Grocery Shopping for the Daniel Fast
9:41 PM
Goodbye 2014. Hello 2015.
For me, 2014 was an amazing year full of learning and new experiences. But I am looking forward to see what God will do with this year! Forsue Therefore, I am joining my church in a 21-day Daniel fast, starting January 4th and ending on 24th. By fasting and prayer, I am putting myself in a place of humility for God to do His work in my life. So I thought I would share my experience here with you on this blog. Let's be real, this blog is filled with everything-- from beauty, to places, to life talks. So why not?
During this time, I am seeking the Lord for provision and strength. I believe this Daniel fast will truly bring some changes in my
life. I am specifically asking God to help me find my self-worth not in
productivity. Our society values what we produce, what we do. However,
it is stressful to always rely on ourselves. We are humans and we do fail. To place our identity in something so flimsy can be frustrating. Therefore, I am
seeking my identity and worth in the gospel.
Having done the Daniel fast multiple times, I know it is hard to wean
off rich food and sweets. As a carnivore, this will be a challenge. At the moment, I am kind of nervous because I have not be curbing my diet to ease into this fast. I have been consuming meats, sugars, white carbs this past week as I normally do. It will definitely be a struggle entering into this fast. In case you don't know what a Daniel fast entails, check out my church's information guide: click here. It includes tips, devotionals and a food list--it's pretty awesome.
Anyways, in this post, I will take you on a grocery shopping trip at my local Trader Joe's. I love TJ's!
You
cannot forget the grains. Brown rice, quinoa, whole wheat pasta are
going to be essential to my Daniel fast. Unfortunately, I am not a bunny
that can live on vegetables and fruits alone. I need some grains to
give myself some variety.
Frozen veggies for the proud and loud lazy people like me. I grabbed some frozen broccoli, haricot verts and corn. Sadly, they did not have frozen Brussels sprouts. Must come back! Now,
of course, I cannot forget the coffee sample. As I drank this coffee, I
realized it is my last cup of caffeine until January 24th. I am not a
coffee addict but I do treat myself to a cup of coffee every once in a
while. I do enjoy waking up and sipping on green tea, but I got to say
goodbye to fermented teas.
Nuts are a nutritiously dense snack that perfect for on-the-go. You can also dress up your meals with a sprinkle of nuts to add some complexity in the flavors. There are some many types of nuts to try and play with! Peanuts, walnuts, macademia nuts, pecans, cashews, Brazilian nuts... you name it! However, didn't grab any because I am fully stocked on nuts at home.
Getting myself some good ol' crunchy peanut butter of course! Peanut butter will add some life to bread, apples, celery and more! Just slap it on to give food some flavor. And yes, that was my tentative grocery list. I like to write down everything and then decide what is worth buying at the store.
I don't eat beans on an often basis, but I do need to replace the meat in my diet with another form of protein. Thus I am stocking up on those beans--Sydney, white north, pinto! I am thinking of making a hearty vegetable soup concoction with beans. I will let you know how that goes. If you aren't a bean fan, tofu is another great option. I gotta pick that up the next time I am at an Asian supermarket!
Both bananas and avocados are much needed on this fast. It gives you the satisfaction of creamy goodness while following the guidelines. You can freeze a peeled banana to make yourself a healthy popsicle. Adding avocados to food will give your food a richer taste. Gah, avocados sound so good right now!
I made a stop at Safeway to get me some starchy carbs. I bought a 5lb sack of potatoes and a large piece of sweet potato. Potatoes are super versatile: potato wedges, potato in soup, baked potato, stirfry potatoes, etc. Just play around with the seasoning and voila! A "new" dish every time.
My favorite: mushrooms. I love adding these fungi to stirfrys! They are something that I love to eat even when I am not fasting.
So at the end of the day, I came home with this: potatoes, sweet potato, mushroom, bananas, unsweetened soy beverage, frozen and canned corn, edamame, kale, frozen broccoli, frozen green beans, organic popcorn, crunchy unsalted peanut butter, canned beans! Alright, hopefully this food will last me a while. I have a feeling that I might be so hungry that I am gonna want to finish everything.
Anyways, thank you for joining me in grocery shopping for this fast. I will keep you guys updated on how it goes! :)
--- J.
0 comments