July 2014

Periodically, because it's good household management but usually because we're in a budget crunch, I go on a campaign to eat the food that we have. Those items that have gotten pushed to the back of the pantry or freezer. Anyone else have this issue? I consider it the fat corn years intended to supply the lean corn ears (see Genesis, the story of Joseph and Pharaoh), but just like the biblical story, it takes some creative management.

I'm going to keep a journal, hopefully during the entire month of July, of my own efforts to economize as I clean and organize my food. My journey is happening in 2014, a time when Americans waste about 25% of what we buy (see newsstory here). That's appalling, but it easy to do. When my culture fails this way, it pains me. When I am too lazy to eat the rest of the spaghetti sauce in my fridge, hey, what do you know about my life? Stay off my back.

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Day 31: the conclusion

I have been thinking about this last day all week. I am going to miss writing these blogs every day. They mark a season of quiet and reflection for me. A season of noticing how I live and thinking about my choices. BUSY is coming, and I hope to leverage what I have learned to be a little more purposeful, more rightly focused, a little more wise.

I ate the last spelt biscuit this morning, with peach preserves. I will probably buy honey the next time I get groceries, but I'll keep eating muffins for a while for breakfast. Yesterday, I added some roasted peppers to the vegetable shelf in the freezer, and thought of Proverbs 31: "She provides food for her family and portions for her female servants" (v.15). I wish I had female servants. But then again, I would have to provide portions for them. Which would mean eating what we have. Okay, this seems like a great idea.

I have realized, in the course of writing this blog, that I don't have a plan for the rest of my house. When I was younger, I had a system for all of the housework, but I have let that slide, as if the kitchen were the only room. The internet is a wonderful source for information, but it has allowed me to grow distorted, to overdevelop in one direction. I have an overgrown Kitchen Interest.

I want to revisit the passage from Titus: "Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to too much wine, but to teach what is good." We older women can get jaded. We can stop be reverent and grateful, seeking only our comfort, offering only criticism. But we need to hold to what is good so that, "Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God" (Titus 2:3-5).

It's a good list to look at regularly. It's easy to drift one direction or another without the gentle reminder: don't forget self-control! Don't forget kindness! Don't forget your husband!

So, the official conclusion. I started this project hoping to trim my budget. I haven't really succeeded, although I have strengthened some good habits. I hoped to reduce waste. Again, I have shored up what I already practiced. But I have also learned that I need to be very purposeful when I work in the kitchen. Enjoy it, but don't escape mindlessly into cooking. Aim simple, and even if it's odd, eat what you have.
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