getting to give our earthly resources to join in God’s Kingdom work. Making small, frugal choices in our everyday lives is one way we can free up finances to give more for the glory of God. This is why being faithfully frugal is different from just deal-hunting. We’re not striving to get more we’re striving to give more. We’re not just looking to score the greatest deal, we’re looking to live simply and freely, giving generously, sacrificially, and joyfully.
Lots of our budget line-items are fixed. But household/groceries is one area where we most likely have wiggle room. About a year and a half ago our family did a little Food Stamp Challenge. We wanted to see if it was possible for a family of 4 to eat fresh, local, mostly organic food on a food stamp budget ($275.53). Turns out, it is! This was exciting to me because it gave hope that we can bless our families with nutritious food and bless God’s work with all the money we save.
Now, please hear my heart: I am no master chef and I’m no dietition. I’m a wife, mom and follower of Jesus Christ seeking to feed my family well and faithfully steward the finances and bodies God has given us. Nor am I telling you what your grocery budget should be. There are lots of ways to honor God, so I’m not prescribing a lifestyle for you but describing what we’ve found on our little family’s journey these past few years.
1. A few principles to remember:
- Convenience is the budget – and health – killer. Organic whole foods are not that much more expensive, but organic convenience foods are very expensive. If beans are in a can, you’re paying for the work they did to put them there. If they’re in a bag or in bulk, you’ll save lots. This is most clear with veggies. Whole organic carrots are $.60/lb at Costco. But baby peeled organic carrots can be $3-$4/lb. You do the peeling, you save the money. Same goes for oatmeal, homemade bread (easy with a bread-machine). Cutting packaged convenience foods is the easiest way to build health and reduce cost.
- Be choosy with organics. You don’t have to buy everything organic. See the Dirty Dozen and the Clean Fifteen. The key is this: It doesn’t make sense to buy organic processed food. If a food is processed (think goldfish crackers), then none of the original pesticides (or nutrition!) are left so it really doesn’t matter. If you can only buy a few organic items, choose the non-peelable fresh fruits and veggies.
- Part of the challenge is going without. Sometimes we just have to tell ourselves no. And here in America, in the land of plenty, that is not a popular thing to do. But it’s so good for us!
So do we all of a sudden turn our whole diets and budgets upside down on their heads? Perhaps, but maybe a more gradual approach will set you up for success. Consider these five simple ideas:
2. Five Simple Ideas for a Healthy Frugal Diet (click links for more info)
- Simple Step 1: Eat oatmeal.
- Simple Step 2: Simplify snacks!
- Simple Step 3: Think whole.
- Simple Step 4: Simple Lunch.
- Simple Step 5: Make Dinner Happen.
3. Meal Planning and Recipes
Meal-planning made it that much easier to take the Food Stamp Challenge and really give our budget and diet a handsome makeover. For us, to maximize our budget and keep things simple, we just have 10-12 meals and eat each one twice a month. A switch things up with the seasons but keep things pretty simple. I’m not winning any culinary prize, but my family’s healthy and fed and we have extra dollars to give away. That’s all the prize I need.
**On Friday we’ll talk more about developing a menu plan that’s custom-made for your family.
**ALL the recipes below (and more!) can be printed here for free.
Here is a sample week’s menu of dinners, with price/serving:
Monday: Whole Roast Chicken ($6 total), Organic green beans ($5 for 5 lbs. at Costco), homemade bread (pennies). After dinner shred and save 4 cups of chicken. Make stock overnight or the next day.
Tuesday: Hobo Dinner ($6 total). One pound local, grass-fed beef ($4.50 at Afton Field Farms), one pound organic potatoes, one pound organic carrots ($5.99 for 10 lbs. at Costco). Brown and season beef, slice potatoes and carrots, layer in Dutch oven and bake until potatoes are soft. Serve with ketchup.
Wednesday: Chicken Rice Bake ($4 total), Organic peas ($5 for 5 lbs. at Costco)
Thursday: Tortilla Soup ($4 total)
Friday: Quick and Easy Pansit ($4 total)
Week’s dinner cost: $24 total. $6/person. Less than $1/day per person. (Scroll to bottom for grocery-shopping list)
If these recipes aren’t your cup of tea, here are a few other great ones:
Barley Risotto ($3 total)
Baked Mac ‘n Cheese ($6 total)
Delectable Banana Bread ($1.50 total)
And more ways to use any extra chicken stock:
Herbed Chicken and Dumplings (Just use the shredded chicken (from above) and this comes together in a flash.
Tarragon Chicken-in-a-pot Pies (With or without tarragon this is delicious. This is also a great way to use that frozen zucchini from last summer!)
Chicken Vegetable Soup (I skip the parsnips and turnips. The leeks make this delicious! Just use shredded chicken (from above) and your homemade stock.)
Winter Lentil Soup (You can tweak this soup to use anything. I don’t usually use tomatoes, and often substitute frozen spinach if I don’t have kale on hand–and who usually has kale on hand? I always add chopped carrots or carrot puree.)
Feeling overwhelmed? Check back with the Five Simple Steps and choose just one to do this week. Or, simply try the 5-day Meal Plan listed above and see how much you save. It’s amazing how a few simple changes can revamp our budgets — and diets — in phenomenal ways.
Thanks so much for visiting, hope to see you again soon!
——
5-Day Dinner Plan Shopping List
(Assuming basic cooking staples are already in your pantry. Please check recipes to be sure you have these on hand. Also, I rely on FrugalLivingNW for the latest updates on deals around the Portland area.)
:: Thriftway, Azure Standard, online, or other grocery source:
- 1 Whole chicken (Draper Valley & Zaycon are quality, affordable choices)
- 1 lb. local grass-fed beef (Afton Field Farm $4.50/lb.)
- 1 lb. Organic potatoes (Azure)
- Organic Fuji apples (Azure)
- 5 lb. bag organic green beans
- 5 lb. bag organic peas
- Yeast (if making homemade bread)
- 10 lb. bag organic carrots
- 5 lb. bag organic corn
- Whole-wheat flour
- Tillamook Cheese
- Bananas
- Organic Brown rice
- Onions
- Taco seasoning
- Dried black or pinto beans
- Whole-wheat or brown rice spaghetti noodles
*More Links: