Healthy, Budget, Family Food

After hearing the testimony of a missionary family, I once proposed the idea to my husband that we sell everything and go be missionaries in a foreign country, forsaking the pleasures and riches of our materialistic society and living simply, relying on the Lord for our needs. I added what a blessing it would be for our kids to not grow up surrounded by mounds of joy-stealing toys and in a culture that worships comfort. My beloved husband wisely perceived that the intent of my heart was not to evangelize the lost, but to run away from what I thought were the culprits of my own sin (no running away from that!). He responded rather nonchalantly, “Why don’t you just live like that now?”.

Oh, how that question has challenged my heart. Not to mention that he followed it up with proposing that I start taking cold showers (got to love that man’s sense of humor). Since then, the Lord has been working on my heart to show me the ways in which I idolize the luxuries, comforts, “security”, and “wisdom” of the world. I’ve been able to see more clearly how fitness and healthy eating have been idols in my life, false gods promising what they cannot give—pedaling lies of “anti-aging” and fulfillment in something other than God. I’m not saying it’s good to swing to the opposite end of the spectrum, either. Of course, being good stewards of what we’ve been given is a biblical duty and so is relying on the Holy Spirit’s guidance in every situation—including how to manage this aspect of our households. But I’m no longer clinging to the latest diet trends touted by the worldly wise. My health is in God’s hands, my days are numbered (whether I eat brown or white rice, organic or not, fresh not frozen, etc.), and my goal in life isn’t to be my own god and glorify myself.

I think it’s important to ask ourselves if the voices telling us we need to eat a certain way are interpreting the world through the lens of the Bible. What is most important to this person? What do they worship? If it’s not our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, then what is it? We were created to worship. If we don’t worship God we will worship something—ourselves, the environment, created things…

“They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.” – Romans 1:25 NIV

Armed with this conviction and a biblical worldview (that God’s Word, not man’s word, is supreme) I set out to discover how we could live more simply while still keeping a balance between eating healthy, keeping the budget trim, and feeding our family of seven. My husband greatly aided on the budget side and took on the arduous task of comparing prices of meals and between different stores. Here are some of our discoveries…

Tips for the balance:

1. Death by a thousand snacks—We discovered that we were spending a ghastly amount of money on prepackaged snacks (granola bars, single serve yogurts, applesauce pouches, etc.) and we’ve now swapped them out for things like: homemade oatmeal cookies (cut the sugar in half, sub in whole grain flour and voila!), homemade popcorn, bananas (or other grab and go fruit), tortilla chips, hard-boiled eggs, and the old trusty spoonful of peanut butter. Oh and all those pre-packaged baby foods? I have been duped by ridiculously expensive puffs and yogurt melts before—not anymore! Some good old Cheerios, bananas, squashed pieces of bread, or bits of cheese do the trick nicely.
2. Eat more simply by going back to basic whole foods—We don’t make as many million-ingredient meals. For example, we’ll grill chicken, make rice, sauté broccoli with garlic and throw on our fav teriyaki sauce. Or we’ll make angel hair pasta with tomato sauce and throw in some green peas or ground beef. Many breakfasts are variations of oatmeal (some of us like dried fruit, nuts, choco chips, bananas, or PB).
3. Draw the line between necessary and luxury—for us this means we don’t eat steak often, we buy berries when they’re in season, and my fav sparkling canned water has to wait for a bogo sale (just a few examples).
4. Does it all have to be organic? I used to buy almost everything organic and then when we had more kiddos and it got too expensive, I finally asked myself the question, “Why?“. And the answer wasn’t that I had all the verifiable data about why this was the best way to feed our family, I think the answer was more because, well, it was trendy. Ha! Now we buy a gallon of milk for under $4, five dozen eggs for under $10, and an enormous block of cheddar for ~$6 and I couldn’t be happier to not be trying to “ration” those staples anymore.
5. Home-make in batches—we batch make granola, grilled chicken, shredded pork, sourdough (thanks to my dear friend who introduced me to this fabulous ordeal), healthy(ish) cookies for the freezer, and then we use these all week. I also make a big raw veggie tray weekly and put it out as I’m making dinner, you know, when everyone is hungry… let me tell you, a lot more veggies are eaten in our house this way!
6. Don’t be afraid to tackle bread baking, the intimidation is worth the rewards! We buy a couple loaves of store-bought bread when it’s on sale to keep in the freezer as back-up but usually try to make it homemade once a week. Sourdough is my favorite because it’s only a few ingredients and it’s not as hard as it may seem to keep the starter alive (which is a big deal for me because I can hardly keep a plant alive).
7. Compare different stores, brands, generic vs. name brand, clip digital coups, look at the weekly ads, etc.—We’ve found that one of our local grocery stores has prices that are almost double for the exact same items elsewhere. I had always been a one-and-done kind of shopper but my husband has gotten on board (and actually now has mostly taken over) so it’s easier to shop a couple of different stores throughout the week.
8. Waste less— we eat leftovers often, usually one dinner a week and multiple lunches. I’ve also started serving up smaller portions to those of my kiddos (anyone have toddlers?) who are infamous for wasting half their meal and I’ll serve more if they ask.
9. Pray—God delights in every detail of our lives and if this is an area with some tension (I’ve felt it often), He’ll provide the way and the wisdom.

“The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭37‬:‭23‬ ‭NLT‬‬