This chapter is pretty obvious, given the title of it, hehe! This chapter has a lot, and I mean A LOT of great information, when it comes to preparing meals and buying for your family. I will try my best to mention as much as possible without making my post too long of a read!
Kimberly talks about ways in which, we as stay at home mothers (or fathers if there are any out there that are reading my blog!), can feed your families.
First and foremost, trust in the Lord that he will provide for us the basic things in life--food and clothing. Putting trust in the Lord has been a struggle for me, but I am slowly starting to understand what it truly means to just trust God. Our loving God takes care of each and every one of us, he would not put us in any kind of danger or harm that we cannot handle ourselves.
Secondly, and this is more of my own input,... when preparing for meals, try to make a huge batch of it that way you can have leftovers for the week, or store some in the freezer for later time. When I go shopping for my family, I buy a weeks worth of meals that I can stretch out in a manner of two weeks. I make about three to four of these meals (depending on the quantity it makes) and we have leftovers every other day. So far, with our family of 4.5, this method seems to work and I am only spending about $400 a month on groceries (including lunch items and breakfast items). Of course, when our kids get older, I am sure this method will change, but we are doing pretty well for ourselves.
Kimberly also mention making meals ahead of time, by storing your ingredients in freezer bags, and stocking up your freezer with 4-5 meals as your "back up" plan. I haven't figured out a way to do this yet, but will some day and when I do, I am sure I will blog about it, hehe.
If you have a crock pot sitting around gathering dust, get it sown and start using it! There are a whole bunch of crock pot meals you can make out there, especially during the fall and winter months. It works great for making soups and stews that you can stock your freezer and/or deep freezer with.
Thirdly, make meals according to the seasons! By doing this, you will know that the produce is fresh, will taste great, and have the better prices. If you are into canning, do the same thing... can your goods when the fruit and vegetables are in their season. Right now, apples are in season so it would be a good time to make up some applesauce, or any meal that may call for apples.
I love how this chapter correlates with my most recent post on St. Therese's Feast Day. She mentions different ways to make your meal time even more special, especially if you have younger kids like I do. One way is to celebrate your child's patron saint(s) feast day. If you are looking for another way to bring faith into your meals, try to reflect on the different seasons, like Advent and Lent for example. As we do during the Lenten season, we try to abstain from eating meat on Friday's by eating fish, or a vegetarian meal. There lot of different ways make your meals creative and special for your family. If you would like a couple of resources for ideas for the Lenten season are The Catholic Parent Book of Feasts: Celebrating the Church Year With Your Family, by Michaelann Martin, Carol Puccio and Zoe Romanowsky, and A Continual Feast: A Cookbook to Celebrate the Joys of Family and Faith throughout the Christian Year, by Evelyn Birge Vitz.
Last, and certainly the most important (in my book), try to sit down and have at least one meal with the whole family. Even if you are mad and upset towards something your child/children have done, there is no reason for you to not eat with your family. It is probably the most important thing to do, especially when your husband (or wife) comes home from work that you have not seen all day. It is a great time to spend with your older children as well. You can ask questions about each others day, have a discussion about a topic your child may have, or just have fun with them! If you tire of sitting at the dinning table everyday, try to find unique places to sit and eat with your family. Maybe on a nice spring day, everyone can have a picnic in the backyard. Or go camping in the back yard with a tent and a little campfire where you can cook hot dogs, and make s'mores on the fire pit. This year, we finally used our outdoor fire pit I had bought last year for a really good price, over the summer. Therese got to experience how to roast a marshmallow over a fire and her first "camp fire" s'more. Be creative with what you have on hand and according to the weather of course!
I know this is not everything from the chapter, but I hope the ideas help you on your way to being able to feed your family in new and creative ways!
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