Welcome to all of you who are new to Eat From Your Pantry! It's been a long while since I posted a formal introduction, so I thought I would recap what this blog is all about and give you a few updates on our family. Some of the text is copied/pasted from my
original introduction, so if you've been around for a while it may sound familiar! :)
I am a Christian wife and mommy working from home in Missouri. My dashing husband and I have been married for almost 4 years and have the blessing of 2 little ones (so far) - a boy who will turn 2 on Valentine's Day, and a girl we are excited to meet on this side of the womb in about 6 weeks! :) I love to craft and blog about it (at
ambistitcherous.com), and am hoping to open an etsy.com shop soon.
Besides taking care of our home and family, I am a resident manager for
Hillcrest Transitional Housing.
Hillcrest has been helping families become self-sufficient (without need for government aide) in the Kansas City area since 1976. The mission statement of our organization is
"To be a transitional housing program providing a Christian environment that helps homeless families become self-supportive, self reliant contributors to society." Here's a little bit about us straight from the website:
"Hillcrest Transitional Housing offers displaced families a disciplined educational program within a caring Christian environment. Unlike many organizations whose focus is immediate or emergency care, Hillcrest’s objective is to move families from homelessness to self-sufficiency within 90 days by addressing the total live situation of the homeless families they serve.
In exchange for rent/utility-free housing, residents are required by written agreement to work full time, obey program guidelines and attend volunteer-taught classes in life skills, employment, community living and budgeting. Hillcrest also provides the following through a network of community support: auto repair/donation, food pantry, medical assistance, dental work, GED classes, haircuts, glasses, school clothes, work uniforms, etc."
This blog is not an official blog representing the organization, rather it's my hope that I can use what I've learned (and am learning) during my stay here to benefit a wider range of people during these tough economic times. As I mentioned before, we have a food pantry of sorts here at Hillcrest that our residents "shop" from once a week. We have mostly dry and canned goods (and usually frozen meat) to choose from and sometimes our residents have a difficult time figuring out what to cook with limited ingredients. I have spent time teaching them everything from how to cook dry beans and frozen veggies (yes, some of them have never used them before) to making their own sauces. I want to blog about those things here so that others can either fill gaps in their knowledge, or direct people here who need that information.
As our family has grown and changed, so have our convictions about the way we feed ourselves and spend our money. I am planning to share soon about how our family has modified our diet to include more "real foods" and still stick to our budget. It is difficult to be good stewards of both our bodies and our resources in this culture and I hope what you find on this blog will encourage you as you walk that fine line with your family. My goal is to share practical tips, resources, and recipes, as well as some of the interesting not-necessarily-strictly-pantry-related things about food that I am learning.
Thanks for being here and let me know if you have any questions or suggestions. I would love to include guest posts if you have something you would like to share, and am happy to let you share what I have to say with others. Please give me a heads up if you plan to copy or distribute anything I post here, and please link back if you are able.
