Paul’s sister has made the emotional journey from posting on Facebook about “These IDIOTS panic-buying and freaking out over something less fatal than the flu!” to posting on Facebook about “These IDIOTS going out on unnecessary trips and not wearing masks!”
I am getting more concerned about food supplies. The few weeks before everything shut down, I was buying a few extras of things we normally buy, just in case—and I am ALREADY a person who has tends to have back-ups of things. So then when the advice came out to grocery-shop no more than once a week, at first I was able to go longer than that, and even the second trip a week later wasn’t URGENT. But this is because we were using up a lot of the non-perishables I’d bought before things got more serious, so now the week’s worth of groceries doesn’t stretch so far. And shopping for seven people looks dramatic even in normal times when people aren’t looking as judgily at other people’s carts. (I think we need those little dressing-room tags that show number of items, but to hang on our carts to show how many people we’re shopping for.) I normally go twice a week to reduce the drama, and also because food for seven people doesn’t fit comfortably in the fridge/freezer/cabinets.
What is an item you find you’re fretting a lot about? (Other than toilet paper, because I am so, so, so tired of hearing/thinking about Toilet Paper: The Official Mascot of the Pandemic.) The item doesn’t have to be the one that is literally the most important item to have (earlier on, my fret item was “Little Debbie snack cakes”), just any item you notice is generating a lot of personal fretting. For example, my answer is eggs, and we could survive indefinitely without eggs. I like to eat them every morning for breakfast, but I don’t have to, I could eat something else. I like to be able to bake, and a lot of recipes include eggs, but I don’t have to bake, and I could find recipes without eggs, and/or I could find egg substitutes. I like to make Breakfast For Dinner, but I don’t have to, I could make other things, or I could make breakfast things but not include eggs. We have two vegetarians in the household and eggs are a good source of protein for them, but there are other sources.
So it isn’t as if my Fret Item is an important prescription, or formula/diapers, or some other thing crucial to our wellbeing. And yet, I really want to have plenty of eggs, and I think multiple times a day about how many we have left and how I might acquire more. I think about how nice it will be, later on, to just go to the store without wondering how many eggs they will have or how many I can buy. I AGITATE about eggs, so eggs are my current Fret Item. I am wondering what your current Fret Items are.
[Update: Paul found a farm stand that had eggs, and bought me two dozen.]
I am so glad Paul found you some eggs!
My current Fret Item/Topic is Easter. I want it to be Extra Special for my kid because of — all this. But even just a normal level of special would require me to EITHER leave my house and either go into a store or have someone bring things to my car (completely unnecessary items!!!) OR order (completely unnecessary!!!) things only and have someone deliver them to my house. Fret! Fret! Fret!
My secondary fret is hot sauce. Which I have to order online even when it is not The End Times. I have four bottles which should last me about… eight meals. (I have a hot sauce problem.)
My biggest fret item was condiments. Ranch dressing, mayo, salad dressing, mustard, etc. I can go without or recreate all, but those are things I rarely have multiple backups for. (I do have backups for ketchup). But now the kids are home eating sandwiches for lunch with mayo and we were going through it alarmingly fast. And Ranch isn’t one of my very favorites, but when I want it, I like to be able to obtain it and now I can’t. (I bought a large bottle of ranch last week)
And then today I was musing about buying a soda machine so I can make soda at home because we don’t have much soda. (No one in this house drinks soda regularly, and I dislike carbonation so whyyyyyyy am I fretting about soda?!).
I had a dream the other night that I took a babysitting job and the family had at least 10 different kinds of ketchup. Different brands, flavors, all types. Kinds I had never seen before. Which is somewhat odd, because I know a lot of people are staunchly One Brand of Ketchup types.
For a while, mine was raw chicken. Fingers crossed, I have some in a grocery delivery tomorrow, but even if that doesn’t come through, I signed up for meal kit delivery just to ensure I would be able to get a good protein for my kids without having to venture with them to the grocery store. Currently, flour, which is still unavailable for the fourth week in a row.
Milk. My kids (and I) drink a lot of milk and my stock up from Before is gone and the stores are limiting to two gallons each (and this week they were out of gallons and I could only get two half gallons) and my normal weekly amount of milk is 3.5 gallons. Of course we don’t NEED milk but my life is better with milk in it. I’ve switched over to water to save it for the kids but we are still rationing it.
Where I’m ordering, the limit is for two identical items…. So I ordered 2 gallons of whole, and another skim and another 2%, going that it will stay good long enough for me not to need to order for a couple of weeks.
Milk is also my fret item, so I have purchased some almond milk that is shelf stable as a back-up.
We couldn’t get tomatoes. After three deliveries without them, my husband ordered cherry tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, tomatoes on the vine, jumbo tomatoes, a sleeve of three tomatoes, and maybe one other, figuring we might get at least some. Reader, we got them all. Current fret is: what am I going to do with all these tomatoes? We are on Day 32 (but who’s counting) of lockdown.
Smitten Kitchen slow-roasted tomatoes are so yummy! https://smittenkitchen.com/2008/08/slow-roasted-tomatoes/
This made me laugh!! Hope you find lots of delicious uses for all your tomatoes :)
I found that they can can cut, chop, dice them up and freeze them (I usually just use baggies). then they work great for sauces and soups.
Chetna has a lovey chicken curry recipe that will use up 4 tomatoes. It’s linked on smitten kitchen too.
https://youtu.be/AcZuZgLNgTI
I would also make tacos.
I have zero tomatoes and this is what I want to make. I don’t need to make it. But I want it because we have no tomatoes!
I am going to the store tomorrow because we need many of the things. I don’t want to go. We haven’t been in nearly 2 weeks. Of course everyone the FB is all “supposed to peak now, stay home for Reals this time.” And I’m all, pound sand I’ve BEEN HOME and am now out of things and this peak is because you idiots have been Gadding about the whole time I’ve been home.
Gggggrrrrrrrr. Also I walk most places most of the time I am usually one of very very few who do. All of a sudden, though, EVERYONE here us a WALKER and a ridiculously inconsiderate walker at that.
Ggggrrr again.
Mine is ice cream. We are well stocked! But still. It is a thing I really look forward to at the end of each day. There is no acceptable substitute! My husband is currently doing the grocery shopping to avoid extra risk for me because I am pregnant, so I am beholden to his (heavily dictated by me) choices.
CHEESE. I mean, a person can live without cheese, but who wants to do that? And in my particular house of five stir-crazy, varying levels of picky eaters…cheese makes so many meals palatable enough for all. Of course we have strong cheese preferences also, and while any cheese is better than no cheese…some cheeses are harder to do without. The word “cheese” has started to look like nonsense characters rather than a word, so I will stop now, and trust that the supply chain issues will get straightened out soon enough.
My favorite coffee creamer. I have one cup every morning and only like one kind of creamer. Will it be the end of the world? No. Does it break my heart a little? Yes.
Eggs seem like a great example of the whole “it’s not hoarding, it’s genuine extra need/use.” They are really, REALLY hard to find here right now, and it’s NOT BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE HOARDING EGGS- that makes no sense. What does make sense is extra baking, and extra need for quick/easy meals for extra people who would probably not be eating eggs normally. ANYWAY.
I am concerned about dog food. We are nearly out, and I JUST went to the store (they didn’t have the kind our dog eats), and I’m increasingly reluctant to go to the store. I’m wondering if Petsmart/Petco is a better option (less crowded?). Obviously our dog would HAPPILY eat people food if necessary, but that’s the Supply Fret that’s currently top of mind.
Someone on my area’s NextDoor was singing the praised of Petsmart, which let her order online and then brought it out to her car.
I am a Chewy person ever since I switched to food that meets WASVA standards (I had fallen for the whole grain-free thing), which turned out to be timely, given that I would have a hard time justifying going to our local doggie boutique during the pandemic.
Meanwhile, I am baking my brains out, and I can’t find molasses. I am pretty sure that if we were having a contest for pointless obsessions here, I would win because I only need it for baking, and I only need it for baking particular things.
But somehow I am convinced that I need to make ginger cookies and have them with tea.
(What I really want is for my 91-year-old mother to stay home and get her freaking groceries delivered)
Oh, I hadn’t thought of Chewy, thank you!!
Chewy is warning of extended shipping times (7-10 days extra?) but that doesn’t seem to be actually true- my recent order was already shipped the next day. But head’s up that you may want to place an order now.
My last fret item was cat litter, because our elderly cat will only use one particular kind and last time I tried to substitute he started peeing on our bedroom carpet. But I managed to get enough for a few weeks, so now I’ve moved onto fretting about asthma inhalers (everyone in this house but me has asthma), even though we have enough of those for 2-3 months. I hope.
Oh same here! We have three cats and use a large amount of litter but they really only like one kind and since I would prefer not to have them spite pooping everywhere in the house it’s important to get that kind. The stores were out for a couple of weeks and I was alarmed. The next time it was in stock we got enough for a month because I’m so concerned about it. I never imagined I’d spend so much time in my life thinking about cat litter. SIGH
Rice! Rice of any kind is a huge commodity here. And I just want the Knorr Chicken flavored or Spanish style mix. CANNOT FIND IT ANYWHERE.
Yes, I can make my own. Shush. (lol)
It’s rice here, too. My personal rice-peculiarity is different, though: I don’t care for the flavor or texture of plain white rice — which is all that we’ve been able to find for a month — and really only like jasmine rice. Basmati in a pinch, but really jasmine. It’s silly, but I miss it so much.
Have you tried the indian grocery store?
Rice is also my fret item. I can’t find it anywhere and my kids eat a lot of rice.
Pasta is also seemingly limited.
I am awash in food frets. None of them are dire (my two-person household has enough food stocked up), but I sure am spending a lot of time thinking about how and when to restock the fridge. I used make a meal plan for the week and just, like, GO to the store, where I could get 95% of the items on my list and not feel terror about my health and that of my fellow shoppers. Now I am placing online orders for pickup at my local co-op grocery, which switched to that model exclusively last week. I am very appreciative of their bold move, but the execution has been … um, keeping me on my toes. What day will my order be ready? What items will actually be available? Will I get the pickup notification? Who knows.
My main fret item is milk. I don’t drink that much of it, but my husband does, and he’s been kind of a pain in the neck about the fact that this extremely perishable, extremely in-demand item has been totally out of stock.
We also stocked up early and I have chronic just-in-case tendencies at Costco anyway, so the food hasn’t gotten toooo fretty just yet. I am a little anxious about beans; we are a vegetarian family and eat a LOT of black beans and chickpeas and they were low for a while. That supply issue seems to have calmed down, though.
I’m sure shopping for seven is rough. I had a very full cart at Wegmans and wished for a sign on my back that said “two teenagers at home, leave me alone!” I have trouble even envisioning how much five teenagers can eat.
thanks to all of you buying milk and cheese. I live in Wisconsin and the lowered demand for milk has made already stressed farmers have to dump their milk as there is no where to deliver it to be processed. With schools out, that is a huge source of milk usage. so please keep buying what you can.
It’s absolutely absurd, but I’m fretting about fresh berries. Since my son was born I’ve developed a penchant that’s borderline an addiction for raspberries. I eat them every weekday morning and most weekend mornings with my yoghurt and granola. And they don’t last. Even if I bought more than one punnet it wouldn’t help, they wouldn’t keep. But frozen just aren’t the same. And I’m fully aware it doesn’t matter and I could manage without or use a different fruit, but I’m sad about having to forgo one of the little pleasures that makes life trapped in a cottage with a baby, a four year old and a stressed anxious adult man working from home more bearable.
Also, my last online shop didn’t provide the mini foil wrapped eggs for my daughter’s Easter egg hunt. So I either have to abandon that idea or leave the house before Sunday. But we don’t really need all that much yet! We’ll need fresh bread and more fruit and veg by then, but we’re well stocked up on everything else.
Milk. Always milk. Forever milk. I mean, we can obviously live without it, but we use it for baking and cooking and my kids drink a ton of it. There is plenty at the store, but I’ve set a hard line that we will not grocery shop more than once a week. I’d like to make it once every two weeks, but our capacity to store that much food is the limiting factor, so once a week only. Will my kids pace themselves? Not yet. It’s been almost a month of social distancing and every week we run out of milk first because certain family members (ahem Oldest) will not stop pouring themselves massive 16 oz glasses of milk 2 days before the week is over. SIGH.
Like you, I feel anxious about loading a grocery cart for 7-9 days worth of food for six people. My aunt suggested a note on the cart about how many people I have to feed. Haven’t done that yet though. Flour is fretty for us, right now, because we already make bread almost every day, and we had plenty, our home stores of that are dwindling. Also, eggs. We didn’t get any from our farm delivery this week (oversight on order), and we’ve gone a week without them, but I don’t want to go two… Sigh. We still have plenty to eat, but having good easy stuff makes this a lot easier.
I haven’t seen a note yet, but I DID see someone wearing a “family of six” t-shirt the other day!
Last time I made two trips through the store to avoid the ugly looks (I’m not hoarding – I have 6 at home!) and because the cart wasn’t big enough. First time all the dry goods. Check out, load the car and went right back in for frozen and produce. I didn’t feel like it added time or exposure and made the cart more manageable.
My fret items have largely been fresh foods like milk, eggs and vegetables. What’s helped me feel better is tracking down what small local stores/farms/restaurants are selling these things for pick up – they generally cost more than from my normal grocery store, but they are available!
My mild fret item is yeast. I know I can make it (saw how to online). I know I could also start a sourdough starter. But I just would prefer the ‘normal’ yeast that I always use. Yeast is one of those things I always have even when we aren’t in *these times* but I’m on my last jar.
Swistle…unsolicited advice follows….please skip as needed….
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Have you thought about getting chickens? I don’t know much about chickens really but theoretically they could be a semi-fun quarantine project (the bigger kids could design and build a chicken run???) and by your descriptions of your new house, it sounds like you have lots of space around you. Maybe this is a very bad idea for your circumstances/location so feel free to dismiss. I can imagine you becoming very attached to the chickens and enjoying the process of picking names for them :)
BUT – if you can get eggs from a nice local farm stand, then I guess starting your own chicken project seems much less appealing.
There is actually a run on chickens, if you can believe it, people have tried this solution. But chicks take a while to get to laying age (months).
WE ARE OF ONE MIND. I have been half-wanting chickens ANYWAY, so then when there were no eggs to be had for awhile, I RUED not having already established some chickens, and wondered if someone local could be hired to build us a coop. And then I just saw an article saying that chicks are SOLD OUT this spring, because of all the people trying to solve the egg problem!!
I don’t wish to sound braggy, but we have two chickens, and we never want for eggs. And there’s FIVE of us, at least two of whom eat eggs daily, and I bake. We used to have six chickens, and had so many eggs I was forced to give some away. What I’m saying is, everyone who enjoys eggs and has a little space should have chickens! They are not hard. Very self sufficient. And these two that we have even allow our two-year-old to pet them, and they follow the two-year-old and seven-year-old around as they play in our backyard.
We have 25-ish chickens, and put 42 eggs in the incubator a week ago. So – we will have chicks in a few weeks. Hens for eggs, roosters for meat. All about self sufficiency here in the boonies. We do sell eggs to friends and neighbors. 12-18 eggs a day is an awful lot.
2nd 3rd 4thing all the chicken recommendations- when you can find some chicks in stock, get them! They won’t need a coop right away. And they will eat all the vegetable and fruit scraps from your kitchen- very gratifying. A couple recommendations: 1. look into what breeds are adapted for your climate. 2. Get all the same breed so you can’t tell them apart because 3. when one dies it’s upsetting and same reason 4. don’t name them. I know names are your thing but it’s better to just have The Chickens. They are not pets, only cute n’ fluffy scrap eating egg laying machines.
My mom has a sick chicken right now and is Very Sad. She doesn’t name them, but when you only have a few you can easily tell them apart anyway, I mean, my mom can look at an egg someone else brought into the house and know which chicken laid it, that’s how well you get to know a small flock.
Even without egg shortages, I second the idea of getting chickens. When I lived on a large rural property we had four and I loved having them so much. There are few things as soothing as watching the chickens scratching around making their little cooing noises to each other. Ours were acquired for the kids’ school’s ‘Ag Day’ for which they had to raise an animal (the perils of country schools) and the chickens were far easier than lambs, calves and kids.
When we moved into town the chickens had to go (to good homes, I hasten to add) but I mourn them still.
Flour. And I’m not fretting because we don’t have any but because we have too much! Just before our country went into lockdown for four weeks I bought flour from one of our local bulk suppliers. I always get our flour there because I prefer it for baking bread and usually get 2 or 3 bags because I hate having to go back to that store with the kids. This time I got 4 bags because I wanted to be prepared. Now there’s a shortage of flour in supermarkets because everyone has suddenly taken up baking and the flour mills have run out of packaging for the domestic market. I feel guilty for having plenty even though there was and still is plenty at the store I got it from.
It has just come to my attention that one of my last med refills was for 30 days instead of 90. Plus, it has no refills available which confuses me. Perhaps the new-to-me doc thinks my blood pressure will be under control in 30 days? After 30 plus years of proof to the contrary? Woe is me. I don’t take a ton of stuff, but I like for all my meds to be on the same schedule. Now I will most likely have doc call this one in to a different pharmacy, because my usual place won’t mail anything to me, and I have enough issues going on that I don’t want to drive to town and risk potential exposure. Not that I have anything against death, but I do have some closets I would like to clean out first.
Ohmgosh .. got to that last line and 😂😂😂😂😂
I am amazed by how different these lists are, and the different supply chain issues that are coming up! We are in the rural South. I guess our restaurant supply chains have already started diverting to our local Walmart (the only grocery option), because when I went shopping Sunday, there were tons and TONS of 5-dozen packs of eggs, which I assume would normally go to restaurants. Anyway, I got 5 dozen eggs for $6.50. I hope a similar supply chain realignment happens for all of you soon! Hang in there!!
I am making masks for friends and family and have used up my entire stash of high-end quilting fabric. I can use less nice fabric, and feel that I am providing subpar masks, or wait for a fabric delivery… I am not sure. Definitely a fret.
Dishwasher detergent. We are running to twice a day now and going through the little pods and we have an extra box now but also what if that runs out. I cannot do all these dishes by hand! I can barely handle doing them with the dishwasher.
I was able to purchase eggs from Target delivery (Shipt). It was a little expensive but they had the turkey-in-a-bag that we love and that will last a few days! My fret item was meat as my husband and son eat a lot of meat. So far we are ok but last grocery trip the meat shelves were SPARSE.
My fret is I have asthma and people are drumming up fear about it traveling randomly through the air. I can’t even go on a walk now?!?!
Could you find eggs at a local farm, farm store or house that has chickens and sells eggs? Where I live in the suburbs, there are lots of people selling their home grown eggs. Just pop them in the fridge for a few days and the human hand germs should die. They are also healthier than the store bought eggs. I don’t mind paying more for them than store bought, as feed, shelter, light and heat for the chickens do add up.
1. Milk. Every time I’ve been shopping since this started, I’ve commented to my family that I can’t believe there’s still almost no tp or frozen pizza, but there is a large supply of milk. It was such a relief as my family had just started a milk kick where our usual 2 gallons was running out a full day before shopping day. The first trip I bought 3 gallons and it lasted as long as the 2 had been lasting. Then the next trip there was a 2 gallon limit. So I had to make an extra trip out just for milk instead of extending the time between shopping trips. Now I’m fretting that there won’t be any milk next time and then what?
2. Eggs. Slightly less concerning, but should be more. Previous trips have revealed a short supply of eggs. We live very near a large egg farm, so we know several people who work there and get free eggs weekly as part of their compensation. Still, I feel like if I see eggs I should buy some because they might not be available when we run out. Even our egg farm friends are getting less generous.
The supply chain for milk is already set up for more frequent deliveries because it spoils. If there’s a run on it, another truck is there in a day or two. Frozen pizzas and TP get delivered less frequently normally, so restocking them is harder to make happen quickly if you didn’t expect the surge.
On the flip side, because the supply chain is set up for typical quantities in specific types of packaging, and it’s hard to redirect into a different format quickly, there’s a surplus of the giant rolls of TP for public bathrooms.
Unbleached flour, heavy cream, milk and eggs. We are a family that makes a lot of our own stuff, especially bread and yogurt which we eat a ton of. Normally, I would feel this makes us very self-sufficient. We also eat a lot of beans and fresh vegetables, basic meats. This is healthy and means we are not at the whim of a manufacturer. Right now it also makes it damn near impossible to find the majority of what is on my every week grocery list.
You are a bright spot in general, but I feel extra brightness for you currently. Thank you for blogging through this.
Eggs and acetaminophen are two of my frets. We have and can acquire eggs. They have been available here. Acetaminophen has not. We had “plenty” in before times. I’ve tried to get more to no avail. What I’ve ordered (and not received) was of a strength too potent for our 10yo should he need it, so I was reserving our regular strength for his potential need.
Aww, Paul is a good egg.
(I am so sorry, quarantine is getting to me!)
Right now my fret is whether or not I should go to Home Depot to get some landscaping rock, which at first seems COMPLETELY frivolous and unnecessary, but the reason we need it is because dirt is eroding badly right next to our front steps, and the last hard rain caused a torrent of it to run down into our window well. It looks like a mini sinkhole. I’m afraid the next big rain (due on Wednesday) is going to cause even more dirt to erode and potentially affect the stability of our steps.
So my fret is 1) should I venture to Home Depot to get these rocks to shore up the soil and 2) since I’ll be there anyway, would it be considered rude to also pick up grub killer since local street construction has led moles to absolutely destroy everyone’s yards in our neighborhood?
I’m with you! I have REASONS to go to the hardware store, and while I’m there, why not buy some plants and compost, know what I mean? But that feels like cheating and I don’t wish to be judged.
No such dilemma here: our hardware stores closed this past weekend.
My ex husband and his wife have chickens and beehives, so I get bi weekly supply of two dozen eggs and 1/4 lb of honey. Finally, found a use for him! LOL
We went through a few tough weeks with our grocery stores, the last time I went was over 2 weeks ago, I got shaky seeing how bare the shelves were. I don’t even know why-I was there to pick up a few basics, but we had plenty of supplies. Things have settled in where I live, and most items seem to be available. My husband has ventured out the last few weeks, he said things seem to be coming back into stock.
My biggest fret? I live in Alaska-where we depend on goods being shipped to us. If that supply was compromised? We would be in deep trouble. I also can’t help feeling if things were really hitting the fan, we would be the last priority for any federal help. Less than a million people live in the state, and it isn’t easy to get here. I’m not trying to borrow trouble, but hard not to think about!
Yeast and butter in my city – and this from a Canadian province that has a huge yeast factory and an endless supply of cows!
Flour, mainly. Diapers a bit — we normally cloth but our STUPID Samsung washing machine piece of garbage isn’t working properly, no repairmen available within the parameters of our warranty bc pandemic, and so I can’t wash diapers at present (I can still, just barely, do regular laundry), so that means temporary switch to full-time disposables. We’re ok for a bit, but Amazon is sold out of the brand I like entirely. Hoping for reasonable stock at local stores, but the part that worries me is having to go to multiple stores to find that one item.
Eggs were my worry a week ago but our supplies here have recovered and there are now plenty. Also toilet paper is plentiful. (I am in BC, Canada.)
My fret item is disinfecting wipes/spray. I always kept a pretty good stock of disinfecting wipes pre-Covid but my stock is running low since I’m disinfecting high touch surfaces regularly as recommended. We have a good amount of paper towels so I thought okay, once I run out of disinfecting wipes I can switch to disinfecting spray. But I haven’t been able to get any type of spray or wipes for three weeks now. I’m feeling a bit better since I realized over the weekend that I can make a spray with dish soap/vinegar/water that I think will work. And if I run out of paper towels I guess I can switch to rags. Still, I can’t wait to just have stocked shelves again.
Oh, and we usually use paper napkins but I haven’t been able to find those for three weeks, either, so I’ve switched to our cloth napkins but with five people eating home for three meals a day I’m having to wash them constantly. Blah.
Ugh, mines black beans.
I don’t like very many kinds of beans, but ever since I realized (years ago) I could get all essential amino acids from rice and beans, this has been my go to in times of trial. It took me a couple of weeks but I finally got 2 cans of black beans I am now treasuring.
Soy milk. Specifically the one kind my kids will drink. I usually buy six half gallons a week. It’s challenging to find what I need AND be allowed to buy that many now. I look like I’m hoarding, but it goes so fast.
Some of the usual ones – milk (especially since I like to buy in cardboard 1/2 gallons – it tastes better but it runs out so much sooner!) and soap, which my family is now going through faster (my daughter’s hands are dry and cracked, I actually think we’re taking the hand washing a little far, since we aren’t SEEING anyone she could catch anything from right now). But also printer paper and ink. We are printing more for doing schoolwork at home, and I thought we still had a few reams of paper left from when I was editing and used to buy it in the big boxes. But no, we are down to our last pack. I just bought ink, but it always seems to run out faster than I expect. I don’t necessarily expect stores to be out of either but … I didn’t expect to have trouble getting cat litter either, and any place that could have shipped it to me was listing month-long delays a couple weeks ago. I fear something similar happening with work/school at home supplies.
Finally, I’m super stressed about the new mask recommendations/requirements because while I have plenty of fabric to sew masks for our family, I have no elastic and it’s all sold out. I realize there are other options, including no-sew ones, and plenty of YouTube videos and suggestions, but I think the fact that I’ll probably head out to the store as soon as Thursday is making me fret more about how I’ll be handling the whole situation.
If it helps, I have been making lots of masks, in varying designs, and I prefer ties to elastic. It’s important for the masks to fit snugly and it’s easier to do that with ties.
And I hear the elastic is hard on the ears.
(We are wearing bandanas so we’ll look like cattle rustlers.)
Our grocery stores haven’t been consistently out of specific items. Low on frozen veggies one week, fresh produce the next, but generally if they don’t have something one week, they’ll have it the next. Our biggest shopping change, other than laying in moderate stores of frozen and canned foods, has been to buy twice as much milk and eggs, so they will last a whole week (we used to do a mid-week restocking). It’s hard to fit it all in the fridge, but we also have some shelf-stable milk and almond milk.
Also, we can’t find yeast (the kids want to make homemade English muffins) but I’m not really fretting about it because it’s not something we usually have anyway.
Just out curiosity, who are the vegetarians?
Rob and Elizabeth. Rob is pretty good now at cooking for himself, since he’s been in an apartment at college.
Oh, eggs. I love them and use them so much! Dave (husband) was urging me to stock up on food way before we even got ‘stay at home’ orders (he reads a lot of pandemic-type books and sat up straight when the virus first hit the news). We have two dozen eggs frozen right now and that soothes my egg fret.
Yes, you can freeze them! I do whole eggs, so I just broke them into silicone muffin liners, gently mixed them, froze them, popped them out and put them into freezer bags. If you want to separate them, you have to add a little salt to the yolks (whites are fine as-is).
I love your shopping cart tag idea! I also usually have plenty of back-up food, but shopping now makes me feel very self-conscious. And it shouldn’t, because I’m not taking more than we need. The older woman in line by me (before social distancing and people were panic buying) was scoffing at all the shoppers and gave a side eye to my cart. I politely pointed out that many of us suddenly have several children home during lunch now (five for me), and a normal weekly shopping trip would now suddenly include 5 more meals for several people each. I didn’t mention that my husband was now working from home and my parents needed to spend their self-quarantine with us (long story, but it’s been so great!), so that’s an extra 8 mouths to feed per lunch, plus extra food for the other meals. I had felt like we were being good citizens by having me be the single errand runner from our home instead of sending several of us out, but felt heavily judged. :(
Shredded cheese. We already use a lot, we make pizza at home, quesadillas, etc, but I was a little ashamed at the accumulation of bags in my deli drawer.
My fret item is Diet Coke! I keep telling myself it would be a good time to try to beat that addiction but I have not yet convinced myself.
We moved a year ago, after almost a decade of renovating our first home that we loved, and the ONLY AND SOLE reason for the move is that my husband wants chickens (and goats. A goat, I guess. Singular. Chickens first, though.) We had a lot of big home projects and just two months ago started building the coop and chicken run. It’s a big project, with a decade of chicken coop research and living in a chickens are illegal area, it ballooned. It will be 20 feet by 8 feet. He found a book he liked called Hentopia and is trying to recreate that. I am 2-3 weeks from needing to purchase chickens and now, NOW, after a decade of planning, selling and buying a home, and moving and fixing up a new home, NOW chicks are sold out. Now.
Rereading this makes me want to clarify that the chicken coop plans ballooned to something that would take months to build while we were living in a place where it would have been illegal to have chickens and my husband’s chicken dreams just got bigger and bigger under that chicken oppression. We are not planning to have illegal chickens. The year-ago move was to a place where chickens are allowed.
Late to the party but my fret items are tofu and, up until a week ago, oat milk. We are a vegan household so I guess that’s the equivalent to a lot of people’s milk and eggs? We found a bulk delivery service that used to supply restaurants and started doing home delivery and got bulk rice, pasta and oat milk so we’re sorted for a while now on that front as there was a minimum spend. I feel happy about this because I feel I bought from a business that was in trouble otherwise rather than took too much from a supermarket where someone else can’t afford to bulk buy. Tofu however, that’s low in stock everywhere and it’s our main source of protein. Do we absolutely need it for survival? No. We have other legumes and fake meats for protein. I wish I didn’t have to ration it though.