Quarantine Food

I bought some they had at BJ's; our kids live on milk so if we don't use it (HIGHLY likely we won't), it will just become a consumable for them. (I think the brand is Horizon)

I will reiterate I am in CT, schools were let out on 3/13, that's when the hoarding started. It was originally pretty bad wherever you went - no TP (again why the hell people buy TP is beyond me), hand sanitizer, alcohol, bread, ground beef, fresh poultry, paper towels.

Since then our governor closed all "non essential businesses" which wound up not really being much actually, that was last Friday (3/20). CT is coordinating with NY, being so close to NYC; much of the lower western portion of the state commutes to NYC daily, so it makes sense that that half of the state has the most cases right now.

since then I've been in Aldi, OSJL (job lot place here locally), S&S (grocery chain sister of Giant) and BJ's.

You still can't buy sanitizer, alcohol or wipes (clorox/lysol) but everywhere else is pretty much OK. Yes inventory is a bit thin, and there are max qty you can buy, but Aldi had everything (sans TP and sanitizer) - all the fresh stuff you'd want, canned goods, bread, milk, eggs, whatever. OSJL is very limited anyway but had TP. S&S full stock (they were even storing TP in the freezers! I guess people panic bough ice cream too?!?!?). BJ's was full stocked this AM; I didn't realize they had elderly hours but there was still a line of 10-15 people at the regular (non elderly) open hour 9AM. No wipes (I wasn't looking for them anyway, but I did see some old people walking out with them) but they did have Wet Ones (with 4 kids WO's are a staple in my house). Everything else you could buy; stock was thin in dairy (e.g. yogurt and cheese) but everything was there including beef, plenty of poultry. Yes they had tons of TP (again didn't buy any).

I was actually shocked by how many idiots were still buying TP. There is no way so many people can just happen to need TP, yes they were still panic buying. Sad thing is they don't realize that panic buying only creates more panic buying. I've resisted buying any TP (not sure if I've said it but I am the type that doesn't like to run out of things, so I buy from Amazon/Target when they have sales routinely).

I saw a few people with masks, mostly the elderly. One guy had a mask and ski goggles when I went to Lowes.

So again, we are dealing with an inventory system that is JIT and just needs to catch up to demand. Makes me wonder how they will deal with it when people finally completely stop panic buying. They must have controls in the system that account for spikes of demand, not to order more to overload their shelves.

I didn't buy a lot, just enough to stockpile for a few weeks if necessary. I have a lot of Nephews and Nieces to look out for. So I made sure that they would have stuff at my house if they needed it. Mostly it was just really horrible food that I would not typically buy for them. Lots of sodium and/or sugar. But it is stuff that will keep awhile and I do not have to worry about it expiring right away.

I googled it. If I was desperate i might try it. I think my strategy will be to drop in winndixie a half hr before they close . Less chance of it being crowded

Hubby is at our place in Florida with a WInn-Dixie less than a half mile away. They've been stocking at night, after closing, so if you really want to get something, you need to be there before noon, and that is with the store even limiting people to ONE of the "basics" - one pack of toilet paper, one container of Clorox/Lysol wipes, one pump of hand sanitizer, one gallon of milk, etc.

I'm in Wisconsin and actually did what you are thinking of last night at the local Pick 'n Save (Kroger owned store). The store shelves for all those, except for the milk, were totally barren. When I talked to one of the cashiers, from at least 6 feet away, she even said she would be helping with restocking after the store closed and they would have those things in the morning. As an FYI, from what I am seeing and have heard from my husband, the people in Wisconsin are taking coronavirus much more seriously than those in Florida.

Stay safe everyone!

We've got SO many beans - dried and canned. But now what? Been looking at this but a bit overwhelmed: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe...an-recipes What's an easy bean recipe? Family of four - two vegetarians, two committed meat eaters

We've got SO many beans - dried and canned. But now what? Been looking at this but a bit overwhelmed: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe...an-recipes What's an easy bean recipe? Family of four - two vegetarians, two committed meat eaters

What about 2 separate meals sharing the same base ingredients - one for the meat eaters and one for the veggie eaters?

Three bean or Mediterranean soup would work great. The later one just has rotini noodles added. You could have vegetarian soup and using the same base have a version with chicken in it. Chili is great too - vegetarian chili with tofu and a version with beef. I eat a lot of black bean burritos in flour tortillas because it's so quick and simple.

This looks delicious! https://www.themediterraneandish....ato-pesto/ [themediterraneandish.com]

The benefit to reading the recipe comments is the modifications others make. It helps you work with the ingredients you have and can easily get.

Have any of you tried this site or others like it? https://www.supercook.com/#/recipes
It says you can input things you have in the pantry and it helps with recipes.

I make my own pizzas. Probably have 2 cases of pizza sauce, and individual packages of pizza dough mix, plenty of olive oil, and mozzarella. I use a cast iron griddle, then under the broiler for 7 minutes. Change the toppings up also. Then I have plenty of Chicken, eggs, and frozen veggies. I had a whole giant bag of coconut i was going to use in some trail mix i have most days, but didn't really like it so i googled how to make macaroons...wow, then things are good. I like to have a kale pineapple, banana , yougert smoothie, but I will have to reup on those ingredients every 3-4 weeks if i wanna keep having those. Milk will be a problem if things get crazy.

Can you tell me how you get your pizza dough to rise? For the life of me I can't do it right. So I have Delallo 100% Italian Flour "00" Superfine, "perfect for pizza, pasta," etc. The directions say to add 1/2 tsp active dry yeast to the flour along with 2 tsp salt and 1.25 cups lukewarm warm water. Mix together with a fork until it starts to come together, scrape out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 5-10 mins. Then place in a bowl covered with plastic and allow to rise about 2 hours or until doubled.

This is not working for me and it's frustrating. I'm thinking I'm doing something wrong with the yeast somehow? It's definitely active dry yeast. First I literally just added 1/2 tsp to the flour mix plus the salt and water. Mixed. Kneaded. Bowl covered with plastic. It didn't rise.

Then I looked closer at the directions on the yeast packet and it says to activate it to mix it with sugar and warm water. So I did that then added 1/2 tsp of THAT to the flour. Mixed. Kneaded, bowl with plastic. Waited 2 hours and nothing.

Oh my gosh if someone could please tell me what I'm doing wrong!