Happiness is a fully stocked deep freeze

Oh my how my life has changed!!

In my teens, happiness was no chores, a few bucks in my pocket and a car to drive.

In my 20's, I would have told you that happiness was a fab hair day with great styling products and killer makeup.

In my early 30's, I would have said that happiness was the rewarding feeling of climbing the corporate ladder and the salary that came along with it.

But life has changed! I have two children now. I have a husband working on his Bachelor's in Chemical Engineering. I have a very limited income - a tiny fraction of the income we used to live on.

And now, in my mid-30's (ugh), happiness is a fully stocked freezer. Let us take a moment to enjoy the knowledge that the bounty held in this upright freezer was all purchased on sale and most likely with stacked coupons. I doubt I paid full price for a single item in that freezer - including the storage containers!


There's an entire shelf on the bottom that you can't even see! It has two huge frozen turkeys ($.69/lb -- not the best deal ever though. I got two birds for $.13/lb at Thanksgiving time!), a bag of ice, a bunch of Angel Food meats, and God only knows what else. Plus, you can't even see the shelves in the door!

Some of the deals in my freezer? Morning Star corn dogs - 2 for $5. Boneless skinless chicken breasts - $1.99 or lower /lb. Pureed yams - $.33/lb. Arnold's bread - $1.79/loaf. Those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head.

What really filled up my freezer was my Angel Food purchases.

I resisted purchasing from Angel Food Ministries for a while. Even though we were on a very limited income and were living off our savings, I felt that Angel Food was designed to help low income families and that by participating I would be going against the spirit of the organization. I became very upset when I saw women I knew jumping on the bandwagon to purchase from Angel Food because it was cheap, not because they had a true need.

Then, I found out some interesting information! The more who participate, the better quality food they can purchase and distribute. They WANT people who aren't in dire need to purchase through them so they can continue providing the food to *everyone*. I spoke with someone who had family members very involved with Angel Food Ministries and, after hearing what she had to say, I changed my feelings about participation.

I realized I had incorrectly judged these women I knew. Their participation actually helps make Angel Food Ministries work better.

So today, I had my first pickup. I ordered a ton of food in anticipation of a coming cash crunch in our bank account.

For $130, I received 3 of the basic box and 2 of the Special #1. Take the time to really read through this menu and comprehend how much food this is! I have NINE pounds of apples in my kitchen! Three supreme pizzas, three 8-packs of Swiss Miss chocolate pudding, three 16oz bags of frozen green beans..... you get the idea. It's a lot of stuff and all this stuff has STUFFED my freezer totally full! I couldn't fit anything else in there if I wanted to.

Well. Maybe some ice cream. ;)