Food in the time of a pandemic

[chromedome]

13 hours ago, Darienne said:

I always have a selection on my reading table in the bathroom...

That space in my bathroom is taken up with a selection of vintage Reader's Digest, grabbed at random from my grandparents' 7-decade collection as a keepsake after my grandmother passed away in 2008.

 

Putting their slogan ("Articles of Lasting Interest") to the test.

[liamsaunt]

21 hours ago, Shelby said:

A friend of ours was telling Ronnie over the phone that he was in Walmart and witnessed a woman with a heaping huge cart full of fresh meats, TP etc. She was in the return line.  He overheard her say that she panicked and bought all of that stuff, got home and realized she wouldn't be able to pay her rent, so she came back to return it all.

 

 

The groceries around here are not accepting any returns at the moment.  I wonder if she found herself stuck with everything.

 

21 hours ago, weinoo said:

Anyone else have cookbooks strewn all about?

 

I haven't taken this many cookbooks down from the shelves in quite a while!

 

 My coffee table is covered with them!  But then again, it usually is 🙂

 

I got notification that our vegetable share is coming today instead of tomorrow.  I guess so many new people signed up that they had to add extra delivery days.  Fine with me. I'll post a picture of what I get after it arrives.

[Smithy]

3 hours ago, Anna N said:

Talking to my sister in Britain yesterday and she had just taken delivery of

 

MREs.?

 

Anyone any wiser than I? I can’t fathom what they are if not MREs. She has not tried one yet and I’m anxious to know what she thinks. She is a very good cook so if they are awful she will not be eating them. She was persuaded by the neighbour she knows well who placed a second order as my sister placed her first. 
 

These are shelf stable for up to a year.  The one she showed me yesterday was 200 cal which makes me wonder about the MREs which are usually calorie loaded I thought. 

 

 

Interesting suggestion! Of course when I think of MRE's I think of a tinned product. This page says they're pressure-cooked to lock in flavor and ensure cupboard stability for 6 months. That makes me think of a can. However, it also says they're microwaveable. Is there a plastic that can be pressure cooked? Maybe there's a microwaveable dish inside the can?

 

Do report back, please. The stuff in their catalog looks pretty good, but that doesn't mean much. I'm sure a food stylist could make the original MRE's look good.

[Anna N]

Just now, Smithy said:

 

 

Interesting suggestion! Of course when I think of MRE's I think of a tinned product. This page says they're pressure-cooked to lock in flavor and ensure cupboard stability for 6 months. That makes me think of a can. However, it also says they're microwaveable. Is there a plastic that can be pressure cooked? Maybe there's a microwaveable dish inside the can?

 

Do report back, please. The stuff in their catalog looks pretty good, but that doesn't mean much. I'm sure a food stylist could make the original MRE's look good.

They are definitely not canned I saw a package in my sisters hands and they look like frozen dinners. The package she had said it was good until 2021 March or April I can’t remember so more than six months. I will stay on top of it as much as I can because I’m very interested. 

[weinoo]

 

Shrimp w/broccoli in a spicy and sour bean sauce.

 

 

Over Japanese short-grain brown rice - which happened to be very good (I had no idea!).

 

[Smithy]

49 minutes ago, Anna N said:

They are definitely not canned I saw a package in my sisters hands and they look like frozen dinners. The package she had said it was good until 2021 March or April I can’t remember so more than six months. I will stay on top of it as much as I can because I’m very interested. 

 

On another of their pages they suggested that it's more like sous vide pasteurization. Please post photos if your sister sends some.

[Anna N]

45 minutes ago, Smithy said:

 

On another of their pages they suggested that it's more like sous vide pasteurization. Please post photos if your sister sends some.

I will indeed. 

[Porthos]

[rotuts]

those MRE's   cant be SV'd

 

they would have to be refrigerated or frozen

 

""   So we created Parsley Box – cupboard stored tasty meals, ordered online and delivered fast to your door. ""

 

modern MRE's   come in pouches ,

 

https://www.eversafemres.com/how-are-mres-prepared-for-such-long-lasting-shelf-life/

 

and seem to be boiled.  although this might be a secret.

 

 

[Kim Shook]

17 minutes ago, Porthos said:

Mr. Kim saw this when he tried to go yesterday morning.  Since all we needed was hot sauce and EVOO, he decided not to try.  

[rotuts]

Ive never been to a CostCo  when it was really really busy 

 

back in the Old Days .   but their was always a line of 3 - 4 

 

very full carts bak then    

 

is this line   ' social distancing '  and  allowing less people in the store 

 

or are people still  ' stocking up '  ?

 

the person on the R seems to have several bundles of  flavored water or soda ?

 

[Porthos]

Her work ID identified her as an RN. It's possible it's work-related.

[heidih]

Well that was fun. Uber to shopping center with several markets. Power outage. Signs outside indicating no paper goods, no cleaner stuff and no eggs. Uber down hill to Ralphs (Kroger). Same out of stock. Frozen veg down to nada. Fresh produce and meat/fish quite well stocked. No popcorn kernels! (my munchy stress food).  I was pleased to see cautions online not to shop April 1 & 2 as that is when EBT accounts are loaded and economically stressed people are running on fumes.  I've never seen anyone use that around here but in some areas it s life saving. One driver noted that in area he lives there are few major chain grocery stores so that adds to the mess.

[Porthos]

One thing that is confusing me is how the terms sanitize and disinfect are seeming to be tossed around* as if they were on and the same. I have been going to the level of disinfecting everything I bring home from the grocery store save fresh produce. I'm washing that with Dawn. The warnings I've seen against that seem to ignore the fact that, just like doing the dishes, it will be rinsed off of the produce. Can anyone tell me if sanitizing is enough?

 

* in various articles on line that are related to the pandemic.

Edited April 1, 2020 by Porthos (log)

[weinoo]

30 minutes ago, Porthos said:

One thing that is confusing me is how the terms sanitize and disinfect are seeming to be tossed around* as if they were on and the same. I have been going to the level of disinfecting everything I bring home from the grocery store save fresh produce. I'm washing that with Dawn. The warnings I've seen against that seem to ignore the fact that, just like doing the dishes, it will be rinsed off of the produce. Can anyone tell me if sanitizing is enough?

 

* in various articles on line that are related to the pandemic.

 

May have already been discussed...

 

[Porthos]

@weinoo I may have obscured my basic question of sanitizing versus disinfecting packaged goods I'm bringing into my home.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

9 hours ago, Anna N said:

I am hoping you are not talking about his method that was attacked by Harold McGee. 

 

I lost hope some while ago.

 

[liamsaunt]

Here is the delivery from my vegetable share.  I don't know if everything shows up well.  It's four apples, three parnsips, 10 potatoes, 3 ears of popping corn, half of a large cabbage, bag of micro greens, a bag of mesculin mix, shiitake mushrooms, a loaf of Iggy's Breads of the World francese bread, and all the way in the back, a bag of AP flour.  I live in MA so local produce is pretty limited right now.  I already have the mushrooms earmarked for salmon ramen tomorrow.  

 

 

 

[KennethT]

3 minutes ago, liamsaunt said:

Here is the delivery from my vegetable share.  I don't know if everything shows up well.  It's four apples, three parnsips, 10 potatoes, 3 ears of popping corn, half of a large cabbage, bag of micro greens, a bag of mesculin mix, shiitake mushrooms, a loaf of Iggy's Breads of the World francese bread, and all the way in the back, a bag of AP flour.  I live in MA so local produce is pretty limited right now.  I already have the mushrooms earmarked for salmon ramen tomorrow.  

 

 

 

 

What do you do with an ear of popping corn?  I assume it's for making popcorn, no?  Do you have to take the kernels off the cob?

[Shelby]

6 minutes ago, liamsaunt said:

Here is the delivery from my vegetable share.  I don't know if everything shows up well.  It's four apples, three parnsips, 10 potatoes, 3 ears of popping corn, half of a large cabbage, bag of micro greens, a bag of mesculin mix, shiitake mushrooms, a loaf of Iggy's Breads of the World francese bread, and all the way in the back, a bag of AP flour.  I live in MA so local produce is pretty limited right now.  I already have the mushrooms earmarked for salmon ramen tomorrow.  

 

 

 

Incredibly jealous.  Really wish something like this was available around here.  

[weinoo]

3 hours ago, Porthos said:

@weinoo I may have obscured my basic question of sanitizing versus disinfecting packaged goods I'm bringing into my home.

I may have obscured my answer, which was my reference to using Dawn on veg just like I use it on dishware.

[weinoo]

Lunch. Today's focaccia attempt, using overnight poolish, baked off around noon after mixing, ferment and proof ...100% KA A/P flour, so light and airy. 

 

Close to the focaccia I remember in San Francisco from Liguria Bakery, served up as sandwiches at Mario's Bohemian Cigar Store, on Columbus. Not bad.

 

 

 

With vegetable soup.

 

[TicTac]

King salmon, ocean trout, Atlantic salmon, salmon belly, kampachi and hamachi belly 
 

turns into....

 

nigiri and rolls - seared belly with Yuzu soy..

 

to wash it down 

 

wife’s bday dinner - ala isolation! 

[lemniscate]

Half a head of cabbage, some leftover IP shredded pork plus some of the fat.   Lots of black pepper for kick.  Caramelized a bit, outside cooking due to, ya' know, cabbage.  Cabbage is one of those veg that is made for the word pandemic.  Not pretty, but pretty good.

 

 

Edited April 2, 2020 by lemniscate
word (log)

[kayb]

I am commencing to crave choucroute garnie. Which is assuredly NOT a spring dish, but....the mouth wants what it wants.

 

Tonight we're having tornado memorial shepherd's pie. So named because I made it shortly before the tornado hit Saturday, and never baked it.