I’m running ever so late today, and I’m not even going to apologize.  Last night we moved into our new house!  The move was what some might consider a disaster, or would have been if not for our friends who worked tirelessly and never said a word about how woefully unprepared we were.  I knew we were rushing it a bit, but I thought I was in labor, and I thought we were 90% packed and could throw the rest of our belongings in boxes as we went.  As it turned out…well, maybe I’ll just make it part 6 in my househunting series.  That’s not what you came to read this morning anyway, is it?

You came to learn about how we big-family moms preserve food.  By that, we don’t mean distracting the kids with promises of great fun as soon as mealtime is over, just so they’ll hurry up and eat less – although I have noticed that it would work, if we wanted it to.  The downside to that plan is they’re all begging to eat again in 30 minutes.  You saved nothing on your food bill and lost some sanity in the process.

Food preservation is, of course, about saving food for later so we can take advantage of great deals and larger quantities than we would normally use at once.  There are many other reasons, but that is what motivates me.

I have to confess, I haven’t done a whole lot of gardening and canning, though I have dabbled a bit over the years.  On the whole, I have found that it’s not necessarily a big money saver to buy and preserve fresh produce, though you often have a much better product in the end.  It’s also not often a good return on your time, unless you are doing it for fun and quality rather than a dollars/hour return on your time.  Much like knitting and sewing, you can often buy a finished product more cheaply than you can make it – but doing it yourself carries other benefits.

We did, however, buy a pressure canner not too long ago, and used it to can our own beans, meat bought on sale, apple pie filling, pizza sauce, and a few other items bought or prepared in large quantities at deeply discounted prices.  There was a bit of a learning curve and I started out almost afraid of my pressure canner (who hasn’t heard horror stories of explosions in the kitchen?) but it turned out to be very simple – easier than water bath canning, I think.  If you’ve ever done water-bath canning or even thought about it, I highly recommend a pressure canner!

What methods of food preservation have you used in the past?  What have you thought about trying in the future?

See what the other moms say:

• Raising Olives 
• Smockity Frocks
• The Common Room

Upcoming topics for 4 Moms:

• October 25 - How do you keep the car clean?
• November 1 - Q&A

Recent topics:

• October 11 - 4 Moms: Introducing kids to technology
• October 4 - Q&A with the 4 Moms
• September 27 - 4 Moms address biblical femininity and modesty in girls
• September 20 - Large Family Gift Guide by the 4 Moms
• September 13 - 4 Moms: Handling different standards between you and your husband

About 4 Moms, including a complete list of all past topics

Who doesn’t love fruit?  I’ll be honest: my favorite fruit recipe is one where you pick up a piece of fruit, peel/wash as necessary, and eat.  Can you really improve on God’s design?

But by that line of reasoning, we would never have apple pie, banana bread, or even strawberry shortcake.  We love our fruit in almost any form!

Some of our favorite ways to eat fruit besides au naturel:

Peach cobbler, a family recipe.  Don’t be afraid of the vinegar in this recipe: it blends in very well, just adding a nice tang.

Apple pie.  Don’t be jealous, but my Megan thinks nothing of tossing together an apple pie or two whenever we have enough apples.  We don’t really use a recipe – just peel and slice plenty of apples, then add enough sugar (white or brown), lemon juice and cinnamon to make it taste good.  Stir in about 1/4 cup of flour to thicken the juices, heap it all in the pie pan, and top with another crust, making it as pretty as you can.  We don’t keep shortening on hand, so our pie crust is always made with butter.

Stewed apples. You could call this apple pie filling, but then you’d have to feel guilty about serving it as a side dish at dinner.  Same as above, but never mind about the crust.  You can cover and cook in the microwave, stirring occasionally, until apples are soft.

Banana bread, nearly always topped with peanut butter, butter, and/or cream cheese.  I like mine with walnuts but most of the kids object, so if I’m doing the cooking I chop them very finely and add when they’re not looking.  The walnuts, I mean.  I don’t add finely chopped children to my banana bread.

Peanut butter/banana smoothies, our fallback lunch in hot weather when nothing else sounds good.

• 3 bananas (I peel ripe ones and pop them in the freezer in a gallon sized bag)
• 1/3 cup peanut butter (you’re not actually going to measure that, are you?)
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• a little honey if you like your smoothies sweeter
• 1 tray ice cubes
• milk, yogurt, or kefir to fill blender pitcher

Blend til smooth and holler for the troops.

Fruit Dip is too easy to be so delicious.  You won’t believe it.  Dip apples, or get fancy and use it with a whole assortment of fruit.

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Fruit pizza!  All pizza is good, and fruit pizza is no exception.  Just make your favorite shortbread or sugar cookie recipe, shaping and baking it in a single huge, pizza-sized cookie on a pizza pan.  Cool and top with fruit dip, above.  Arrange sliced fruit on top in concentric circles, because food tastes better when it’s neat and symmetrical.  If using fruits that are prone to turn brown (apples, bananas, peaches, pears, etc), brush first with diluted lemon juice.

More fruity freshness from the other Moms:

• Raising Olives 
• Smockity Frocks
• The Common Room

Upcoming topics for 4 Moms:

• August 30 - What do your first weeks with a new baby look like? Tips?
• September 6 - Q&A
• September 13 - Handling different standards between you and your husband (homeschooling, dress, etc.)

Recent topics:

• August 16 - 4 Moms: teaching kids the difference between telling and tattling
• August 9 - 4 Moms Q&A: pottytraining, bedtime, and how to get a private moment in the bathroom
• August 2 - 4 Moms on bossy big sisters (and brothers)
• July 26 - 4 Moms: What do you do when the children need to learn subjects you can’t teach?
• July 19 - 4 Moms: Our early years of homeschooling
• July 12 - 4 Moms Q&A on breastfeeding
• July 5 - 4 Moms on dating & courtship
• June 28 - 4 Moms share favorite freezer meal recipes {linky}
• June 21 - 4 Moms share the secret to keeping your energy up
• June 14 - 4 Moms Q&A: teaching boys to respect girls; quick snacks; disciplining a hot-tempered toddler
• June 7 - 4 Moms: How did you know you wanted/could handle a large family?

About 4 Moms, including a complete list of all past topics

Just in case I’ve ever come across as a know-it-all, here’s my chance to come clean.  I know nothing about freezer meals.  The closest I’ve come to freezer cooking is precooking plain meat and freezing in meal-sized portions.  For example, I sometimes buy a 10 pound package of ground beef or chicken legs/thighs or a whole turkey, cook all at once, and package in 4-6 ziplock bags for future meals.  If I’m really, really planning ahead, I might add taco seasoning to the ground beef.  That’s my version of freezer cooking.

I also sometimes freeze leftover beans, rice, quinoa, etc. when we have enough for a meal and it doesn’t look like we’ll be using it soon enough.  My idea of planning ahead is making sure the chickens don’t get the leftovers.

Obviously, I need help.  I could try to convince you that I just don’t have room in my freezer for multiple meals in the portion sizes we would need, and it might even be somewhat true.  Then again it might not, because we have fixin’s in our freezer for multiple meals in the portion sizes we need.  They’re just not necessarily combined, cooked, or planned.

Really, I just need to plan ahead.  And to plan ahead, I need a plan.  Ideally, I think such a plan would include recipes.  Don’t you agree?

So here’s where I need your help. What is your favorite easy freezer-friendly meal?  Leave your recipe in the comments or link up below.  Bonus points if it’s frugal, because if it’s not I may drool over it but I’ll never actually use it.

Please remember the linky rules:

1. Your post must be family friendly.
2. Link to a specific relevant post, not to the homepage of your blog.  
3. Your post must include a link to at least one of the 4 Moms.  
4. If your link is deleted, you probably didn’t follow these rules.  We hope you’ll fix the problem and try again!  If you don’t know why your link was deleted, just ask.

The other moms are talking about it too:

• Connie @ Smockity Frocks
• Kimberly @ Raising Olives
• The Headmistress @ The Common Room

Upcoming topics for 4 Moms:

• July 5 - Courtship or dating and what does it look like in your house?
• July 12 - Q&A (special nursing edition)
• July 19 - What did homeschooling look like when your oldest was 5?  How much time?  What subjects?
• July 26 - What do you do when the children need to learn things you can’t teach (a foreign language, dissecting, trig, etc)?

Recent topics:

• June 21 - 4 Moms share the secret to keeping your energy up
• June 14 - 4 Moms Q&A: teaching boys to respect girls; quick snacks; disciplining a hot-tempered toddler
• June 7 - 4 Moms: How did you know you wanted/could handle a large family?

About 4 Moms, including a complete list of all past topics

This week we’re talking about teaching children to cook.  I guess that’s not quite the same as the week we talked about cooking with children, because there is no room to interpret it in a cannibalistic way.  Also, this time we have a goal that goes beyond happy memories: we want our children to actually learn a skill they can repeat without us in the kitchen!

Actually, though, the two are difficult to separate.  When the 3yo is stirring, the 5yo is cracking eggs, and the 7yo is learning to cut in butter, they are learning to cook.  They may not be ready to follow a recipe alone yet, but the skills they master one by one are the foundation for flying solo in the kitchen a few years later.

Of course there’s more to learning to cook than a preschooler spending quality time in the kitchen with Mom.  As they get older, the way they help changes, and they become more independent.  They also learn to clean up their messes as they go, because I’m one of those dreaded clean cooks.  If half of the egg you just cracked lands outside the bowl and the floor is slippery with flour, we’re going to take a break and learn to wield a washcloth.

At first, a new cook just helps with various parts of preparation: measuring the ingredients into a bowl, learning to separate eggs, adding flour and evaluating dough consistency as the mixer kneads, braiding bread dough (a favorite job!), shaping or dropping cookies onto a baking sheet, prepping raw veggies.

When they are ready to try some simple cooking on their own, they usually start with a few household favorites:

• eggs, fried or scrambled
• cakes – Wacky Cake is easy and forgiving
• various quick breads: pancakes, cornbread, banana bread, muffins
• slushies and smoothies
• spaghetti

So to sum it up, to learn to cook, we cook.

The other moms are talking about it, too.  Here’s what they say:

• Connie at Smockity Frocks
• Headmistress @  The Common Room
• Kimberly @ Raising Olives

Join us by linking up!

Please remember the linky rules:

1. Your post must be family friendly.
2. Link to a specific relevant post, not to the homepage of your blog.  
3. Your post must include a link to at least one of the 4 Moms.  
4. If your link is deleted, you probably didn’t follow these rules.  We hope you’ll fix the problem and try again!  If you don’t know why your link was deleted, just ask.

Upcoming topics for 4 Moms:

• May 31 - teaching children to cook
• June 7 - How did you know you wanted/could handle a large family
• June 14 - Q&A
• June 21 - How do you keep up your energy?
• June 28 - favorite freezer meals

Recent topics:

• May 17 - Q&A with the 4 Moms: dealing with comments on your big family, weaning babies, going from 1 child to 2 – and beyond!
• May 10 - 4 Moms: Favorite frugal tips
• May 3 - 4 Moms: Cooking with leftovers {linky}
• April 26 - 4 Moms: Homeschooling through pregnancy or chronic illness

About 4 Moms, including a complete list of all past topics

This week, the 4 of us are talking about cooking with leftovers.  Alternatively, some of might be confessing that our cooking with leftovers mostly amounts to cooking with eggs laid by chickens who enjoy our leftovers.  Would that count?  I’m speaking hypothetically, of course, but you might also like to know that feeding forgotten leftovers to the chickens is a great way to soothe the conscience of a frugal housewife who feels like a failure when she fails to use leftovers in time.

But I always use my leftovers.  And I never exaggerate.  And my kids always obey.  Shall I go on?

Using leftovers is a lot like shopping from your pantry.  One of the biggest hurdles to overcome is simply remembering to use what’s there.  Do that by:

1. Exploring before you shop so you can plan some meals around what you already have in the fridge, not just the pantry.
2. Exploring before you make lunch, and serve a smorgasbord of leftovers.
3. Exploring before you proceed with tonight’s dinner plan, and be flexible if you find something you can or should use.

Some leftovers are easier to use than others.  Rice can become a delicious rice pudding for dessert tonight or breakfast tomorrow.  If you are Southern, your leftover breakfast grits can be sliced and fried in butter.  Top with butter, salt and pepper for a savory side dish with supper, or top with butter and syrup for tomorrow’s breakfast.  If you are not Southern, you probably wouldn’t know a grit if it bit you – or else you put sugar in your grits, bless your heart.  That’s ok.  Some of my kids put sugar in their grits, too.  We just call them Yankee grits.

Cooked grains like rice, oatmeal, and grits can be added to breads: muffins, pancakes, banana bread, even yeast breads.  Kitchen Scrap Cookies are fun and versatile.  You can google recipes using cooked grains, or you can experiment on your children.  Either way works.  If you experiment, start with a proven recipe and add just a cup of cooked grains.  If that works well, try adding more next time.  Expect the results to be denser and more moist than usual.

When it comes to non-breakfast foods, casseroles are the standard answer.  That may sound boring, but the possibilities are limitless!  Frugal Hacks had a 5 part series on creating casseroles that appeal to your family and use what you have on hand.  Each includes one or more recipes to get you started:

1. Framework
2. Sauce
3. Meat
4. Add-Ons
5. Toppings

Leftover meats can also be chopped and seasoned for use in Mexican or Italian recipes like tacos, chimichangas, lasagne, spaghetti, alfredo, etc.  Cooked veggies are a no-brainer in soups, stews, fried rice, and many other recipes that call for vegetables in any form.

I think a key is to consider the leftover as an ingredient: if you have cooked broccoli, look for recipes that call for broccoli in any form.  There’s a good chance that you can tweak the recipe slightly and use what you have on hand.

Allrecipes is my favorite source for recipes.  One feature that I love and use often is the ingredient search.  Just fill in the ingredients you want to include and hit the search button.  This is a great way to use up several leftovers at once or find new combinations for what you have on hand.

Here’s what the other 3 moms say:

• Connie at Smockity Frocks
• Headmistress @  The Common Room
• Kimberly @ Raising Olives

What about you?  How do you use up your leftovers?  Link up with us!

Please remember the linky rules:

1. Your post must be family friendly.
2. Link to a specific relevant post, not to the homepage of your blog.  
3. Your post must include a link to at least one of the 4 Moms.  
4. If your link is deleted, you probably didn’t follow these rules.  We hope you’ll fix the problem and try again!  If you don’t know why your link was deleted, just ask.

Upcoming topics for 4 Moms:

• May 10 - Favorite frugal tips
• May 17 - Q&A
• May 24 - Homeschooling when in a rotten temper

Recent topics:

• April 26 - 4 Moms: Homeschooling through pregnancy or chronic illness
• April 19 - 4 Moms Q&A: courtship, dental bills, and 40,000 diapers
• April 12 - 4 Moms: Tithing and saving on one income
• April 5 - 4 Moms: finding time/ideas for blogging

About 4 Moms, including a complete list of all past topics

OK, that’s not exactly the topic we agreed on.  We were going to talk about desserts.  If you must know, I’m projecting.  I eat too many sweets.  I like to skip the bread and rice and potatoes and all those evil empty carbs not so I can have a healthy diet, but so I can eat more dessert.  There.  The truth is out.

I occasionally serve a healthy dessert, but to be quite honest they just don’t go over well.  I try to serve a healthy and well-rounded diet, but when the healthy invades the desserts, worlds collide and bad things happen.  I don’t want to be responsible for a tear in the time-space continuum.

When it comes to desserts, we don’t serve them often but we have a few favorites that we always come back to.  I asked the kids if this was because we were boring or because those particular treats were so amazing, and was relieved to hear them answer correctly.  Yes, we love our Chocolate Peanut Butter No-bake cookies, toffee candy, brownies, and wacky cake.  We also love chocolate chip cookie dough, homemade, with or without the chocolate chips.

Since I have already shared the first 2 recipes, today I’ll share my own personal brownie recipe and my grandma’s Depression era Wacky Cake.

Moist Fudgy Brownies from scratch

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 cup chopped walnuts, opt.

Combine eggs, butter, cocoa, sugar and vanilla.  Stir until combined.  Add flour, salt and walnuts and stir again.

Bake in a buttered 9×13 for 25-30 minutes at 350, just until done in the center.  Serve warm.

Grandma’s Wacky Cake (also called Crazy Cake)

A rich, delicious Depression era recipe that contains no eggs, milk or butter.  I think everyone’s grandma had a recipe like this.

• 3 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 6 Tbs. cocoa
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup oil
• 2 cups water
• 2 Tbs. vinegar
• 2 tsp. vanilla

In an ungreased 9×13 pan, combine dry ingredients.  Mix with a fork until thoroughly combined.  Be sure to get the corners!

Add water, vinegar and vanilla all at once.  Mix thoroughly again.

Bake 35 minutes at 350 or just until cake tests done.  Don’t ice it, because the soft moist top is the best part! To make it special, dust with powdered sugar.

The other moms are offering serving up sweets too:

• Smockity Frocks
• Common Room
• Raising Olives

Got desserts of your own to share?  Share in the comments or link up with us!

Please remember to follow the linky rules:

1. You must link to a specific relevant post on your blog.
2. Your post must include a link to at least one of the 4 Moms blogs.
3. The post you link to must be completely family friendly.

If your link is deleted, you probably didn’t follow one of the rules above. Please feel free to add your link again once you have fixed the problem. If you don’t know why your link was deleted, please ask.

Upcoming topics for 4 Moms:

• Nuthin’ here. I admit it.  I am a deadbeat.  Hit me with a rotten tomato.

Recent topics:

• February 2 - 4 Moms share encouraging verses and stories
• January 26 - 4 Moms Q&A: Life with littles, dating, happy helpers
• January 19 - 4 Moms on buying and storing all those clothes {linky}
• January 12 – 4 Moms: snacks and appetizers for a crowd {linky}

About 4 Moms, including a complete list of all past topics

Snacks are a Sunday evening tradition for us.  After a big weekly fellowship meal at church, we just aren’t in the mood for a formal dinner.  We would rather share snacks and appetizers, and if we do it right we find that we have a party even when it’s just the 12 of us!

A big part of what makes it a party rather than an evening snack is variety.  Instead of making enough of one dish to fill up 12 bellies, we like to create a variety of appetizers.  This may be a little more work, but work can be fun and the results are more appealing.  It also makes it easier to feed a crowd when you don’t feel the need to have/find enough ____ to feed everyone.

Just picture it: one bowl of popcorn and a movie = family night.  Sausage balls, bacon wrapped jalapenos, apples with dip, cheese & cracker platter, veggie tray = Party!

We love to work together in the kitchen as a family, with knives flashing, food flying, and music playing.  If we make a mess, we have enough hands to clean it up.

I already shared our recipe for sausage balls.  Here are some of our other favorites:

Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos

Relax, and don’t let the jalapenos scare you.  With seeds removed, they’re just not that hot.

• 12 small or medium sized jalapenos
• 6 slices bacon
• 6 oz. cream cheese

Carefully slice jalapenos in half lengthwise.  Cut out center with seeds and webbing.  Wear gloves if you have very sensitive skin.  Use a gentle touch if you don’t like too much heat – it’s on and around the seeds, so the more they touch the walls of the jalapeno the hotter your end product will be.  If you like a little heat, let the 5yo do this job, but warn him not to pick his nose, rub his eyes,  or put his fingers in his mouth afterward.  Do you think it sounds mean to even let a 5yo touch a jalapeno?  Relax.  I’m probably just kidding.

Now that your jalapenos are prepared, use a teaspoon to load them with cream cheese.

Here’s the good part.  Wrap each jalapeno with half a slice of bacon and secure with a toothpick.  Bacon makes everything better, right?  Even chocolate, but especially jalapenos.

Place on a cookie sheet with sides or a baking pan.  Don’t use a pizza pan or cookie sheet without sides, because the bacon grease will drip, filling your house with smoke and setting off your fire alarm.  Then you’ll have to open the doors and windows even though it smells really good inside and it’s 38 degrees outside, and your smoke alarm will keep going off anyway while your family alternately laughs at you and complains about their burning eyes.

So…bake on something with sides for 30-40 minute at 400.  When the bacon is done to your liking, they’re ready.  Enjoy, and try to share.

Cream Cheese Fruit Dip

Perfect with apples, or eat with a spoon when nobody is looking.  If they catch you, hand them a spoon and swear them to secrecy.

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Stir and enjoy.  You won’t believe 3 simple ingredients can taste this good.

What is your favorite snack or appetizer recipe?  How do you like to feed a crowd – one mega recipe or several smaller ones?
Link up with your own post!

1. You must link to a specific relevant post on your blog.
2. Your post must include a link to at least one of the 4 Moms blogs.
3. The post you link to must be completely family friendly.

If your link is deleted, you probably didn’t follow one of the rules above. Please feel free to add your link again once you have fixed the problem. If you don’t know why your link was deleted, please ask.

See what the other moms are cookin’ up:

• Smockity Frocks knows her way around a bowl of popcorn.
• Common Room knows how to do nachos the right way – and I’m all for nachos!
• Raising Olives had me at homemade hot wings.

Upcoming topics for 4 Moms:

• January 19 - How to organize, shop for and maintain ALL THAT CLOTHING {linky}
• January 26 - Q&A
• February 2 - Scriptures and/or stories we rely on for comfort/encouragement as a homeschooling family

Recent topics:

• December 15 - 4 Moms: Gift shopping for a crowd
• December 8 - 4 Moms’ favorite holiday recipes {linky}
• December 1 - 4 Moms: preparing children to share holidays with unbelieving family
• November 24 - 4 Moms: A roundup of thankful posts from the past

About 4 Moms, including a complete list of all past topics

Today we’re talking about the food budget.  That’s nothing new: I think everyone in the nation is talking about the rising price of food and what to do about it.  Last year I shared 13 tips to manage the food budget.

There’s a common idea floating around that junk food is cheaper than nutritious food, so our diets must suffer when the budget is pinched.  The writer of this article from the NY Times disagrees, and so do I.

As the price of food goes up, the way we eat is undeniably affected, but not necessarily for the worse.  Instead, we have chosen to shift away from many of the prepared foods that lingered in our diet:

• Canned beans are now cooked from dried.
• Spaghetti sauce is made from tomato paste for a fraction of the cost.
• Ditto for enchilada sauce and…
• Pizza sauce.
• I finally kicked the cream-of-mushroom habit and started making white sauce from scratch consistently.
• Cold cereal is more rare than ever in our house, a treat reserved for especially rushed Sunday mornings.

As the budget shrinks, we cook even more from scratch.  If we want convenience foods, we break out the pressure canner.  We do pinto and black beans often, and have also  tried pizza sauce, enchilada sauce, spaghetti sauce, pumpkin, apple pie filling, chili, jalapeno relish, and chicken bought on sale.

We also keep an eye on the cost of individual meals, shying away from those that cost more than others.

We eat far more beans, are learning to love lentils, and God has provided inexpensive sources of other healthful foods that weren’t even in our diet before now.  We still eat a lot of produce, always sticking to what’s in season and what’s on sale.  Red meat has become a rarity in our house, but that’s ok.  Chicken goes on sale often, and we don’t need meat every day.  Many meals are just as satisfying without the meat: bean & cheese enchiladas, taco salad with seasoned beans instead of taco meat, potato chowder and other hearty soups, fried rice with lots of eggs and veggies.

If beans and legumes aren’t enough, we get plenty of protein from homegrown eggs, from Costco cheese, and milk.  We’re even dabbling in quinoa – not cheap, but also not bad as a source of protein, and lots of fun to cook and eat.  Is it just me, or are the tiny spirals adorable?

The result of rising food prices?  We are eating less prepared foods, less corn syrup, more fiber, and more protein.

How have rising food prices affected your household budget and diet?  How have you responded?  Answer in the comments or link up with your own post.

Please remember the linky rules:

1. You must link to a specific relevant post on your blog.
2. Your post must include a link to at least one of the 4 Moms.
3. The post to which you link must be completely family friendly.

If your link is deleted, you probably didn’t follow one of the rules above. Please feel free to add your link again once you have fixed the problem. If you don’t know why your link was deleted, please ask.

The other 4 Moms are talking about it too.

• Smockity Frocks
• Raising Olives
• Common Room

Upcoming topics for 4 Moms:

• October 20 - How do you find time for projects that need to be done, require focused attention and which the children can’t help with?
• October 27 - Q&A (watch Facebook for an invitation to post your questions)

Recent topics:

• September 15 - 4 Moms talk style (parenting style, that is)
• September 22 - 4 Moms Q&A: the attack of the shoe monster, socialized homeschoolers and more
• September 29 - 4 Moms talk about memorization {and 2 giveaways!}
• October 6 - 4 Moms: keeping up with housework in the midst of homeschooling

About 4 Moms, including a complete list of all past topics

I forgot to warn you that this week’s 4 Moms post would be a linky, mainly because I forgot that this week’s 4 Moms post would be a linky.  That means we’re on a level playing field, you and I.  A little last-minute never hurt anyone, right?  So read to the bottom really quick then start pounding out your post and link up.

But I don’t recommend the last-minute principle for packing hubby’s lunch if there is any way to avoid it.

MAN LUNCH 101

Tip #1: Plan and pack ahead of time

I’m a slow learner, but I have finally realized that morning good-bye kisses go better if hubby is carrying a lunch that was packed with love and care the previous night.  He just doesn’t feel as loved when he is holding a lunch packed with bleary eyes and groggy mind 3 minutes before he walks out the door, and I can hardly blame him.  Of course his lunches are better when I plan and pack ahead, and doesn’t every man measure your love for him in terms of how you feed him?  I jest, but there’s more than a kernel of truth to the old saying, “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”

Tip #2: Pack what he likes, not what you like

I have also learned that while I might enjoy fruit smoothies and raw almonds, and children might like PB&J, those are not Man Food.  I don’t know how it works in your house, but my man needs meat.  It’s not a meal if it doesn’t have meat.  His definition of meat has recently expanded to include other animal-based proteins like eggs and large quantities of cheese, and he has learned to enjoy beans as a source of satisfying protein, but if I want him to feel loved and happy and satisfied his lunch has to contain meat on a regular basis.

I’ve resigned myself to the fact that this is how his brain works.  It’s not how mine works, but I didn’t marry myself, and we’re not talking about my lunch.  If we were, you would be hearing about smoothies and raw almonds.

Tip #3: Listen to him

I have also learned that just when I get into a lunch groove and I think I know exactly what he likes and how much of it for lunch, something changes.   Lunches have been a struggle for me and it seems so easy once I finally get into a groove, so I sometimes find myself feeling resentful when I get knocked out of it.

Just when I’ve got the amounts down to a science, he wants less – or more.  Just when I figure out how often to buy fresh produce, he decides he doesn’t want salad every day anymore.  When I finally manage to plan ahead a whole week, he announces that he’s going to eat just fruit and veggies for lunch this week.

It can feel like a constant challenge, and I’m easily frustrated.  I like things to be easy.  I don’t want to have to think about it, work on it, or plan ahead.  When this happens, I need to remind myself that this is just one way for me to serve my beloved who serves me and the household in so many ways.  Sarah was commended for calling her husband lord (I Peter 3:6); who am I to complain when my lord requests a change?

Tip #4: Leftovers

This post has turned into the classic, “Do as I say and not as I do,” but here’s the nitty gritty I was planning to blog about.  In simple terms, Perry generally wants and receives dinner leftovers for lunch.  When I plan dinner, I cook extra and plan for leftovers because I know he’s not taking PB&J for tomorrow’s lunch.  This much I have mastered.  When I’m really thinking ahead, I set aside his portion before dinner is served so that we don’t accidentally eat up all the “good stuff” and leave him with nothing but a side dish of carbs.

If I do it right, this means I’m not scrambling in the morning, bleary-eyed and groggy-brained, trying to find a good lunch for a good man so we can enjoy a good kiss on his way out the door.

Tip #5: Relax and communicate.

My impulse is to fret about the budget and take it personally when he goes out to lunch and leaves the lunch I packed sitting in the breakroom, forlorn and forgotten.  Maybe it means he was dissatisfied with the lunch I packed and I need to try harder, but maybe it means he wanted to eat out with a friend.  Maybe it means crispy hot onion rings and a juicy burger sounded really good that day.  I’m learning – slowly again – not to object when he makes a decision that I wouldn’t have made.  I am his wife and helper, not his mother.

How do you feed your man?

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The other moms are talking about it too:

• Smockity Frocks, who confesses that she has never once packed a lunch for her husband.
• Raising Olives, who confesses why her husband never needs a bagged lunch either.
• Common Room, who sometimes packs the most amazing lunches you ever saw, but sometimes not.

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• August 4 - Large Family Logistics linky, part 1
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