Keeping Others in Mind

Using the Don’t Panic method provides you with a creative way to help others by supplying them with a meal during stressful times. You will find that you always have a variety of meals available to pull out of your freezer and give to someone in need. Here are some examples of people who would appreciate your help.

• New moms: When a woman has a baby, whether it is her first or her last, she needs meals. Share a meal with a new mom, and watch her glow with appreciation!
• Singles: Most singles work all day and find it very difficult to come home and prepare a nutritious meal for one person. If you have a small amount of food left after packaging your meals on cooking day, make a portion for a single person that you know. It could be their first home-cooked meal in weeks!
• Bad day syndrome: Did your friend crash her car? Drop the eggs in the grocery store parking lot? Change her potty-training child’s clothes five times by ten o’clock in the morning? Turn someone’s terrible day into one with a bit more sunshine by supplying them with a meal for that evening.
• The elderly: Are you worried about your aging parents’ eating habits? How about the elderly couple next door? It’s very difficult for the elderly to keep up with meal preparation, and therefore we see them eating fewer meals with lower nutritional value. An excellent thing to do with the little bit of extra food you find at the end of your cooking day is to share it with an elderly parent or neighbor.
• Sickness or death: A whole family is thrown into turmoil when they encounter sickness or a death in the family. Bringing a meal is a tangible way to assist those you might otherwise feel powerless to help. Consider providing it in frozen form to be used when other help has faded away.
• Community freezer: If you belong to a church or civic organization, you might consider using the freezer in their kitchen to store meals to be taken to those in need. We have seen this be a wonderful tool for outreach within these organizations.

We all have friends, neighbors, and relatives who need our help on certain occasions. Although we have a genuine desire to help them, with today’s busy schedules, it may be difficult to do so. The beauty of using the Don’t Panic method of cooking is that it takes very little time, money, or energy to help those we care about in a substantial way. You can provide relief with a personal touch that will let them know you care.