Food Thrift

Friday, November 6 was "National Nachos Day."  

Usually I don't even pay attention to that sort of thing, but when I heard it on the radio on my way into work, my tummy grumbled, and I decided, we were having Nachos for dinner.  Don't judge.  They were delicious.

In addition to the Nachos, I made Spanish rice and refried beans.

I went a little overboard and forgot that I was only feeding four people.  So, there were leftovers.

For lunch on Saturday, I threw the leftover rice, refried beans, and the seasoned ground beef into a sauce pan, added a bit of water, and heated it up.

Deus Ex Machina was skeptical, but when he'd finished his first serving, he said, "Okay.  It was good."

The phrase, "Waste not.  Want not."  means, if you don't waste stuff, you won't need stuff (be in want of).   

I like that phrase, because it speaks to abundance rather than depletion.  It's a mindset.  Like "poverty" is a mindset.  

A friend told me that when he was in high school studying Maine History, the teacher said they'd be skipping the whole Great Depression.  When asked why, the teacher said, "Maine had already been in an economic depression for YEARS before the 1930s.  The thirties weren't worse for most Mainers than what they had already been living."

What I hear a lot from people who lived in rural states and communities, was how they didn't realize they were "poor" until someone told them, because they had everything they needed, and what they didn't have they couldn't make.

Most of us already have an abundance of whatever.  We just have to remember to be thoughtful in how we use it, and those things that we already have will keep us rich.