Have you ever found yourself in a situation where pay day is a long way off and you still gotta feed your kids? You go to the cupboards and they look bare. It looks hopeless. I have to tell the truth, I lived that life for many years, and I gotta say,
I learned alot of ways to make food stretch.
This is a time of year when people seem to think about the homeless and the hungry more so than the rest of the year. I always thought it funny, how people must have thought we only got hungry at Christmas or Thanksgiving. Don't get me wrong I always appreciated the help I got from others at this time of year, but I have to say there were days when my stomach was empty during the rest of the year that caused me to wonder why.
When I would start to worry about where the next meal for me to feed my kids was, there would always be enough. You see God is no respector of men, and although I did not have a relationship with Him during these times, He always came through. It seemed as though the potatos I would peel look so few, but then they would seem to grow in the pan. Kind of reminds me of another story about a couple of fish. (Matthew14 v 17-18). And don't even get me started on how many beans we ate. To this day I stilll love pinto beans and whenever I feel blah and feel like I just can't seem to get satisfied, nothing makes me feel better than some beans and tortillas.
Some people would go through times like these and say "I will never eat another bean". Not so with me. I will always appreciate the days those beans literally saved me from starving and remember God always comes through even if I hadn't asked Him for His help.
Just like we can make our food stretch so that we do not go hungry, we can also nourish ourselves on His word. God did tell us that man does not live on bread alone but from every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. (Deut. 8 v 3).
You may say, I just do not have enough time to spend learning the word, there is just way too much, I could never learn it all. You would be half right. There is alot of word and the word will never finish teaching us all there is to know. But we can take it one verse at a time. We can find where in the word our help comes from and meditate on that, and once we get that not just into our heads but into our hearts, then we can move on to the next verse or scripture passage that nourishes our needs at that time.
Just like making a pot of beans stretch to feed us until we get more food, we can make a passage of scripture stretch and feed us, for as long as we need to. There is no expiration date on God's word and it will never sour or go bad. And once that passage has led us through we can start feeding on a different passage.
I don't know why the Lord led me to write on this today except that while fixing a pot of chilli and remembering all the ways I use to stretch that chili, I felt like maybe someone would like to know how to make a meal stretch and feed their kids and at the same time remind them to feed on His word as well and they would never go hungry.
Remember those who are less fortunate and donate food to your local food pantrys and shelters all the time, but especially now when they are trying to feed so many. God Bless you for helping to feed His children.
Please find at the bottom of page a recipe for chilli and how to stretch it into many meals.
STAY IN THE WORD!
Chilli
1 pound ground beef, 1 can of diced tomatos, 1 can of black beans or refried beans, chilli spices (like, chilli powder, cumin, garlic powder, red pepper, salt and black pepper) 1 small onion chopped up.
Brown meat, with onions and spices, add can of beans and tomatos and bring to a low boil. Let simmer and thicken. Freeze and take cut off little at a time to mix with water to make chilli soup.
Now when supper times comes, take a couple of ladels of chilli and mix in a boiler with a little water. You now have chilli soup. Grill some cheese sandwiches and a salad to make a meal. Depending on how many you are feeding you can have enough chilli in the freezer to make soup about 3 -4 times.
Don't forget to have chili for breakfast as well with a boiled egg. I can remember eating this many mornings while pregnant with my oldest son. I couldn't afford bacon or ham so I used the next best thing. Chilli from my freezer. Maybe one day I will share with you all the ways to cook a potato. One of my favorites french fry sandwiches with ketchup.
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