Ok, so this isn’t a comment I thought I would be making, however, I am actually feeing rather full, indeed quite stuffed! There is plenty of food to go around (especially as the children aren’t eating with us at lunchtimes) – it’s just that it is all a bit bland and boring. SO this week I have decided to ditch the Foodbank Menu sheet and see what I can make out of the ingredients. It all feels a bit ‘Can’t Cook Won’t Cook’, but I do like a culinary challenge.
Full English Breakfast
Sausages, hashbrowns, beans and tomatoes
fruit juice/tea
Full English Foodbank Style
Very little actual cooking involved here, but I noticed that my children came home in the biggest hungry grump on Monday last week. As it is a day that they have lots of sports, I thought it might help to give them a cooked breakfast before school, with as much protein as I could muster from a tin. Here we have hotdog sausages, baked beans, tinned tomatoes and not spectacularly successful hashbrowns (mash shaped and dry fried). Everyone seemed quite happy with it, and to be sure, there was a little less grump when they got home.
For lunch I heated up a tin of tomato soup with left over beans and tomatoes from breakfast and some left over spaghetti from last week.
For tea, I needed something quick as the girls had swimming and I then had choir practice. I had planned fish pie for the grown ups, but simply opened a tin of Ravioli for the girls. As they hadn’t had this before it was quite a treat, but I remember it being a favourite Saturday lunch as a child.
Foodbank Fish Pie
Husband said that this was alright, but then he also said that he quite likes eating ‘bad’ food! I found it very hard to resist the temptation not to grate cheese over the top before browning. Naturally this doesn’t have the lovely creamy texture that a traditional fish pie has, but perhaps it is a little healthier for it?
Ingredients
Foodbank Fish Pie
Tin of Peas
Tin of Tomatoes (chopped)
Tin of Baked Beans
Tin of Tuna
Tin of Salmon
Smash (powdered potato)
Milk (Longlife or rehydrated powdered)
Any seasoning you can find lurking in the cupboard (salt, pepper, Worcestershire Sauce)
Do battle with the tin opener!
Pour the contents of the tins into a saucepan and season with whatever you have available.
Simmer.
Make up enough instant mash for 6 people following the instructions on the packet, but using hot milk instead (for a pint and a half, pop into the microwave for 3 minutes – I have a 1 pint measuring jug so did this in two steps).
Pour the fish/tomato mix into an ovenproof dish, then spread the potato over the top with a fork.
Pop under the grill to brown.
We finished off our supper with a cuppa, and some trifle. Yes trifle! No, that wasn’t made using Foodbank ingredients, it was a gift left on the doorstep! The kindness of angels – last week we had a bottle of milk leftover from the toddler group given to us. So here’s the thing that has really struck me. For whatever reason, any of us may find ourselves ‘down on our luck’, struggling to make ends meet. However, a community that is true and real, one in which we can be open and vulnerable in, will surely seek to help each other through difficult times. I hope that the church would be one such community.
So, I have embarked on my first regular 24 hour period of fasting and I have already broken one of the rules of fasting, which is to tell no-one what you are doing! The reason is that fasting shouldn’t have any outward appearance (and I am trying really hard not to be snappy when I am hungry and stressed – no-breakfast school run!), and certainly shouldn’t cause attention or be seeking for praise. Fasting is also not about dieting. Fasting is about engaging with God on a deeper level. I have to confess that the fasting bit I can work out – I simply don’t eat, but the praying and fasting bit is a little more complicated. Today as I fast, and feel hungry or reach what would normally be a meal time, I am going to write a prayer instead – at the end of the day I should have enough prayers to print out and carry with me next week. If I get really clever, I may be able to work out how to make some beautiful ‘printables’ that other wonderful bloggers seem to be so good at. To begin with though, here is my Breakfast Prayer:
Dear Jesus, this morning I am hungry. I want to tuck into a healthy and wholesome breakfast to start the day right, as I normally do. I am reminded today that there are people, even in my affluent village who begin every day hungry. There are children who go to school hungry and parents who skip breakfast in order to feed their children. Please bless all those who are hungry this morning. Please guide those who make decisions regarding benefits, and employment. Thank you for those who volunteer for and donate to foodbanks. Please make these and other charities redundant, as we as a community are able to work together to support the most needy through work and not handouts.
Elevenses:
Dear Jesus my tummy has just rumbled and I reminded of the armistice which took place at 11am on the 11th of the 11th, and that there are still people who hunger for peace. As my stomach grumbles and growls I pray for peace for those living in war torn areas, for those serving in the armed forces, for their families who struggle with fear and security. I pray for Christians who are persecuted, and for those whose hearts have turned to hatred in your name – especially at this time for those who have succumbed to ISIS and their lure, and for those who have become refugees or worse. Dear Jesus, I pray for your peace for our nation and for all the nations of this world.
Lunch:
Father God, today I feel the onset of a cold, and the adage ‘feed a cold, starve a fever’ taunts me. Today I am thankful for my health and for the National Health Service; and so I pray for all those who are unwell, those who nurse loved ones, those who are coming to the end of their lives. I give thanks for our nurses in particular who often work long and anti-social hours without great reward. I pray for the administrators who are overloaded and systems that creak at the seems so that appointments get ‘lost’. I pray for hospital chaplains and visitors who bring your presence into the wards. I pray for our GPs and local practices. And I pray for those countries where health care is not readily available and people die from preventable illnesses, I give thanks for charities who help educate and set up systems so that health care is more widely available.
Afternoon Tea:
Dear Jesus as the children come home from school hungry and tired, I am minded to pray for those who hunger for an education. I pray today for those who cannot afford to go to school because of fees that need to be paid. I pray for those who cannot go to school because they are required to help at home caring for sick family members. I pray for those who cannot go to school simply because they are female. I pray too for those who hunger to learn more but their schools let them down, not recognising their need for extra help. I pray for those children who struggle to be understood. I pray for teachers and governors and all with a responsibility for our young, and especially for my local school and for the head and deputy at the helm in difficult times for teachers.
As I begin my fast (I start the 24 hours Monday dinner time and break it at Fellowship group Tuesday evening which begins with a shared meal), I sing this to myself….
nothinglikeadane 