Once-a-Week (not month) Cooking...

I had dreaded this past weekend.  I knew how much RM had to do and I knew how little time a weekend holds.  My friend and I met and prayed knowing that my new phrase in life for some time has been, "No fear, no panic, no dread."  I didn't want to dread.  That would ruin my whole weekend and I live for weekends!  RM ended up having a fairly productive weekend and though he didn't accomplish all things on his list, he did check off a lot which always makes me happy when he is happy.  We were also able to get out a few times just on our own which is what I miss now that he is at work all day.

That phrase I came across in Scripture about fear, panic, and dread has been a lifesaver.  I am able to take my thoughts captive now that I know my "go-to" is typically not to be calm, but to instead go to the worst case scenario.  I'll give an example.

One of the things on the list this weekend was find my son's old school work, scan it, and send it in to the on-line program we've signed him up for.  Sounds easy enough, except this was two year old school work that I had no recall of ever seeing.  I have moved stuff around so much since we started renovating and truly didn't know where it could be.  When this happens I just assume I threw it out and want to stop looking, but in this case, that wasn't an option.  I felt the panic creeping it.  I felt the fear, "What if I don't find it?  What will we do?!  How will he be accepted into the course? Why wasn't I more careful?"  As soon as I felt those old feelings, I immediately stopped and prayed, "Help me to find it, Lord.  You know where it is."  Then I spoke to myself and said, "Stay calm.  Even if you don't find it, there are other things you can do.  No need to panic.  Relax."  Truly, I was literally taking each new thought and making it be captive.  They weren't allowed to control me.

After I had gone through all the old spots of school work, no sign.  I was still walking around calmly, but the thoughts were trying to take over.  I wouldn't let them.  Suddenly I thought of one last place.  I went to a crate in the kitchen where I've gone before and sure enough, there it was.  I cannot tell you the relief!  It meant a lot less work for all of us since I found it.  It would have been a real challenge to recreate two years of work.  I thanked God for His help and how His Word truly directs my life.

I did have to go to the grocery store again, but was able to keep the bill down quite a bit by using my meal plan again as well as half price vegetables and no meat because we have our own beef.  Then I came home and do not ask me what came over me, but suddenly I had this thought, "Why not cook all the meals now for the rest of the week?"  The reason that is funny is because it is very classic of me to be such a "winging it" kind of person.  Organized people would have shopped with that in mind and had a whole plan for the day and would have done a whole month of cooking and would have known they were doing that amount of cooking all month, let alone, all day!  But, for me, I just came home from the grocery store and decided, "How 'bout now?"  It was a perfect start for me.  Instead of a whole month, I would try a week. 

So I pulled out all the pots and started cooking.  I was in the kitchen over two hours.  Some kids helped, some didn't, but I did have them all clean up at the end as my feet were killing me!  I made chili, quiche (including the pie crust), cooked vegetables, pizza dough, and a few other things on the side.  I threw all the cooked meals in the freezer and now they are ready for the rest of the week.  What will I do with my time now that they are all done?!  I think it will be great.  My daughter wants to sew and now I will have that window of time that I am normally cooking and I'll be able to sew instead.  It'll be so great! 

Even on Sunday afternoon, to know I had made dinner ahead of time was so nice to wake up and not have to run around before church and try to whip it all together.  We ended up having a wonderful meal and I was able to enjoy it, too.  So this coming Saturday I may just try it again, but maybe, just maybe I'll cook for a few more days or even another week and slowly work my way into the once a month cooking idea.  I've read about it so many times, but just could never get my head around it.  I may just become a believer yet.  I did notice my kitchen is not suited for it though, at least not my stove.  It only has two burners that are big enough for my pots.  The other ones are just for show.  They work, but don't have the room I need for 4 pots going.  There's a business idea.  Design kitchens for large families that do once-a-month cooking.  Hmmmmm.....

If I make this last grocery shop stretch, then I've saved several hundred dollars this month.  Mostly because I was quite strict on not buying a lot of meat and using our own exclusively.  I also bought the half price vegetables and fruit.   I didn't buy extras at all as I followed the plan I had made.  I didn't buy a lot of processed food, though I did get a few pizzas and chicken fingers, but made sure they were all on sale.  Everything else that I bought was also usually on sale or a no-name version so they are usually quite a bit cheaper, too.  I don't know if those are all the reasons, but I do know I had budgeted a lot more and seem to be staying well below the amount, so I'm happy about that.  If I make it to the end of the month without going again to the store, that'll be amazing.  I will probably have to get eggs and milk again, possibly bread, but the sales on bread lately have been so amazing, it almost seems free.

Trusting the Lord for week ahead......