I get a bit of a thrill each week as I do meal planning for my family. Actually, the biggest thrill comes from what I do not plan!
Do you ever feel excitement as you anticipate a gift? Maybe approaching a holiday or birthday? That is the feeling I get each week as I anticipate how I will feed my family!
I do my grocery shopping once a week, and I am pretty strict about not making any extra trips to the store. As you know, there are seven days in a week, and generally three meals a day - that is a total of 21 meals.
When I shop I buy enough to make four meals for dinner during the coming week, oatmeal for breakfast and a few snacks like veggies or popcorn. We also order out for pizza on Sundays so I don't have to cook. That is a total of five meals (12 if you count breakfast) that I have planned for an entire week of 21 meals! I do not buy food dedicated for lunch, and I leave two days of dinner unplanned and unpurchased.
For me, this is a way to allow God to quite literally fill my pantry! Believe it or not, my family never goes hungry! They may not have exactly what they want to eat, but I am always able to put food in their bellies! And I also have very little wasted at the end of the week!
For lunch we sometimes have leftovers from the night before, or we pull together a meal of odds and ends of fruits, veggies and eggs that haven't been used. For dinner on the two nights I leave unplanned, I get to browse my pantry and get creative, pulling together meals of anything that hasn't been used yet that week, or redefining leftovers into a completely new meal! I really enjoy getting creative in the kitchen...sometimes it goes better than others!
These provisions to feed my family are a genuine gift from God, it is not something I prepare for or provide for myself! He provides the means for me to buy food in the first place, and then He takes my meager choices and enlarges them to demonstrate His love and power in my life!
God desires for us to depend on Him and to give us good gifts! He desires for us to turn to Him daily for our strength to face each new day! Are you allowing God to fill your pantry, or the other gaps in your life? I challenge you to give it a try, it can truly be an exciting way to live!
