Day One Menu and Cost

Day One of the Philippians 4 Project and I am eager to get going.  My study bible offers this information about Paul's letter to the church at Philippi—he was presenting Jesus Christ as the very center of life and the source of joy.


Contentment is the goal and joy is an essential component.

I woke up to the smell of coffee and pancakes on the griddle; Neil was making breakfast having made a batter with half of the Aunt Jemima pancake mix.  I am so glad that he always has coffee brewing when I get up because I do not eat until I've finished a cup.  When he was done, I mixed the remainder of the box and cooked the rest, making a total of 43 five-inch pancakes.  The mix cost less than $2 and will last about 3 meals because all of the men eat about 4 cakes each.

We drank fresh-squeezed orange juice from the in-laws' tree (we picked right before the freeze) and that is another thing I am so grateful for... one of the many nice things about living in Florida.

Since we spent a good part of the day wrapped in robes and blankets, I planned a hot lunch of soup and sandwiches.  There was a time when this meant that mom (me) would run to the grocery store, pick up 2 kinds of deli meat and some sliced provolone cheese, a loaf of french bread, a bag of chips and possibly a 2-liter of soda—an unplanned shopping trip out of the normal budget—costing $25!  Not anymore, though, if we don't have it, we don't have it.  Here's what I put together:
Defrosted half a loaf of frozen (leftover) italian bread and sliced into 14 pieces and used all of the remaining deli meat in the fridge (some ham, salami, turkey and 2 slices of cheese); made open-faced sandwiches and broiled them, added some olive tapenade (leftover from a party) to the warm, crusty sandwiches:

Remember, I save big on groceries so the seven sandwiches cost about $3.50 for all.

For the soup, I had some leftover ham and bean soup from last week's dinner (homemade from the christmas ham remainders) and it wasn't quite enough, so I added one can of canned minestrone (75 cents) and 1/2 cup of pastina (about 10 cents worth) while the soup boiled, it turned out delicious and oh, so warming.

A few hours later, my 17 year old asked if making cookies was in the budget... I was glad to tell him that since I already have 6 refrigerator doughs that I paid only 60 cents each for, he was welcome to bake.  So we had a little snack and some with hot cocoa that evening.  BTW, the cocoa with whipped cream cost about 20 cents per serving.

When dinner came around I pulled out the frozen, stuffed chicken breasts and baked them along with a bag of sliced potatoes and a can of sliced carrots.

These retail for $5 a box (2 breasts)

I got 2 boxes for 1.50 each

Here is the complete dinner, costing less than $4 for all four of us.

Fed the family of four for the entire day for less than $10!

With day one finished, I felt as if I'd accomplished something.  It's almost like starting a diet or a workout plan; you promise yourself that you'll make the change, stop doing this or start doing that.  It made me think of God's covenant with us and the promises that we can count on.  We are always the ones who give up and break our portion of the covenant, not Him, even though He is the rich and powerful one with everything to offer!  What have we to offer Him?