A Frugal Independence Day

As with just about everything so far this year, COVID-19 has thrown a wrench in traditional Independence Day celebrations. While our typical 4th of July festivities include extended family BBQs, an Independence Day breakfast through our church, and sparklers, none of these things are occurring this year. 

So, here’s a peek into how Mr. and Mrs. FB are handling this state of affairs.

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Food Traditions

In case you haven’t picked up on it, I am way into food (just look at my frugal cooking series). In that vein, I wanted a menu that would make me (us?) happy and would be the right blend of traditional and personal taste. For that, I am heating up baked beans, making homemade potato chips, and serving hamburgers alongside lemonade and caesar salad (lest we feel tempted to count potato chips as a vegetable). Conspicuously absent are the potato salad and coleslaw, which are too much work for such small portions, and which neither of us particularly care enough about to make. (Also absent are hard boiled/deviled eggs, which I truly wish I found appealing, but would rather hurl off the side of the Grand Canyon than permit into my mouth). 

With the possible exception of the potato chips, this menu is quite simplistic in terms of its ingredients and their costs. As is typical, the most expensive ingredients are the meats, which include hamburger and bacon (because I can’t think of anything better for my morale than a bacon cheeseburger). I am planning on making an apple pie for some friends tomorrow, so I decided to hold off for a day on the desserts.

Decorations

I am notoriously bad at decorating. Other than Christmas, I usually forget to pull out holiday-related decor, and when I do, I take forever taking it down. For that reason, my major holiday decoration is a dollar store disposable table cloth. Is that absolutely wasteful? Absolutely. That’s why it happens once every few years, and since 2020 is turning out to be the year of Jumangi, I decided it was time. ​

Celebrating Independence

It may feel odd to celebrate independence in a time of so much societal unrest - after all, recent events have demonstrated the full range of powers exercised by local, state, and federal government, resulting in the most restrictive governmental measures ever imposed on my generation, and there are voices sounding loud and clear across the nation that there are many people, citizens and non-citizens, within the United States borders who are not free. After deep contemplation, I chose to highlight not the past, but the future in my celebrations - a future that I want to be a part of, and that I can help bring. In that spirit, Mr. FB and I are choosing to open our festivities by turning to our faith, having hard conversations about the many events occurring both domestically and internationally, and setting carefully tailored goals to help build the future that we want to see at the individual and institutional levels. ​

What have you done to celebrate in these unusual times?