Frugal Meals

I have really been developing a "depression-type" mentality lately.  We are living in hard times, and they could likely get worse.  I want to be as good of a steward as possible with the limited resources that God has given me.  I've been careful to not throw out any food, and I'm reusing bags and containers, etc, not wanting to waste any resources.  Waste not, want not...right?  I've also been working on coming up with more and more frugal meals to make, and I'd like to start sharing them on here.  Below is a frugal meal that I made tonight:

Black Beans and Rice

This is the recipe from the Bush's black beans can, with some revisions by me.

First, get your rice cooking.  I use brown rice because it's healthier.  I put 4 cups of water in a large saucepan, and add a teaspoon or two of boullion for flavor.  Bring the water to a boil, pour in 2 cups of rice, reduce heat and cover.  This has to cook for about 45-50 minutes, until all liquid is absorbed so that is why it needs to be started first!  If you use white rice it is much faster.

While the rice cooks, chop half an onion and half of either a green or red bell pepper (I prefer red).  Put in a large skillet, add a tablespoon of olive oil, and saute until tender.  Add a can of chopped tomatoes, 2 cloves crushed garlic, 1 tsp. thyme, and 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar.  Simmer for 15 minutes or so, until there is no more liquid.

Serve the beans on top of the rice, with either canned or frozen corn that has been warmed up.

This is super cheap to make, and is easy to make from what you have stored in your pantry.  If you were out of fresh peppers or onions, dried ones work great, or frozen peppers.  If times were hard and you couldn't buy food, having canned beans, canned tomatoes, canned corn, and rice in your pantry could make you a good meal!

We had a lot of snow  recently, and I had managed to get to the store the day before it snowed and stock up on food.  The verse from Proverbs 31 kept going through my head: "she is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household is clothed in scarlet".  It reminded of how it is my job to make sure my family is prepared for hard times/ bad weather/ bad economy or whatever.  It was so good to have everything that we needed and to not have to stress about being snowed in and unable to get out and get things we need.  It's my job to make sure that I am spending food money wisely; being frugal and stocking up for a "rainy day".  I've changed my shopping methods.  I'm now keeping larger quantities of items in stock in my pantry and freezer.  Instead of having one or two peanut butters on hand, I have 8 or 10.  Then when I run out of one, I buy a replacement or two, and rotate my stock to put the newest in the back.  This way, I always have plenty of food stored, in case of....anything!  This is different than I used to do it...having one of each item and replacing the one when it was almost out.

We live in uncertain times.  Gas is going up constantly, and so is food.  There are many verses in the Bible about being prepared.  I believe it is a wise thing to do.  This is NOT to be confused with worry or fear!  We are not to worry about what we will eat or drink, or fear the future.  But, we are to be wise, like the ant.

God bless you!!