A Full Pantry

When I was a kid I would help my grandmother plant and maintain her 3 acre garden. I remember dropping a fish  and a seed potato into hole after hole as we mounded what seemed like a hundred potato plants. My grandmother believed in a full pantry and would can and freeze her garden produce endlessly so that her storage areas were full to bursting.

My father, like his mother, also believed in a lot of food on hand. Perhaps it was partly due to being a child of the great depression, but he would buy canned food by the caselot, his beef by the full cow and he would ensure that our 21 foot freezer was never empty.

The seed has not fallen far from the tree. I too fill my cupboards. I ensure that my family has an seemingly endless array of food available to us, and the choice of dozens of meals waiting in our freezer.

So as we brought home our small box of groceries I was struck by the absurdity of having to set aside these few provisions in a special place so they were not lost in the wide array of other foodstuffs filling our kitchen. I was also struck by my begrudging spirit as suddenly we were limited to so few meal options. My joy in making and planning meals, in the simple act of creative cooking, was suddenly brought up short.

Perhaps this has been our lesson this week. The recognition that worry and concern about food is a burden that too many bear. When we brought home our food hamper we talked about how it was starch heavy and lacked protein or fresh veggies. But as we survived on these items for a few days, the worry was not so much about quality as quantity. It was not about too little meat, and more about simply....will their be enough?

These days of living on a food hamper has been an important exercise for us. It has given us reason to reflect on the abundance in our lives, the choices we have around,not only food, but all the opportunities available to us.

Thanks for the chance.