OK, you're finding great success with those first four tips in this series, and in this part, you'll learn two more tips that will provide supernatural assistance in cutting back your food costs. These two tips, Tip #5--GIVE and Tip #6--SAVE will display God's bountiful hand in lowering your food expenses: Both tips are simply miracles and lots of fun to witness.
Tip #5--Give
Remember in the last blog how we discussed Tip #4--Employ The Pantry Principle? Well, when you start stockpiling cans, boxes, and bottles from warehouse stores or on sale, you can acquire quite a collection. Remember the toilet paper stockpiling which occurred worldwide when COVID-19 hit in 2020? So for Tip #5--Give: Begin giving from your provisions and watch God multiply. Here's how. At the beginning of the month or the end, whichever you prefer, take a can or two or three from your supply locker and give it to your Parish Food Bank or wherever the poor in your area need it.
As stated, I only keep two cans of everything in my pantry now, but when our five children were at home, we stored plenty of excess goods on the garage shelves. So release a can of all your extras, and say these life-changing words, "Jesus, I trust in You." Why? Because as surely as Our Lord Jesus could feed thousands from two fishes and five loaves, He can stretch whatever is in your pantry if you but let Him. Jesus told us, " The poor will always be with you." And He wants to use us to feed them. So GIVE! And don't forget to give your neighbors and others such goods as your garden vegetables or a loaf of homemade Extra Moist Yogurt Bread. (See recipe below. ) As Jesus told us in Luke.
"give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap, for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.” Take His words at face value and watch what happens to your food monies when you give to God first.
Tip #6--Save
It isn't easy to give from your purchased food supplies, but what you'll find is that when you do, you'll reap savings in every other area. Clothes, under ware, and purchases begin lasting longer. You get better at combining what's in your refrigerator. More skilled at getting creative. Your money planning and savvy spending skills increase too. Thus you begin saving, little by little. You are giving, and yet, God is giving back to you.
One such example I personally witnessed the other day was when my husband found $30 cash on the sidewalk, or when, last year, I found a diamond ring while cleaning up after my dog. The savings WILL appear. One such Biblical example is seen in 2 Kings:4, where God used Elisha to multiply the widow’s oil so she could sell it, pay off her debt, and keep her two children from becoming slaves. God can and will multiply our efforts for him no matter how large or small they are. So to stretch your food and cut back on costs by GIVING and SAVING.
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The Frugal Catholic --Extra Moist Yogurt Bread
I often make this yummy bread in mini loaf pans to give away as gifts. Use up those dead bananas you've thrown into your freezer.
2 large ripe bananas or 3 small ripe ones (the blacker, the better)
1/4 cup applesauce (or if you don’t count calories, use 1/4 cup melted butter)
1 egg
1/4 cup yogurt
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 and 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mash up the bananas with beaters in a mixing bowl. Melt the butter and add. Then add egg, yogurt, and brown sugar to the mashed banana and mix. Next, blend in the flour, soda, and salt into this batter; add walnuts and stir well. Pour the mixture into a greased loaf pan and bake 60 minutes or until done. Remove from the pan when cool. Freezes well.
My 97-year-old mother often took a full pot roast dinner to ill or grieving people.
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Martha Wild King, M. Ed., Author
The Frugal Catholic: Learn to live on less to give and save more.