VIDEO SHOWING A GOOD EXAMPLE You as an individual or any smaller Bible group you may have formed or hope to form can do the same or similarly as a witness to God's goodness.  For example, as a starter make some sandwiches, put them in a bag including a small leaflet having scriptures about God, get it to someone who is homeless or in need.     http://www.brownbagministry.org/

CHRIST AND THE APOSTLES FED BOTH THE LITERALLY AND THE SPIRITUALLY HUNGRY "FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD!" (James 2:24) Salvation is by grace, a free gift from God, but Christ didn't just serve words of comfort; he also served literal bread and fish to calm the stomaches of thousands of hungry people.  Paul also said to remember the poor (Ga 2:10), and during times of econonic downturns as well as during economic prosperity there are always plenty in real need. Christian Witnesses Fellowship encourages friendly and associating individuals, groups, house-churches etc to consider similar worthy activities via starting or participating in helping already established food pantries, soup kitchens etc.  Groups of Christians may also wish to consider taking up collections of canned goods (also clothing, non-prescription personal items etc) to distribute to the poor and needy.  Another possibile worthy project is to make simple sandwiches such as of eggs and mayonnaise or peanut butter and jelly, put them in brown paper bags, insert a Bible leaflet, then take them to where you find the poor and hungry. For example in cities you may see homeless persons in alleys, under bridges, at a downtown bus stop, in parks etc.   When you find one, he or she will often lead or direct you to others for also helping. You will probably normally have no major problems but take normal precautions and stay alert since some people may also have mental or other problems.  Try to always work along with at least one other Christian so that both of you can be keeping an eye out for each other, and every thing should go fine and also bring much praise to God.

FAST EASY STEW Add together potatoes, onions, tomatoes, beans, corn, okra in any amounts you want then season with bacon drippings, salt and pepper or any other seasonings available.  Put cornbread bits into bowls then put the previous ingredients over the cornbread.

FLAVORFUL RUMFORD’S SOUP A long-time practical and inexpensive yet nourishing recipe Mix then slowly boil: 1 part pearl barley or other grain(s) such as wheat and or corn (maize); 1 part dried yellow peas;  4 parts potatoes.  For flavoring add after boiling then cooling it some any kind of available seasoning, a dash of two of vinegar and possibly a little peanut butter.  Eat it with some bread.  The original recipe calls for including old beer but in a Christian setting such could be debateable, plus could be problems with alchoholics.   The recipe is makes for a cheap but nutricious soup to feed the poor and homeless.  Its inventor was Sir Benjamin Thompson, also known as the Count Rumsford.  He was a thermodynamics scientist who was a loyalist during the American Revolution, and came up with the recipe later in Germany.   He is credited with the inventions of thermal underwear and wax instead of tallow candles as well as for starting the large famous Englische Garten (English Garden) located in Germany.

MISH-MASH POTATOES Gather a box of noodles, 1 can mushroom soup, 3/4 c milk, 1/4 c chopped onion, 1 1/2 tsp mustard, 1 can sauerkraut, 1 lb chopped kielbasa, 1 c shredded cheese, 1/2 c bread crumbs, butter to taste. Mix together the soup, milk, onions, mustard and put it off to the side.  Also keep to the side the bread crumbs and shredded cheese. Grease pan, spread sauerkraut over pan bottom, add a layer of noodles, spoon the soup mixture over the noodles, add kielbasa, add bread crumbs with butter and cheese.  Cover, bake an hour at 350 degrees.

SO THAT WE WILL REMEMBER Christ said for our benefit so that we would better understand how he feels about things: "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me."  Matthew 25:35 It is sad that some forget this or else shameful when people make excuses to ignore it.  To ignore Christ's words is to ignore Christ.  Above all let us show love for one another.  We are also to show love for our enemies.  Love never fails.

CHICKEN, BARLEY, VEGETABLES SOUP Mix then bring to a boil chicken, assorted vegetables and pearl barley.  Flavor with some vinegar or spices of choice.    Include bread and drinking water.   It's that simple!

FAST AND EASY CUCUMBER, TOMATO, ONION SALAD Chop, slice or dice cucumbers, tomatoes and small green onions to the amount needed, then put the pieces into a bowl, and finally add any dressing to suit your taste.

BEAN SOUP Buy a pack of dry beans, check them for any small pebbles etc for removing.  Put the beans into a large pot then add just enough cool water to cover them.  Put the pot of beans on the top of a stove heater. Turn it on to a temperature between moderate and high.  Put a lid over most of the pot's top, but do not cover it totally. (If you were to cover the pot's top totally with a lid, then steam would build up and explode, spewing beans all over) Come back to check the beans about ever twenty minutes.  As needed, add more water and stir them about every time some so that they don't burn up.  In maybe an hour or more, depending on how many beans there are and the temperature, the beans should be softened enough that if you put one or two in a spoon, then you can mash them easily, or let them cool then taste of them. Of course, if you use more water, then you get more soup than beans.  You can flavor the bean soup with whatever you like such as salt, pepper, other spices, catsup etc.  You might also eat the soup with crackers or bits of bread.  If you have meat such as ham, you can cook the bean soup with the meat.  The nice thing about beans is that, as also true of rice, they are cheap.  A lot of poor people can thus be fed on little money.

GREEN SPLIT PEA SOUP To 1 pound of green split peas add any amounts you want of chopped onions, celery, carrot, parsley.  Add a little thyme and bay leaf, salt and black pepper, about 8 cups of water and small pieces of any meat you may have such as ham, any bits of bread or croutons that you may have.  Boil then simmer, cover and cook about 1 ½ hours or until the peas are tender.

LENTIL SOUP Cook lentil soup as given in the recipe for bean soup but with one major difference.  It only takes a fraction of the time for cooking lentils, so check them even more often so that they don't burn up.  A drawback is that, depending on your location, they may cost more than beans or rice.

RICE-CENTERED MEALS! Rice is prepared and cooked very much as is bean soup.  It absorbs the water and so swells up even more than do beans, so take that into consideration.  For the amount of food that it makes, it's even cheaper than beans. Most people think rice must be fixed and eaten either by itself, in which case it tastes rather bland, or with vegetables as that's what they see done in Chinese restaurants.  When growing up my own mother cooked rice then added sugar, honey or molasses to sweeten it.  We also commonly added some butter which gave it even more flavor.  And, if we had them, we would add raisins or bits of apples.  Just use your imagination. Try to get and use non-white rice.  Combined with beans or lentils it is said to form the same kind of protein as your get with meat.

VIDEOS ABOUT SOUP KITCHENS, THE HOMELESS AND HUNGRY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMGPxILluUs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kht2uawYFy4  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez0m5rFUdXg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kht2uawYFy4

SOME SOUP KITCHEN STATISTICS A study shows that many people of Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Westchester County, New York depend on soup kitchens.  Statistics reveal 17% of meal recipients have no home, 62% live in apartment or house, 20% are working, 40% are women, 17% are women with a child.  Also 59% have been using soup kitchen services for over a year, the rest doing so over the last week. Most live below the poverty level, are helpless and use soup kitchen services due to the economy or out of need to have food.

SPLIT-PEA SOUP KITCHENS IN SOUTH AFRICA (Christ literally fed the hungry) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN5ZxirxFkg&NR=1

FOR MORE HANDY INEXPENSIVE SOUP RECIPES AND TIPS FROM THE SALVATION ARMY IN THE U.K. CLICK HERE

CABBAGE AND NOODLES  Boil the noodles and cabbage about 45 minutes then for the last few minutes add in chopped up shredded cabbage and sweet onions.  That way the flavor and taste of the onions and cabbage can stay better.   You may season with some salt and butter.  For protein you may add some bacon bits or hamburger.  Some add flour, grated potatoes, vegetable broth or milk.   This is also sometimes called Haluski.

"In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which, when translated, is Dorcas), who was always doing good and helping the poor." Acts 9:36

START YOUR OWN FOOD MINISTRY Why not start your own Christian food service for the needy?  If not a soup kitchen, make simple cheap but nutricious sandwiches (peanut butter with jelly and a sprinkle of cinnamon etc) which you can deliver in a brown paper bag along with some Bible tracts.  As Paul says (Ga 2:10), let's not forget the poor and needy.   Often it's not because of "laziness" that some people don't have work, but because there is no work for them or not yet any.  Some have handicaps or vices such as drinking too much.  But all of us, regardless of our imperfections or sins, are still precious to God who appreciates it when we act to minister to others who are less fortunate.

LATINO STYLE BLACK BEANS RECIPE Mix black beans, tomatoes, corn and a bit of taco seasoning.  Serve over rice.  Some like to add additional things little spicy mustard or hickory sauce.

MASHED CAULIFLOWER Very simply, steam cauliflowers until they are tender.  Mash them.  Add butter, milk, salt, pepper.  Don't forget to include with it or off to the side some protein such as bits of pork.

STIR-FRYED GREENS AND BEANS (MINUS OIL, CHOLESTEROL, SALT) To start, do not turn on the stove.  Pour a little water into a skillet.  It needs to be enough to cover the surface and maybe a little more than a quarter inch deep.    Why water?  The water takes the place of oil, even olive oil which is plant-based is said to potentially not be ideal for arteries, but water is perfect.  However, to make up for the loss of flavoring from any oil, you will also need to add some spices, and those are mentioned more farther along here. Cut up a head of cauliflower and its stalk.  Put it in the skillet.  Do the same for a small tomato, a little broccoli, part of a large onion or bits of some small green onions,  some okra.  Beans are needed to provide protein, for example you might add all or part of a can of black-eyed beans or red beans.   Before doing so pour off the soup in the can as it's also packed with a lot of salt.   Curry and tumeric are not only tasty spices but many health benefits have been stated about them.  It's important to sprinkle some of both into the skillet only after you already put the vegetables and beans into it.  Once you've added the items told about above, you will stir them around and over.  Now and only now, you turn on the stove.  Set the heat to nearly High.  Put a lid over the skillet so that as the water steams it will penetrate the food.  To keep the food from burning you need to use a spoon to stir the food every two or so minutes.   Also be ready to add a little more water if you need it in order to not burn the food. After about seven minutes turn the stove off, stir one more time, let the food simmer until cool enough to be safely eaten.

2 Samuel 17:28, 29: "They also brought wheat and barley, flour and roasted grain, beans and lentils, honey and curds, sheep, and cheese from cows' milk for David and his people to eat. For they said, "The people have become hungry and tired and thirsty in the desert."

BREAKFAST CEREAL RECIPE! (ALL PROTEIN, ZERO FAT) Roasted soybeans have a good, solid nutty flavor.  Simply put them into a large pot.  To flavor even more you may add oatmeal, some raisins or whatever you like and have available.  For example some market place or supermarket may donate to you bananas which have skins about to turn all black.  Remove the skins, add in the bananas.  Be sure to add some water to the mixture.  Although roasted soybeans are not as hard as those that are unroasted, the water will make them even more easy to eat and digest. Anyone worried about fat and cholesterol should earnestly consider roasted soybeans because they are plant protein instead of animal protein; and even when you eat the leanest meat of chickens etc, that still contains 35% to 45% fat. Oatmeal has been proved to help remove cholesterol already in the blood.  I don't know about soybeans doing so but then maybe they do.  The weight of soybeans contrasted to that of meat is also substantially less, so eating them instead can also help promote weight loss.  I keep a bag with them in my car for eating instead of going to a fast-foods restaurant, which also saves a lot of money.  Homeless persons can put some that have been left dry into a bag and easily carry it around for handy, healthy meals.