It's The Economy, Stupid.

I'm showing my age with this quote but be honest... we're all feeling it!

“We haven’t had French Dip sandwiches in forever,” Jemmy lamented one evening. He loves just about any meal that involves meat on bread, so the choice wasn’t surprising. But here’s the problem: he loves just about any meal that involves meat on bread. And a whole dinner that revolves around meat? Not just “meat,” but beef?

Well, I’m scared to price it right now. In a few weeks, we’ll be hauling Burger to the butcher and we’ll be able to enjoy a bit more in the beef department. But right now? At $7.46 per pound? No, son. No French Dip sandwiches.

(But hey, here’s the recipe in case you already have a freezer full of beef!)

The price of everything has gone up, but food prices especially have hit families hard. I myself tried the viral “Add all the items from a 2020 grocery order to your online cart and see what they cost now” trend and, no, it wasn’t shocking. It was confirming.

I’m not losing my mind. That $200 was now almost $400. And like many of you, the budget here at home hasn’t changed.

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?—Matthew 6:26-27

The above verses have always brought me comfort in lean times— and we’ve seen a few. The Great Recession of 2008 was especially hard for my family. For the first time, we found ourselves shopping food banks instead of just staffing them. My husband was literally on the volunteer board of directors of a local food charity… and we were also customers.

But God was true to His promise in Psalms 37:25-26, and we were not on the streets begging bread. Neither will we be now. That season pressed me to learn more skills to stretch my family’s food budget, and with our current ability to raise animals and shop our own pantry, He is providing day by day!

We can choose to be joyful, even when the economy is literally making our job as wives and mothers more and more difficult. Seeing God’s hand in a season as encouraging us to be more creative with His gifts is one way that I choose to take this rather glum moment in time and turn it into something I can actually get excited about. (I’m not exaggerating!)

Looking to add some cerative variations to your own frugal meal plans? Here are a few ideas that save my food budget regularly:

Risotto— with so many variations, this side dish can fill out any plate for cheap. I use this recipe (it says it’s vegan, but I use real butter and no miso) as a base and no one ever complains.

Fried Rice— if you think you can’t make it, you’ve been duped. Start here, and branch out. You can use leftover chicken if you want to make it heartier, but I bulk mine with frozen broccoli florets and shredded cabbage to keep it cheap.

Curry— since it’s the sauce that matters in a good curry, using a good recipe for that means that you can add chicken… or chickpeas, or veg, or whatever. Just make enough curry sauce to slather on the rice, and bellies will fill up.

Ghoulash— this recipe is labeled ghoulash, but it’s not like the ones my husband’s German and Hungarian relatives made. Even so, you can lean on the noodles and cut back on the amount of meat for a happy supper.

Savory pancakes— stay with me here. My mom always used leftover mashed potatoes to make potato pancakes the next day. What I didn’t know until I was much older was that there are hundred of ways to do the exact same thing— and they’re quite tasty, to boot. Try these and see how they fly with your people.

These are just a few of the ways I stretch our food budget right now. What’s working for you? And how are you seeing God provide in the midst of lean times?

In Christ,

Heather