Food in the time of a pandemic

[dtremit]

On 6/23/2020 at 6:27 PM, Shelby said:

I'm also doing a little mini stock-up.  I'm running low on things like brown sugar, powdered sugar and baking powder.    Also over the counter meds such as Immodium ad (yeah....stress makes me...well, you know).  And pet food.  My thinking is that it might be hard to find since so many shut downs of meat processing plants?    Trying to decide whether to go into a store or whether to order.  I'm sure it's cheaper to go into a store.

 

I'm going to be making homemade Clorox wipes soon.  I really thought by the time I ran out that they would be back in stock, but nope.  And believe me, I've rationed what I had.  Many places I've had to go do not have wipes at the door for their carts so I have to bring my own.

 

A lot of pet stores are doing curbside pickup -- order on the website, pull up to the store, and they'll put it in your trunk. The big chains (PetSmart and Petco) are both doing it, as are some of the smaller stores around us.

Glad to see downthread you found wipes. In terms of finding them online, I have had the best luck at Walmart -- who I literally never ordered from prior to the pandemic. The key is that if you see they have them, you have to check out fast before they disappear. So when we are starting to need another pack, I put $35 of other stuff in my cart on walmart.com (to ensure free shipping), search for wipes, filter by "ship to home," and refresh that page a few times a day. If they come in stock -- I add to cart and check out immediately.

 

I read an article a while back saying that wipe manufacturers were ramping up production but because of the retooling time it was going to take until summer. Think this is legitimately an area where demand has increased severalfold (as opposed to things like flour or toilet paper where it's package sizes and product mix that have held things up).

Edited June 26, 2020 by dtremit (log)

[ElsieD]

10 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I keep my 5 pound bag of onions in the bedroom.

 

 

Are they next to the avocados?

[kayb]

Re: wipes. I did find single containers at WalMart Neighborhood Market the other day. Sign on the shelf said limit 1. I put together a Kroger order yesterday and wipes were available; I was waiting to see if my daughter wanted to add anything to it, and by the time I placed it, it was too late.

 

Re: stocking up. I haven't had a big problem finding what I needed since the early days of the pandemic, when shelves were empty of lots of stuff. The freezer, of course, is mostly empty, thanks to my recent electrical disaster, but I did restock with some basic cuts of beef, chicken and pork, so we can eat for a while. Same farmer from whom I get all my meat has had plenty of eggs, so there's that.

 

Re: cooking. I have turned the stove on once in three weeks, because my a/c is out. I threw an old-fashioned hissy fit and threatened the home warranty people with lawsuits and BBB complaints and a letter writing campaign to every board of realtors in three states, and it's being fixed today. I have a raft of yellow squash and zucchini from the garden, so will be cooking from that tonight. I may feel led to bake some this weekend; got the stuff to make GF white sandwich bread per the ATK gluten-free book, so we'll see. Farmers' markets are in full swing, so I'll go by there Saturday morning to see what's on offer.

 

Re: dentistry. I was scheduled to start a series of oral surgeries when all this hit, and dentists closed down for six weeks, per governor's orders, except emergency work. I rescheduled as soon as they opened up, around the middle of May. As others have noted, wait in the car until they come fetch you or text you, go in, get ushered directly to treatment room, temp scanned, dentists and techs are clad in all sorts of PPE. I felt completely comfortable.

 

I'm getting out more. I'm still cautious, and wear my mask religiously, but as it appears this is going to be with us for a long time, I'm damned if I'm going to live my life in seclusion for the forseeable future. I wouldn't go to a basketball game or a political rally, but I have gone out to eat a couple of times, and am taking off on a solo trip for a week or so late next month, up in the Appalachians with a friend in a camper trailer. We will likely do little but fish, hike and swim, and it won't bother me if I don't see anyone else while I'm there, but I'm ready for some different scenery. And this is my Saturday to volunteer at the soup kitchen, where I will be reminded, as I need to be on a regular basis, that there are people a lot worse off than me.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, ElsieD said:

 

Are they next to the avocados?

 

No, actually.  About six bags away.

 

[weinoo]

 

Every once in a while, I'll order from World Market - decent prices, and a weird assortment of stuff available. Yes, the salad servers were within this order.

Edited June 28, 2020 by weinoo (log)

[liuzhou]

10 minutes ago, weinoo said:

a weird assortment of stuff available.

 

Yes, I get that Walker's shortbread here in China, too. Strange.

Edited June 28, 2020 by liuzhou (log)

[BeeZee]

Strangely, when grocery shopping yesterday, there were no loose yellow onions. They had white onions and sweet “Vidalia” onions, but I think yellow onions only in bulk mesh bags. And the canteloupes, wherever they have been coming from, have looked awful. At least the stone fruit is OK.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

6 hours ago, BeeZee said:

Strangely, when grocery shopping yesterday, there were no loose yellow onions. They had white onions and sweet “Vidalia” onions, but I think yellow onions only in bulk mesh bags. And the canteloupes, wherever they have been coming from, have looked awful. At least the stone fruit is OK.

 

Shoprite had no limes.

 

[ElsieD]

My store had no buttermilk.

[FauxPas]

3 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Shoprite had no limes.

 

 

Your building really should have une orangerie for you, so you can just grow your own. 😄

[BeeZee]

3 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Shoprite had no limes.

 

The two that I shop at do, must be a bad produce buyer at Montgomery.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, FauxPas said:

 

Your building really should have une orangerie for you, so you can just grow your own. 😄

 

The husband of a friend has his own orange tree.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, BeeZee said:

The two that I shop at do, must be a bad produce buyer at Montgomery.

 

Usually this Shoprite's produce is pretty good.  But indeed there were no limes again today.  I had to make do with Haagen-Dazs and Cape Cod potato chips.

 

[FauxPas]

16 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

The husband of a friend has his own orange tree.

 

 

But you need your own LIME tree, even if it's grown in l'orangerie.   😃

[DukeB]

On 6/25/2020 at 9:46 PM, Jacksoup said:

I pandemic ordered 5 lbs of onions a few weeks ago.  

 

When I was a teenager I worked afternoons for a company that wrote computer software so that farmers could keep track of their inventory and bill their customers. Most of our users grew apples or onions. One day my boss sent me to see a customer in New York's black dirt country (Florida, New York) which is big onion growing country. I was busy figuring out a programming error when one of the "onion guys" told me to hand over my car keys so he could put some onions in the trunk of my car. 

 

When I arrived home I opened the trunk and found a bag of onions.  50 POUNDS of onions.  I bounded the stairs to tell my mother about the big score.

 

Me: Ma, I got 50 pounds of onions

 

Mom: What are you going to do with them?

 

Me: I dunno. I thought maybe you would do something with them.

 

Mom: Well, I can take maybe 3 pounds.  You better find people to take the rest because they will start to rot and I don't want them in my house.

 

Starting the next day I asked pretty much everyone that I knew:  friends, family, schoolmates, co-workers if they wanted some onions.  Sort of an unexpected question from a 16 year old.  Most only wanted 1 or 2 onions.

 

I eventually got rid of about 25 pounds. Sadly, the rest went into the trash.

[heidih]

1 hour ago, DukeB said:

 

When I was a teenager I worked afternoons for a company that wrote computer software so that farmers could keep track of their inventory and bill their customers. Most of our users grew apples or onions. One day my boss sent me to see a customer in New York's black dirt country (Florida, New York) which is big onion growing country. I was busy figuring out a programming error when one of the "onion guys" told me to hand over my car keys so he could put some onions in the trunk of my car. 

 

When I arrived home I opened the trunk and found a bag of onions.  50 POUNDS of onions.  I bounded the stairs to tell my mother about the big score.

 

Me: Ma, I got 50 pounds of onions

 

Mom: What are you going to do with them?

 

Me: I dunno. I thought maybe you would do something with them.

 

Mom: Well, I can take maybe 3 pounds.  You better find people to take the rest because they will start to rot and I don't want them in my house.

 

Starting the next day I asked pretty much everyone that I knew:  friends, family, schoolmates, co-workers if they wanted some onions.  Sort of an unexpected question from a 16 year old.  Most only wanted 1 or 2 onions.

 

I eventually got rid of about 25 pounds. Sadly, the rest went into the trash.

Welcome home. I smell onions! I think we love you

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Shoprite had no limes.

 

All I bought was toilet paper.  Toilet paper does not fit in my backpack.

 

 

[suzilightning]

On 6/28/2020 at 8:14 PM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Usually this Shoprite's produce is pretty good.  But indeed there were no limes again today.  I had to make do with Haagen-Dazs and Cape Cod potato chips.

 

had limes up here in Wharton to spare.  Got John  reduced fat Cape Cod chips and dairy free Haagen Dazs (digital coupon).

[JoNorvelleWalker]

2 minutes ago, suzilightning said:

had limes up here in Wharton to spare.  Got John  reduced fat Cape Cod chips and dairy free Haagen Dazs (digital coupon).

 

So they were out of real ice cream and potato chips?

 

[suzilightning]

On 6/29/2020 at 9:19 PM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

So they were out of real ice cream and potato chips?

 

Nah.  John is lactose intolerant and fat triggers his IBS.

Though I did forget to get him his pierogies and potstickers. He will eat a package of potstickers through the evening as a snack until he goes to bed about 530 am.

 

Edited June 30, 2020 by suzilightning (log)

[kayb]

@DukeB -- Wish I'd been your neighbor. I just grabbed my last package of caramelized onions out of the freezer. 

 

H'mmm. That might be a good use of the Paragon. Plug it up outside and caramelize onions in the big stock pot.

[ElsieD]

We did our big shopping run yesterday.  Our first stop was the T & T grocery store which sells mostly Asian products.  It was reasonably busy but what struck me was that everyone was wearing a mask.i did not see one person without one.   Our second stop was Costco. Maybe half the people were wearng masks despite the fact they were handing them out at the entrance.   GRRR.  Also, I have never seen such a line-up for the cash.  The line-up went all the way to the back of the store, across the back and half way up the furthest aisle.  The rest of the places we went to also seemed to be afflicted with the "I ain't wearing no stinking mask syndrome".  Idiots.

 

[lindag]

I s

15 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 The rest of the places we went to also seemed to be afflicted with the "I ain't wearing no stinking mask syndrome".  Idiots.

 

I stopped in at a grocery in town yesterday to pick up some items to make hamburgers.

At lest half the shoppers wore no masks.  My checker had his hanging around his neck.

We’ve had a recent surge here in COVID cases which I attribute mostly due to all the out-of-state people coming here and not isolating.  It makes me so angry!

My doctor ask that we not come for visits if we’ve been out-of-state within the last two weeks!  But we can’t protect ourselves from the these intruders.  

[Margaret Pilgrim]

We visited a Grocery Outlet near our country weekend place.    DH and I each wore a mask and maintained at least 6 ft distance from other shoppers and store personnel.   Most customers wore masks.   But one old turkey did not, altho they were available free at the door.   We made eye-contact and he glowered at me and made a mocking face.    You have to wonder what pleasure this kind of behavior gives one.   I avoided him "like the plague"!

[robirdstx]

For the last month, our local liquor store has been offering free contactless curbside pickup. They have signs designating two spots as reserved for curbside pick up only. Yesterday, after receiving a text message saying my order was ready, I drove to the shop and both of the reserved spots were occupied, so I parked in an adjacent spot and texted back that I had arrived and was in the spot next to one of the reserved spots. Then I glanced at the two cars in the reserved spots only to find that they did not have a driver in them, only passengers. WTF! When my order was brought out, the clerk apologized for my having to park in a different spot and said “apparently some people can not read!” And most of the customers going in and out of the store were not wearing masks.

Edited June 30, 2020 by robirdstx (log)