If you lived in the pathway of Irene chances are you were without power for a few days which resulted in you having to throw away most of the food in your refrigerator. I know my family had to as we were without electricity for seven days. As I started to restock my refrigerator, I began to notice something every time I opened the door to look for food. It felt good to look into my fridge and actually see what food I had since it was not over packed with food. It gave me a sense of calmness and a bit of a thrill to actually see what I had to work with for dinner. Meal planning was so much easier with less food. When I have too many options packed into my refrigerator my brain shuts down and I inevitably forget to use food before it expires.

This hurricane made me remember a time when things in my life were calmer and I actually had the time to plan and use up my food every week. I noticed that my life in the past two years reflected what was in my refrigerator. When I was working and taking care of the kids and didn’t feel overwhelmed I was able to plan meals. By the end of the week I could actually see that most of the food in my fridge was used up. I didn’t have tons of produce left over which would eventually rot and have to be put in the compost or garbage. But then I got super busy launching a business and didn’t see the bottom of my fridge for years.

What does your refrigerator look like? Is it so packed with food that you often throw rotten food away? Is it stacked with super savings items you bought at the grocery store or packed with leftovers? Is your fridge so bare that the only things in there are beverages and condiments that you use to flavor the take home food that you bring in most nights? Each of these scenarios says something different about how your life is at the moment: so stressed that you have little time to plan and use up your food, or fearful that you don’t have enough money to pay for healthy food so you stock up on food that is cheap and on sale, or perhaps so busy that you no longer cook dinner at home on most nights.

Food has an emotional connection for many of us. Our society has been so consumed with and focused on fear that it even affects our relationship with food. We may overbuy or overeat to deal with our anxiety and stress. If we are not on alert for a terrorist attack, tornado or hurricane, we are overwhelmed with the financial status of our country and our family. Every time we listen to the radio, watch TV or surf the internet we hear, see or read something that we are told we should worry about.

Does any of this sound familiar when you go to the store: "I need to stock up on peanut butter, crackers, and juice because I don’t know when I’ll have the time to get back to the store", "These cookies are on sale so I am going to buy 5 boxes", or "I can’t afford fresh vegetables or fruit but the chips and soda is cheap enough for my budget". When I am super busy, my trip to the grocery store is done without a plan or menu and as a result I often spend more than my budget allows and I never seem to have everything I need for a recipe. Basically I am running on fear; fear that I wouldn’t have time to get back to the store, fear 20 people might stop by and I needed to be prepared. Are you familiar with that syndrome: expecting and being prepared for an army at a moments notice? They still haven’t shown up yet!

Next time you open your refrigerator or pantry, slow down and listen to what it is telling you. Perhaps your fridge is telling you to take a moment and breathe; to cut back on some of the craziness in your life and get to a place where planning dinner and shopping is not riddled with anxiety and stress but rather joy. It is possible; well maybe not so much joy if you don’t like to cook but perhaps less stressful for you. If your life is so busy that you do not have time to cook most nights, maybe you should take a look at what you can get rid of or cut back on to allow more downtime in your family’s life. I encourage you to make meal time a time to relax, de-stress and connect; things we all need in our lives every day.

Most of us are concerned about money which is a leading factor in what we buy. If fear of your finances is what drives you most, you may want to turn that around by trusting: trusting that enough food will be provided for you and your children. As a society we eat so much protein that the best place to start is by switching to legumes, (dried beans and chick peas) that are extremely cheap and high in protein and by serving appropriate serving sizes of meat and fish. You don’t need the amount of meat that is typically served. You just need a serving size of meat that would fit in the palm of your hand. Don’t skimp on the produce though as that investment more than pays for itself in your family’s health.

If your fridge has limited or no fresh fruits and vegetables at all then it is saying something different; perhaps it is saying that your families diet lacks vibrancy and that is reflected in the limited energy you and your family seem to have. I was once told by an ancient Asian medicine man that "life gives life". Food that comes out of the ground unprocessed like green leafy foods support life, food that only comes out of boxes and cans is dead food and can not sustain a healthy life.

I would like to challenge myself and you to stop shopping out of fear? Fear of not getting back to the store, fear of not having enough money to pay for groceries, fear of a hurricane, tornado, flood or other natural or man made disaster. How about you join me in trusting; trusting that it will all get done, that you will have time to get back to the store and the resources you need to buy enough to nourish your family. Try reaching for the goal of seeing the bottom of your fridge at the end of each week and stop overstocking and over-buying just because something might happen.