Experiments with a Lenten Cupboard

Two years ago I tried out a low-key Lenten practice (I won’t dignify it with the name of “discipline”). The idea was to keep a “Lenten cupboard”:that is, though I had not chosen to fast from any particular food, to make a determined effort to eat what I already had on hand, in my cupboards, freezer, and refrigerator. I discovered that it is very easy it is to buy something and let it sit around, not used. That whole-wheat pasta that has been sitting in the back of the cupboard… the box of cereal I got on sale and decided it’s only so-so… the half-used jar of mango jam that I always pass over in favor of raspberry…

Even though I considered myself a reasonably frugal person with regard to food, it was an eye opener to see the little ways in which I am not a good steward. It is wasteful to throw away good food that has spoiled because I didn’t get around to preparing it; I realized it is also wasteful to deliberately avoid finishing leftovers. I remember standing in front of the fridge one day, holding the door open (yes, wasting the cold air), debating with myself over what to have for dinner. What I really wanted to have was a hamburger. Reproaching me, sitting in its little Tupperware dish, was the last serving of a chicken fricassee that I’d made several days before. If I didn’t eat it right then, I knew I wouldn’t get to it for a couple more days… and by then it would have gone bad and I’d throw it out. Part of me said “Just let it go, it’s not a big deal.” But I decided to try to stick with my Lenten practice, so I ate leftover chicken fricassee for dinner.

It wasn’t very exciting. I still would have preferred the hamburger. But I managed to stick with my practice throughout Lent, for the most part, and ended up with a grocery bill that was lower than usual. The idea wasn’t to save money for myself, though, so I wrote a check to World Vision, since the youth group at my church was raising money for them through participating in the 30-Hour Famine program.

My little bit of culinary discipline had its benefits. It made me more grateful for what I have, even on the smallest level. After forty days of finishing up odds and ends, like that jar of mango jam, I was significantly more appreciative of the little pleasures I was taking for granted… like raspberry jam on my English muffins.

I’ve been thinking about that practice again this year, and realizing that the stewardship issue is actually a little bigger than I thought it was. Yes, it’s wasteful to let leftovers go to waste. But it’s also wasteful to buy something on impulse and then let it sit on the shelf indefinitely because my initial enthusiasm waned.

I have realized that negative discipline (not doing something) is more challenging for me than positive discipline (doing something). It wasn’t that hard for me to force myself to eat things that weren’t terribly exciting, or to discipline myself to eat the same thing for a bunch of meals in a row to use up some ingredients. It is much harder to resist the impulse to buy the extra food in the first place. It’s not just hard to resist the impulse to buy the new, interesting item; it’s also hard to stop myself from having more than I need of basic foods on hand. If – gasp!—I run out of milk, or eggs, or (horror of horrors) half and half for my coffee, will I starve? No, I won’t. If I run out of spaghetti, I can make something else for dinner – really!

Am I trying to create security for myself in food, in having a well-stocked cupboard? Very likely. How many and varied are the ways in which we cling to anything, everything for security rather than turning to the One who alone can provide that security!

Related posts:

1. Ash Wednesday
2. Lessons from Fasting Failure
3. The Spiritual Disciplines: The Wings of Prayer
4. A Thanksgiving for Prayer
5. Useful Restlessness