...just enough

Okay- so this post makes me want to cry... again.

I have jokingly said to some of you that i "miss you like cheap chicken."  Well I really do miss cheap chicken.  It is so expensive!  Well, when CT and I went to the grocery together last Friday we decided to splurge and buy $7.25 chicken (2 pieces).  We bought it Friday and Tuesday night I went to cook it and it was stinky.  Now, most of you know that I am a risk taker when it comes to food.  My girls at DSA used to make fun of me because I ate 9 day old pot roast one time for lunch... but it smelled fine- so I say why not!?  I hate to throw away anything... especially food.  I got CT to smell it and he was scared to eat it.  Before I threw it away I wanted to make sure that a national wouldn't eat it either so I took it out to the guard house for Noah to smell.  He thought is was stinky too.  I took that as  "it's okay to throw it away."  So Tuesday night our potential BBQ chicken went into the trash can with all the other trash of the evening.  I knew when I threw it away that our inside house help would find it the next morning b/c he takes the trash out like 4 times a day.  But I thought it would be okay to throw away...right?  I mean- no one could eat it.  Wrong.  The next morning when I went downstairs Abraham had pulled it out of the trash can and wrapped it up in it's original package with some extra cellophane.  As soon as I saw it- I know my face turned beet red.  He said "Mama, may I please have this?"  I said "Oh Abraham I am SO sorry.  I didn't know you could use it!  I wouldn't have thrown it away if I had known.  I was afraid it would make us sick if I cooked it."  He replied "Mama, there are many hungry children near my home and so may I boil it and take it to them?"  I mean good grief!  How do you respond to that!?  I couldn't have been more embarrassed, ashamed, guilty...ugh!  So I learned something very valuable:  ANYTHING can be consumed.  Oh how rich we are!  I have been a little ashamed of a few things since I've been here.  I'm trying to keep in mind that I should feel grateful and not guilty.

  

Yesterday I drove by myself to the store (for the first time- yikes!) to get some flour (to attempt) to make bread (again).  I figured while I was there I might as well get a few extra things to have on hand in case we were to run out.  I have to tell you I was sort of lolly gaging a little because I didn't want to come back to the house while our help was still there.  I didn't want him to see the extra groceries I had bought.  But I had to go on back because I had already lapped the this lady in a wheelchair like 4 times around the store.  On my drive back to the house I was thinking I would just leave the bags in the car until he had left.  (I know this sounds so terrible and sneaky.)  But he greeted me at the car eager to help me take my bags in.  I saw him grab a bag and look inside it.  Then it occurred to me:  they have no idea what it is like to buy 2 of something... you know just to have an extra jelly on hand incase you run out.  They live, cook, and eat daily with "just enough".  My goodness- we throw things away because they get shoved to the back of the pantry and we forgot we had it!  

Before we left Chris and I were trying to cut back on our grocery shopping.  It seemed crazy that I would go to the grocery and spend money when my pantry have more than enough food in it.  So we tried to eat up all of our pantry... we couldn't!  We ate and ate on what was in the pantry and we still ended up giving a lot to the shelter or food pantry at church.  Think about how we throw away left overs when we could just invite people over to help eat them when they are first cooked.  

I eased my uncomfortable feelings a bit by telling myself  "you're running a guesthouse- they understand that"...maybe so.  

I have so much to learn!!!

The Ultimate Challenge

I have a challenge for you and myself.  Try to eat weird meals from the back of your pantry.  Try to go a meal without HAVING to eat meat.  You can do it... we're going to try too (when we don't have guests here).  

Am I the only one that had/has nonsense in the back of my pantry?? Just curious.  

(If you truly want to make this a challenge- let me know and blog about it... I'll blog it if you will!  I'm going to eat green peas for lunch...yea thats right mom!)