Food in the time of a pandemic

[BeeZee]

My sister texted me this photo of her pantry after her Sicilian husband went grocery shopping

 

[suzilightning]

46 minutes ago, BeeZee said:

My sister texted me this photo of her pantry after her Sicilian husband went grocery shopping

 

can my husband come and live with them?  Here is his request for dinners …. pasta and shrimp, shrimp and pasta, pasta, pasta, pasta, shrimp and pasta...….

[Dr. Teeth]

1 hour ago, BeeZee said:

My sister texted me this photo of her pantry after her Sicilian husband went grocery shopping

 

He’s the guy that took the canned pumpkin

 

[BeeZee]

1 hour ago, Dr. Teeth said:

He’s the guy that took the canned pumpkin

 

Guaranteed that is a couple of months old, my sister went through a phase of making pumpkin soup...

[JoNorvelleWalker]

12 minutes ago, BeeZee said:

Guaranteed that is a couple of months old, my sister went through a phase of making pumpkin soup...

 

I have a can of pumpkin from 2005.  It's organic though.  Come to think of it I have some pumpkin that's more recent.  If only I had some chocolate cake box mix.

 

[chefmd]

I went to Trade Joe's yesterday.  Had to wait in line for about 15 minutes to get in.  Everything seemed to be in stock.  I got wine, cheese, arugula, salami, nuts, chips.  You know, the essentials.  They were cleaning shopping carts like crazy.  Registers had plexiglass.  Workers were wearing masks and gloves.  I resisted the urge to hoard things.

[chefmd]

I do try to shop once a week, twice at most, which is very different from my almost daily just a few items pleasure shopping.  Not worried about myself since I go to work Mon-Fri.  Just trying to do my part in social distancing.

[Dr. Teeth]

3 hours ago, BeeZee said:

Guaranteed that is a couple of months old, my sister went through a phase of making pumpkin soup...

Ok, because if not, Chromedome was talking a lot of trash about his baking.

 

[Kim Shook]

As some of you know, our church participates in a food program for 3 local homeless shelters.  We share this project with other Episcopal churches in our area.  Once a month, we make 100 bag lunches to deliver to the shelters.  We have enough volunteers that each group only has to do it every three months.  Mr. Kim and I are group leaders of one of the groups and we also deliver the lunches to the shelters.  I am a shopper for the supplies, a job I share with one other person.  This month was my turn to shop and also to make lunches.  To lower the exposure, Mr. Kim and I decided to do the lunch prep by ourselves.  He took yesterday off and we did the shopping together.  Our church has a Sam's credit card and tax exempt ID card which also works at Walmart.  The other shopper and I agreed that if we couldn't find what we needed at those two stores, we'd shop where we could and just get reimbursed.  

 

The regular lunches include a sandwich (bologna in cold weather, PB & J in hot), a snack bag of pretzels, a snack cake (Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies), and a banana.  We take large soda bottles to each home plus apple juice to the one with children.  We managed to get everything we needed but had to sub turkey for bologna, as Sam's had none.  And since I'll be making 100 sandwiches by myself while Mr. Kim stuffs each lunch bag, I was not about to do PB&J!  

 

I had not experienced the whole line up outside situation until yesterday at Sam's.  There were maybe 50 people in line when we got there and they were letting folks in in groups rather than one out, one in.  We only waited about 1/2 hour to get in.  People were being good about keeping distance and most folks were wearing masks.  There are some changes I will make to my method when I do my next shop.  

 

In general, the stores in my area seem to be pretty well stocked.  If you want fresh produce, you are fine.  Meats, chicken, and fish are available if you are willing to go to multiple stores.  TP and paper towels, also.  What cannot be found at all, it seems, are disposable disinfecting/sanitizing wipes, cleansers, etc.  

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I was able to get an amazon delivery for tomorrow evening.  Realistically I expect most of my order to be out of stock by then.  And still no leeks.

 

Meanwhile I baked cookies.

 

[Tri2Cook]

Walked straight into the local grocery after work today with no wait. One of the few things I still hadn't managed to check off of my just-in-case list was rice. They finally had it restocked today so that's done. They were never actually out of rice, just the rice I wanted in the size I wanted. I have no need for a 10 kg bag of rice, pandemic or not. I was also able to get my hands on pancake syrup (Aunt Jemima) for the kid today, that shelf had been bare for a couple weeks. The real maple syrup that I prefer has been available aplenty. I noticed the number of people swelling while I was in the store and by the time I left, they had someone stationed at the door to monitor the line that was forming so I guess I went at the right time. 

[kayb]

Somewhat amazed I just placed a Kroger order tonight and got a pickup slot for noon-1 p.m. tomorrow. They had everything I wanted except Lysol  spray and rubbing alcohol. Just on a whim, I checked, and they appeared well stocked on flour, rice and dry beans, things that have been in short supply (I didn't need any, but was curious).

 

Made up lunches for the soup kitchen this afternoon, and will go hand them out in the morning. We've gone to sack lunches vs. a sit-down meal for the duration of the virus. 

 

Not in a cooking notion tonight. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe not. We shall see how long the potato chips hold out.

 

[haresfur]

8 minutes ago, Tri2Cook said:

Walked straight into the local grocery after work today with no wait. One of the few things I still hadn't managed to check off of my just-in-case list was rice. They finally had it restocked today so that's done. They were never actually out of rice, just the rice I wanted in the size I wanted. I have no need for a 10 kg bag of rice, pandemic or not. I was also able to get my hands on pancake syrup (Aunt Jemima) for the kid today, that shelf had been bare for a couple weeks. The real maple syrup that I prefer has been available aplenty. I noticed the number of people swelling while I was in the store and by the time I left, they had someone stationed at the door to monitor the line that was forming so I guess I went at the right time. 

 

We feed brown rice and sweet potato to the dogs along with their mince and every so often the big bags of rice go on sale for 50% off. So we were well stocked with brown and white rice when this started. I also scored some paella rice but need to eat down other things before I go out and try to buy the fish, etc. Past was still rationed, last time I was in but flour is showing up so we can make it. As far as other starch goes, I need to plant the potatoes sprouting in the pantry 🤨

[Jacksoup]

Had been working on an Instacart order for a couple of days, not in a big hurry for anything.  My son told me tonight he was out of lunch meat. Told him he’d probably have to do PB&J for a few days until we got a delivery time.  I placed the order, choose ‘fast and flexible’ instead of a time slot and got everything on my list within 90 minutes.  The shopper told me I was the first person today who got everything on their order.  I actually got white rice which I’ve been trying to order for days, out of stock everywhere.  

[suzilightning]

18 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I have a can of pumpkin from 2005.  It's organic though.  Come to think of it I have some pumpkin that's more recent.  If only I had some chocolate cake box mix.

 

I have a recipe for pumpkin olive oil bread if you have light olive oil.  Oh, yeah and one for pumpkin chocolate chip bread we used to make at the bakery.  Just sayin'.

[Jaymes]

On 3/9/2020 at 2:19 AM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

No food shortages here, except possibly King Arthur Flour.  Ranch Gordo Moro beans were last night's dinner but that made no dent in the supply.  I could stuff a bean bag to barricade my door from zombies.

 

😄😄😄 Love that visual. Me, too. Or beanbag the house in case of a flood. 

[chefmd]

16 minutes ago, Jaymes said:

😄😄😄 Love that visual. Me, too. Or beanbag the house in case of a flood. 

Almost everything is sold out on Rancho Gordo website.  Oy.  I may hav to pay @JoNorvelleWalker a visit to barter something like Spam for beans

[Jaymes]

Foraging around in my pantry, I came across several cans of stewed tomatoes. Remembered I still had some eggs in the fridge. So made Shakshuka. 

 

Didn't take photos. But am recommending it as an option to consider for other foragers. 

[Porthos]

My Sweetie and I had reason to be in Orange County Thursday afternoon. We were near enough to the Westminster Costco Business Center to make a brief trip there. They have a few items there that we can't get anywhere else. *While I was spending one weekday night at my FIL's house in Anaheim going to the CBC was just a quick trip. Not so now.

 

We are fond of popchips, and can't get the 30-pack of snack size bags anywhere else. Got those. I keep the 1 oz bags of Planter's Peanuts around. Besides being a snack food for my DW and me, my 6 y/o grandson likes them. It's a treat for him. The very best price to be found is there. Got those. Tillamok cheese makes a snack size cheese out of their medium cheddar. Got a fresh bag of those. We were able to get vinyl exam gloves. Our preference, nitrile, have been impossible to find. Besides masks, we glove up when shopping.

 

This morning, I did my semi-weekly shopping during the seniors hours and got everything on my list except plain white rice. I don't want a 10 pound bag. I've been restocking our disaster food supplies and want rice for that. Our disaster food is based upon not being able to get into our house and having to camp outside for 3 days.

 

Because California's shelter-in-place order allows for grocery shopping, food being one of the 16 essential services, our meals do not reflect being in the pandemic. If our supermarket didn't offer the seniors hour, I would probably rethink how often I shopped; My Sweetie and I both have multiple additional-risk factors. She's mostly staying in, enjoying the major change in her life after being laid off last month due to the pandemic. As I've stated up-thread, this is most likely the start of her retirement.

 

After the initial "hoarding" buying our supermarket was able to get the produce department stocked back up within a couple of weeks. The big surprise for me is that lack of fresh garlic. I was forced to buy jarred garlic this week because I really wanted to try a new recipe, Spaghetti with olive oil and garlic. I made it last night and added a 1/2 pound of shrimp. That and a green salad made for a tasty dinner. I need to edit the recipe to remind me to use EVOO next time, just to lift it up a bit more. After my trip later this morning to Stater Bros I'm going to shoot to not shop for at least 5 days this time.

 

* My FIL went into a care facility 3 1/2 years ago. We had been spending Saturday nights there. I also spent one weekday night there. We agreed to do this so that he would go into the care facility. He was needing 24-hour care. His prognosis when he went in had him passing away from his cancer in the next 20 months or so. Late last summer, at my prodding, the decision was made to sell his house. As of the end of January we no longer needed to stay in the house. He's very frail, 100% bedridden, but he's still alive, and his mind is still there.

[Anna N]

34 minutes ago, Jaymes said:

Foraging around in my pantry, I came across several cans of stewed tomatoes. Remembered I still had some eggs in the fridge. So made Shakshuka. 

 

Didn't take photos. But am recommending it as an option to consider for other foragers. 

 

 Salsa that needed using up is another spin on the idea. 

[liamsaunt]

I was able to snag a delivery slot from Wegman's for Thursday morning.  I had to select the "flexible, unattended delivery" option, so could not add any wine to my order.  That's OK.  There's a relatively new to this area app called Drizly that delivers on the same day that you order.  I'll just use them.  My brother has used them with success.  I'm not too optimistic that I am going to get a lot of the items on my list since it is mostly cleaning supplies and paper products.  We are approaching the expected peak for my area, so there is no way I am going out.  These are strange times indeed.  My father in law died yesterday (not from Covid-19, he had a brain injury from a bad fall back in November which led to months in the ICU and all sorts of other problems and infections).  We have no idea when we will be able to hold a service for him.

[Jaymes]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

 

 Salsa that needed using up is another spin on the idea. 

That looks great. And never thought about using salsa. Don't know why not. Such a great idea. 

 

I did add some za'atar to punch it up a bit. 

[Porthos]

I did find 2 nice bulbs of garlic at Stater Bros. 😀 They only had one 12-pack of caffeine-free Diet Coke. I needed to buy 3 to get the sale price. Since Diet Coke/caffeine-free Diet Coke is the only thing my wife drinks (yeah, no water, etc) I may have to go back out sooner than next Wednesday.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

My amazon order arrived.  It was mostly right.  But baby broccoli was broccoli, and baby bok choi was bok choi.  Two large bunches each.  I entered bok choi and broccoli into Eat Your Books and actually got a recipe.  (Think I'll leave that one on the plate.)

 

A stir fry is always nice, though I will run out of rice before I run out of broccoli and bok choi.

 

[BeeZee]

Ordered take out Chinese (online order/pay), total of $50 including tax and tip, we have enough for another meal. Husband observed that the portions seemed larger than what we had gotten when dining in previously.