A Lesson In Frugality

When I was younger my mother worked 2 jobs most of the time. On occasion she worked 3 if times were exceptionally hard. My mother was also very frugal. She could feed our family, and well I might add, and never make us feel like we didn't have money.

Naturally, this was in a time where people didn't frown on making large batches of food, never having steak, and making use of what you had. My brothers and I were not afraid of beans and fried potatoes. They were a staple in our home. I do recall a time when my mother put sugar in the beans. We had eaten beans for several days in a row and she didn't want us to have to eat the same thing. She felt like changing it up would make it appear different. I love her for doing it, however, that had to have been the worst thing, to date, that I had ever tasted. I learned several lessons from the sugar in the beans. First, sugar should never be put in brown beans as long as I am going to eat them. Secondly, loving your kids enough to not want to make them endure bad times is a wonderful thing but children cannot always be protected from reality, nor should they be. I also learned that sacrifice, for someone else to be happy, is not a bad thing. It is something we do because we love them. Finally, I learned that there was nothing my mother wouldn't do for me in order to make this world seem a little better. I must confess that I didn't learn these lessons at the age of seven when all these things happened. It would take me years to realize their importance (well I pretty much knew sugar in beans wasn't good immediately...other than that lesson it took me awhile to grasp the others).

For dinner tonight I made my mom's goulash. It is a simple dish that warms my belly, is cheap to make, and always gives me left overs for lunch the next day. The total cost of the goulash was $8.62. It made 16 one cup servings. That made the cost per serving only .54 cents. This will feed my family twice. It is healthy, gives everyone their vegetables, is filling, and quick to make. I am thankful that my mother showed me that food can be healthy, filling, and frugal.