Heartbroken

There have been absolutely heart wrenching stories of hunger and famine due to the drought in Southern Somalia. I have been reading online about the terrible famine in the Horn of Africa. The stories of families walking hundreds of miles for food and  the photos of small children who look like darkened skeletons simply make my heart ache. The conflict in Somalia has been raging for over 20 years and there appears to be no end in sight. Top the never ending conflict with a large scale drought and it becomes a full blown humanitarian crisis.

Currently, Al Shabab, an Islamic group controls much of the famine ravaged area. This group took control of much of the Southern portion of Somalia and has been limiting the amount of aid allowed into the drought stricken areas. Additionally, Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya all are experiencing extreme drought conditions in areas of their countries as well. It is estimated on the International Food Policy Research Institute website that roughly 30% of children in Somalia are malnourished. Ethiopia, and Kenya are staggering under the onslaught of thousands of displaced refugees from Somalia due to the infighting and drought on top of attempting to deal with their own drought compromised areas. 


Sudan has an equally devastating hunger issue. Due to not only climate conditions but also political instability and a lack of infrastructure 15 to 30 percent of the Sudanese people are not eating enough food according to the World Food Programme Website.   An average Sudanese citizen also spends roughly 60% of their income on food. Imagine 60% of your income just to feed your family.     


I am very aware there is hunger in the United States. We have children in poverty stricken areas that are lucky to have one meal a day during the school year and have very little to eat during the summer. What is wrong with this picture?  I have a full pantry in my home. We may not eat filet mignon but we eat very well. We live in air conditioned homes. Our families are not just 2 car families but many times 3 and 4 car families- if the kids have cars. We are a very wealthy nation. We are a nation that is blessed to have plenty. Many of us have endured large financial losses yet we still have homes and families. Many others have not been so lucky.


Today, while driving home from work I passed a very wealthy area with expensive shops and cute little restaurants. Yesterday, I worked in Immokalee where parts of the area make you feel like you are in a third world country.  The two are less than 45 minutes apart. In Immokalee there are migrant camps, dirt roads and children in worn clothing.  All around me are gated communities with guarded entrances and country clubs. The difference in income levels is  absolutely staggering. 


I am not suggesting socialism. I am suggesting respect for other human beings and compassion for the pain  and suffering of others. Anyone who knows me knows I am not a go to church person  but I think Luke 12:48 says it best:
"...For to whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much of him they will ask the more."  American King James Version.
We as a country have been given so much and it is our duty to give back to those who are less fortunate. 


Hunger is hunger whether it is in an inner city housing complex in Chicago, a small house in Appalachia or in war torn Darfur.  Famine is hunger at the extreme end of the scale. We have the power to help alleviate the pain of those less fortunate. We can donate food or money to a local food bank. If you don't have money or extra food maybe you have some extra time.  You can donate to the Red Cross or Red Crescent, The World Food Programme or countless other aid programs. 


It is rare that a child in the United states dies of hunger. Every day around the world roughly 16,000 children die from hunger related causes. (The Global Hunger Website). My heart is breaking. Can you imagine how the mothers must feel. I can. They are heartbroken and we have the power to help stop hunger.    


Here are some links that may help:


 http://www.bread.org/hunger/global/

http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.d8aaecf214c576bf971e4cfe43181aa0/?vgnextoid=46f51a53f1c37110VgnVCM1000003481a10aRCRD

http://www.wfp.org/






  

Cooking .....

My coupon post and a suggestion from my husband got me thinking. Saving money can be tough. Right now the economy bites, food prices are rising and gas is still higher. In our area homes are continuing to fall into foreclosure and there does not seem to be any relief in sight. Today's paper said unemployment in Lee County is at 11.6%.  Personally, our retirement took a huge hit and we were both forced to change jobs when the company we both worked for filed for bankruptcy. Two jobs later and I am making less than I did when I graduated college in 1997. Luckily, the hubby has a good paying job and most of what we own is ours.  That is what living at the epicenter of the housing crisis in Florida will do to you.

Saving money is tough even in good times. How is one to make it when the savings have been depleted and there is little extra to go around? The answer is obvious but not one most people want to hear. Change the way you live. It can be through small changes or through drastic measures.  It can be done. It does require work on your part and the good thing is that the works gives one a feeling of success and accomplishment.

There are some truly great ways to save money and the web is filled with sites and blogs to lead you on your way. What has worked for me is to change my priorities. Where 20 years ago clothing and being in style were high priorities now spending time with family is much higher on the list. Family can be much less expensive than shopping. I must admit I do shop but normally there are no full price purchases for anything except bras.    

One of the easiest ways to cut costs is through savings on the food your family consumes. Coupons and bargain shopping are a jumping off point into food savings. That was a previous blog entry. Today the topic is cooking from scratch.

Another way to save is to cook at home instead of buying prepared foods and eating out. It is fine to eat out. In fact my husband and I both enjoy a nice dinner in a restaurant. Our wallets, however, tell a decidedly different story.  Luckily, we BOTH cook. Yes, my husband cooks too. Ok, ok, I admit he is a chef and he doesn't mind cooking and not everyone is that lucky.

Cooking from scratch allows you to make healthy meals for your family and express your creativity. So you hate to even touch the stove and you are definitely not buying the health or creativity pitches?  It is true you can make healthier food or you can make completely unhealthy food. Just look at what Paula Dean does with refrigerator biscuits, butter and brown sugar. Not healthy but a lot cheaper than a premade dessert.... I am wandering from the point here.

If you are cooking from scratch you are not eating in a restaurant thus you can save money. If you are cooking from scratch you are not buying processed foods and can potentially cook healthier and really save money. Cooking from scratch does require more thought and pre-planning than popping a frozen pizza into the oven as you rush in the door from work. You will need to find recipes for foods your family will eat and spend a little more time on planning and shopping until you get your system figured out. Menu planning is a tool many people use to determine grocery purchases and it does eliminate the need to figure out what to cook every evening. After all, there is nothing worse than standing in front of the fridge or pantry staring blindly in and thinking,"What in the heck can I make with that?" Google menu planning and a plethora of sites pop up.

We don't menu plan. We use a fully stocked pantry ( that is another blog entry) and pull a protein from the freezer each morning to be used for dinner that evening. Today it is flank steak to be marinated and grilled for fajitas tonight. Meats are purchase only on sale and vegetables tend to be whatever is seasonal and low cost. Except for cabbage - we don't do much cabbage.  It can be really low cost and not hit our grocery cart. Meals tend to be protein, vegetable and starch. Maybe a side of bread or home canned peppers.

Recipes that I personally use are from the web, a conglomeration of cookbooks and experience. There are three cookbooks I use more than any others: The Settlement Cookbook (1954), Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook (1968), and Craig Claiborne's New York Times Cookbook (1990). The first two are really good for simple recipes. And simple is where you need to begin if you are not an experienced cook. If you don't want to buy cookbooks try checking them out at the library or looking up recipes online.

With the older books you can make unbelievable brownies and killer cookies with just a few ingredients. These books were printed in an era before t.v. chefs and copious lists of exotic ingredients thus they work well with a basic pantry. The women who used these books did not always have the ability to run in to Publix and pick up a dozen eggs or a roasted chicken. They had to be able to substitute items and cook with what they had in the garden or preserved in the pantry.  Basic recipes could be adapted to what ever was at hand at any given time.  Simple recipes are also a great stepping stone to more exotic cuisines and fancier meals. Once you master a simple recipe the harder ones don't seem as daunting.

Good food does not have to take hours in a kitchen and 22 ingredients-three of which you can't pronounce and one you can only get at an ethnic market two towns away. Good food can be a salad of fresh greens with cut fresh tomatoes,  a seasoned grilled chicken breast sliced and placed on top of the greens and drizzled with homemade oil and vinegar dressing with bread and butter as an accompaniment.   I did NOT say homemade aged balsamic vinegar and fresh herb with extra virgin olive oil dressing.  I said oil and  vinegar as in salad oil and red wine vinegar. Much less expensive!  

Do not think you automatically have to start cooking everything from scratch. Start with a meal or two a week  then as you become more confident add another meal. Once you have perfected a series of meals that your family will eat you can then build your pantry around those items. After all it is no use buying and storing foods that may be shelf stable if your family will not eat them.

Feeding a family of 4 at McDonald's costs about $20.00 (Value Meals) and it is not healthy. This link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IGtDPG4UfI shows you just how unhealthy McDonald's can be for a person. For the same $20.00 you spent on fast food you can get a whole chicken ($4.00 - .99 per lb at Publix this week ), a 10 lb bag of potatoes (around $3.00) for oven fries, fruit or vegetable on sale -squash (.99 per lb). If you have to have soda the cheapest possible is store brand at .99 per litre.  So for roughly $10.00 you have a healthy meal.

If you are saying ..."What a roast chicken? Are you nuts? I have no time."  You can throw that same chicken into the crock pot in the morning. Set it on low and throw the oven fries together when  you get home. While the fries are cooking you can saute the squash.  Still too much? Buy one bag of frozen veg and substitute the 10 lb of potatoes for one bag of store brand fries. Roughly, the same cost. The scenario is now to put the chicken in the crock pot with seasonings in the morning. Throw the fries in the oven as soon as you get home, and microwave the frozen vegetables with a little butter. Voila! A meal on the table in minimal time that is healthier than fast food and costs less.

It takes planning and practice but with a little work you can save money and put a healthy delicious meal on the table for your family. Even better you are saving money in the process.

Happy Cooking!!!!  



  
 

Wants and Needs

While writing an e-mail to my brother in Afghanistan I mentioned two things that inadvertently tied in together.
The drought here in Florida and a NY Times article he linked on Facebook titled, "Why would any soldier miss war."

I read the article earlier while drinking coffee in my air conditioned home on my lap top while being, oh, so comfortable in my robe. There are a lot of good takeaways in the NY Time piece. What I got from it is this- We as Americans bear very little costs of the war other than financial. People are dying and many of them are innocent.  The author, Sebastian Junger writes that soldiers compartmentalize war to remain healthy and he knowingly writes about our country,

   "We avoid any direct look at the reality of war. And both sides of the political spectrum indulge in this; liberals tend to be scandalized that war can be tremendously alluring to young men, and conservatives rarely acknowledge that war kills far more innocent people than guilty ones. Soldiers understand both of these things but don’t know how to talk about them when met with blank stares from friends and family back home."


He also writes "If society were willing to acknowledge the very real horrors of war — even a just war, as I believe some are — then men like Brendan would not have to struggle with the gap between their world view and ours." We do not want to see the horrors of war so we compartmentalize it and file it away. Maybe never to be looked at or reexamined. The soldiers need us to step up and acknowledge  what is happening and has happened.  They make sacrifices in the name of our country yet we make no sacrifices for them. Junger suggests a monument to the innocent killed in the wars. Is that enough? We make few sacrifices now. The leadership in Washington is not making any personal sacrifices that I can see. 


It all goes back to wants and needs. Here is the example that may be easier to understand. We live in SW Florida. Golf capital of the world. We have had drought conditions and though it is rainy season we will need a tropical event to fill the aquifers. Even though we have low aquifers and it is rainy season people are watering lawns.  Golf courses are in full swing. Everything is lush and green year round- even during the dry season. Or should I say especially during the dry season. 
Does everyone know the aquifers are low and we are negatively impacting the environment? Sure. But why look at ways to fix it or cut back on consumption more than may be comfortable when we can just keep watering til the aquifer dries up. Compartmentalized thinking. Same thing different negative outcome. After all why should someone have a brown lawn and a full aquifer of drinking water?


We all have things we want but what we want is not a necessity. Does everyone want a green lawn. Sure. Is a green lawn necessary for our survival. No.
We may want a new car but that does not make it necessary should we already own a car that is a few years old but still runs. The sign of maturity is ignoring what you want and focusing on only what is necessary. Are name brands great? Sure. Do I need them to be a whole happy person? No. So about the war. Does anyone want to make personal sacrifices? No. Do we really need to make changes to aid our soldiers in coming back into society? Yes. 


We don't have to like war and we can do many things to keep the soldiers in the war from being forgotten and compartmentalized.  Talk about it- a lot- to everyone. If you don't like the war and don't want to support a soldier- fine. Get off your butt and go protest then. But do something. I am writing about it to spread the word. The full article link is below.
   
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/17/opinion/sunday/17junger.html