She is like the merchants’ ships; she brings her food from afar.
Proverbs 31:14

We spent several months in Wisconsin this summer in the cabin my dad bought 30 years ago. Since Ken works from the home, we had the opportunity to do this and we greatly enjoyed it. In order to find fresh food, once a week I would drive about 40 minutes to the nearest health food store and buy up things mostly on sale. They have great monthly sales with 50% off so it was worth it to me.

Then I would drive about fifteen minutes from there to a farm that sold grass-fed meats and pastured eggs. They also had some fresh picked produce. Later in the day, I would go to a local family-owned farm and pick up fresh cut lettuce, tomatoes, green peas and beans, cauliflower, broccoli, raspberries, corn, and other foods that were straight from their organic garden. Yes, it took a few hours to accomplish all of this but it’s worth it for me to buy the best food I can get for the best prices. It not only tastes a whole lot better, but it’s better for us!

“You might as well try to enjoy life in a run-down and ruined house that allows free admission to the freezing blast and pouring rain as to be happy in a body ruined by self-indulgence. If God has given you good health and a sound mind, it is your duty to do all you can to preserve it so that it will perform all the necessary functions in the great work of life” (The Golden Gems of Life).

One of the most important jobs you have as keepers at home and lovers of your husband and children is to find and fix the healthiest food for your family. The closer you get to the way God created it to be eaten, the better; for man can’t improve upon what God has created. Organic, pastured, and grass-fed means that the food was raised the way it was intended to be raised and the animals ate the food they were created to eat, not filled with antibiotics, pesticides, steroids, and other health-destroying substances.

If all of these types of foods are too expensive for you, grow your own garden and plant fruit trees, then learn to can, dehydrate, freeze, and dehydrate the extra produce. We have many fruit trees in our little backyard: apple, orange, lemon, fig, guava, and peach. We have picked a lot of fruit from these trees! I know some families personally who don’t have a lot of money but they cut expenses way down in other areas in order to buy healthy, organic food. Junk food isn’t that cheap either and cancer is a lot more expensive in the long run.

“She extends her operations beyond her own immediate neighbourhood, and bringeth her food from afar, buying in the best markets and on advantageous terms, without regard to distance” (Pulpit Commentary).

“Looks for opportunities of buying cheaply at a distance from home, instead of paying a larger price on the spot” (Ellicot’s Commentary).

There are places online like Thrive Market that for a small yearly fee, you can buy a lot of healthy foods. Costco and Trader Joe’s are full of organic foods for reasonable prices. Find local farmer’s markets in your area and support them. Some of them may even sell pastured eggs and grass-fed meats. Grass-fed ground beef is one of the least expensive and lately I’ve been browning it with an onion and seasoning it well with salt and pepper. Then I add it to my homemade spaghetti sauce and put this on top of spaghetti squash or sauteed and chopped up green cabbage with onions instead of pasta. It’s then topped with big handful of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. It’s delicious! (You can see pictures of it on my Instagram account.)

In learning to be healthy besides eating healthy, we must discipline ourselves to be temperate in everything and not self-indulgent. Set a good example for your children in this area since you have control over what they eat and how much they eat when they are young. Recently, I have been eating an early dinner and then disciplining myself to not eat anything else before bed. No, it’s not easy but it’s good practice to say “no” to what our flesh wants and “yes” to self-control, which is a fruit of the Spirit.

Gill’s Commentary has spiritualized this chapter which I appreciate since it keeps it all in perspective of what is truly important in life. The ‘food’ for our family is “not from below, on earth; not dust, the serpent’s food; nor ashes, on which a deceitful heart feeds; nor husks, which swine eat; but the corn of heaven, angels’ food, the hidden and heavenly manna; the bread of life, which comes down from heaven; the Gospel of the grace of God, the good news from a far country.”

The Bread of Life (Jesus) is the most important food that we can give to our family by daily feasting upon His Word. For no matter how great the quality of our food is here on this earth, it pales in comparison to the Lord’s body that was broken for our broken bodies that we might be healed and live forever and for His blood that was shed for the forgiveness of all of our sins. Your children need Jesus; for their eternal souls are far more important than their human bodies on this earth which will one day perish.