Help a meal planner out: I’m working on menus for the next few weeks. It feels to me like it’s getting a little easier to shop for food. Is that true for you? Tell me what it’s like to stock up these days, please! How often you go, what kinds of things you buy, etc…
This is so helpful, everyone--thanks! I realize I should've described what it's like here, in Queens. I live about 15 minutes from Elmhurst Hospital, which was the epicenter of the epicenter for several horrible weeks. We were LOCKED DOWN. Since mid-March I've been doing a big supermarket run once every two weeks, and weekly trips to the farmers market for things like meat, apples, eggs, root vegetables, and now, finally, spring produce. I'm lucky to have a baking-supply store walking distance from me, and they wisely started offering 6-lb bags of various types of flour, etc. So I was able to keep myself stocked up.
The supermarket has gone from near-chaos, where I never knew what kind of crowds I'd be in for or what random items would be available, to pretty reasonable on my last trip. The store felt almost normal, really--the PA system still asked everyone to treat the aisles as one-way streets, but they've removed the arrow stickers from the floor and the staff is no longer monitoring that. They're allowing individual lines at the registers, instead of making people form one socially-distanced line at the far end of the store with staff monitoring everyone. Paper and cleaning products and frozen fruits and vegetables seem to be the hardest things for them to keep in stock, so that stuff I grab when I see it. No brand loyalty is possible, still. Last time I went they were in the process of reopening the deli counter, which had been closed since late March.
So things are definitely looking up here. I'm glad to hear you're seeing similar things where you are. As far as meat prices go, my farmers market vendors have held steady and I appreciate that. I was paying a premium already by shopping there (and privileged enough to afford it), so I guess that's why.
I go about once a week, alternating between regular grocery store where all the packaged stuff, cleaning products, etc. is cheapest, and on alternate weeks I do a quick run to Sprouts to restock produce, milk, etc. If I try to go less often, I overstock on perishables and they perish in my fridge. In the past month I've rarely had trouble finding anything here in the PHX suburbs and prices seem pretty normal.
Also in Maryland, we're still going out to shop (and missed out on ordering organic grass fed beef from a local farm because the shares sold out in a flash). We've been avoiding frequent Costco runs so mostly relying on TJs, local grocery chains, and a small grocery that has good weekly specials. Flour (both AP and bread) has been easiest to find at the small grocery of late -- still difficult most other stores.
For many weeks, I had too much anxiety about access to food to use the meal plans, so I went back thru old plans and pulled the recipes we liked a lot (figuring I would at least have the spices and such already), then I would place some huge online food orders for pick-up once a month. Last week was the first time I did a fresh pick-up order based on the meal plan, so that has been fun this week to be making / eating some new things.
There are still some things we're NOT getting from our orders, including tofu and pork sausage (like to make biscuits and gravy) and easy things for lunches. Some canned goods are still hit / miss. I've not set foot inside a grocery store since February, but my sister who works at a natural food store says things are getting more back to normal.
Everything definitely feels more expensive, especially meat.
I have a chicken and fish in the freezer and some ground beef (not a lot, been hard to get).
I may not do another big food order this month. Depends on how local cases surge. Often my hubs runs into the store while running other errands to get essentials like milk, bread, eggs, fruit, etc.
We shop every 1-2 weeks, usually rotating between Costco, Super Target, and a grocery store. Echoing everyone else, meat is expensive. I'm mostly sticking to hamburger and bulk chicken breasts/tenderloins, and trying to figure out how to make more vegetarian meals (with middling success). The shelves are getting back to normal, but canned tomato products and frozen veggies are still very picked over. I can find dry pasta again, but I don't have much choice about shape.
Produce has been abundant the whole time, presumably because people are shopping less often and thus largely going with less perishable options. I know my family has been eating an almost indulgent variety of fresh fruit and veggies for the first few days after shopping...then it's frozen, canned, root veggies, and the stuff that keeps in the fridge a little bit longer (e.g. broccoli, bell peppers).
Seems almost normal here in Brooklyn. Still keeping a lot in the fridge right now and shopping roughly every two weeks.
Stocked up on new ingredients to try during the craziness. Tried making pad thai with tamarind paste last night. Was pretty meh. Learned some respect for good pad thai.
We are shopping in person about every 10 days. The bills are astronomical, which I assume is a combo of my growing kids, eating every meal at home, plus increases in prices. Stores are unevenly stocked, it feels like there are always some random things that are out of stock. We don’t eat meat.
May you feature African American recipes (meals, desserts, etc?) It would be a nice feature and positive cultural celebration of diverse types of food. :)
I only go to the grocery store once every month or so, but we've gotten into a habit of getting a weekly delivery from a local creamery, which also delivers produce every other week, and locally sourced meat/chicken the other week (which seems more ethical). It drives me a little nutty because I prefer having a plan for what we're eating instead of Google searching "ground beef + kale + radish = ???!" at 5 o'clock every night. I was at the grocery store a few weeks back in Maryland and it's *mostly* back to normal--no scarily blank entire sections other than where the bleach goes--but everything feels so expensive.
We do only curbside. We don't eat much meat, but what we do eat is noticeably more expensive. Actually, I feel like all groceries are more expensive now. We have a 2000 sq ft garden here in the Midwest so we are looking forward to harvesting tomatoes, beans, etc., and pressure off the food budget. We shop Kroger and Aldi pretty much exclusively.
I'm doing curb-side pick-up once per week, and it's really easy to get a window now. No yeast. No real deals to speak of. But getting back to the normal rotation of meals is really nice.
Yes, much easier to shop. Yeast is still hard to come by and meat is expensive. Able to find pretty much everything else. Looking forward to more delicious meals!
We’re either Instacart/going to the grocery store at open on Mondays. We shop at Aldi which is usually pretty limited variety wise but things seem to be getting back to normal.
We eat everything and can easily make all the meals work! Since the kids are hit or miss I make the meals I know the adults will like.
It is getting to be 90+ degrees every day so we are switching to grill or the big toaster oven cooking. Subbing heavy baked for lighter dishes.
This is so helpful, everyone--thanks! I realize I should've described what it's like here, in Queens. I live about 15 minutes from Elmhurst Hospital, which was the epicenter of the epicenter for several horrible weeks. We were LOCKED DOWN. Since mid-March I've been doing a big supermarket run once every two weeks, and weekly trips to the farmers market for things like meat, apples, eggs, root vegetables, and now, finally, spring produce. I'm lucky to have a baking-supply store walking distance from me, and they wisely started offering 6-lb bags of various types of flour, etc. So I was able to keep myself stocked up.
The supermarket has gone from near-chaos, where I never knew what kind of crowds I'd be in for or what random items would be available, to pretty reasonable on my last trip. The store felt almost normal, really--the PA system still asked everyone to treat the aisles as one-way streets, but they've removed the arrow stickers from the floor and the staff is no longer monitoring that. They're allowing individual lines at the registers, instead of making people form one socially-distanced line at the far end of the store with staff monitoring everyone. Paper and cleaning products and frozen fruits and vegetables seem to be the hardest things for them to keep in stock, so that stuff I grab when I see it. No brand loyalty is possible, still. Last time I went they were in the process of reopening the deli counter, which had been closed since late March.
So things are definitely looking up here. I'm glad to hear you're seeing similar things where you are. As far as meat prices go, my farmers market vendors have held steady and I appreciate that. I was paying a premium already by shopping there (and privileged enough to afford it), so I guess that's why.
Definitely easier- everything is back in stock, more or less, though prices are higher. I shop weekly, in a mask, and that’s it for outings though
I go about once a week, alternating between regular grocery store where all the packaged stuff, cleaning products, etc. is cheapest, and on alternate weeks I do a quick run to Sprouts to restock produce, milk, etc. If I try to go less often, I overstock on perishables and they perish in my fridge. In the past month I've rarely had trouble finding anything here in the PHX suburbs and prices seem pretty normal.
Also in Maryland, we're still going out to shop (and missed out on ordering organic grass fed beef from a local farm because the shares sold out in a flash). We've been avoiding frequent Costco runs so mostly relying on TJs, local grocery chains, and a small grocery that has good weekly specials. Flour (both AP and bread) has been easiest to find at the small grocery of late -- still difficult most other stores.
For many weeks, I had too much anxiety about access to food to use the meal plans, so I went back thru old plans and pulled the recipes we liked a lot (figuring I would at least have the spices and such already), then I would place some huge online food orders for pick-up once a month. Last week was the first time I did a fresh pick-up order based on the meal plan, so that has been fun this week to be making / eating some new things.
There are still some things we're NOT getting from our orders, including tofu and pork sausage (like to make biscuits and gravy) and easy things for lunches. Some canned goods are still hit / miss. I've not set foot inside a grocery store since February, but my sister who works at a natural food store says things are getting more back to normal.
Everything definitely feels more expensive, especially meat.
I have a chicken and fish in the freezer and some ground beef (not a lot, been hard to get).
I may not do another big food order this month. Depends on how local cases surge. Often my hubs runs into the store while running other errands to get essentials like milk, bread, eggs, fruit, etc.
We shop every 1-2 weeks, usually rotating between Costco, Super Target, and a grocery store. Echoing everyone else, meat is expensive. I'm mostly sticking to hamburger and bulk chicken breasts/tenderloins, and trying to figure out how to make more vegetarian meals (with middling success). The shelves are getting back to normal, but canned tomato products and frozen veggies are still very picked over. I can find dry pasta again, but I don't have much choice about shape.
Produce has been abundant the whole time, presumably because people are shopping less often and thus largely going with less perishable options. I know my family has been eating an almost indulgent variety of fresh fruit and veggies for the first few days after shopping...then it's frozen, canned, root veggies, and the stuff that keeps in the fridge a little bit longer (e.g. broccoli, bell peppers).
Seems almost normal here in Brooklyn. Still keeping a lot in the fridge right now and shopping roughly every two weeks.
Stocked up on new ingredients to try during the craziness. Tried making pad thai with tamarind paste last night. Was pretty meh. Learned some respect for good pad thai.
We are shopping in person about every 10 days. The bills are astronomical, which I assume is a combo of my growing kids, eating every meal at home, plus increases in prices. Stores are unevenly stocked, it feels like there are always some random things that are out of stock. We don’t eat meat.
May you feature African American recipes (meals, desserts, etc?) It would be a nice feature and positive cultural celebration of diverse types of food. :)
I only go to the grocery store once every month or so, but we've gotten into a habit of getting a weekly delivery from a local creamery, which also delivers produce every other week, and locally sourced meat/chicken the other week (which seems more ethical). It drives me a little nutty because I prefer having a plan for what we're eating instead of Google searching "ground beef + kale + radish = ???!" at 5 o'clock every night. I was at the grocery store a few weeks back in Maryland and it's *mostly* back to normal--no scarily blank entire sections other than where the bleach goes--but everything feels so expensive.
Meat is scarce, prices insane. Most everything else has stabilized (except toilet paper, still hard to find that too)
We do only curbside. We don't eat much meat, but what we do eat is noticeably more expensive. Actually, I feel like all groceries are more expensive now. We have a 2000 sq ft garden here in the Midwest so we are looking forward to harvesting tomatoes, beans, etc., and pressure off the food budget. We shop Kroger and Aldi pretty much exclusively.
I'm doing curb-side pick-up once per week, and it's really easy to get a window now. No yeast. No real deals to speak of. But getting back to the normal rotation of meals is really nice.
Yes, much easier to shop. Yeast is still hard to come by and meat is expensive. Able to find pretty much everything else. Looking forward to more delicious meals!
We’re either Instacart/going to the grocery store at open on Mondays. We shop at Aldi which is usually pretty limited variety wise but things seem to be getting back to normal.
We eat everything and can easily make all the meals work! Since the kids are hit or miss I make the meals I know the adults will like.
It is getting to be 90+ degrees every day so we are switching to grill or the big toaster oven cooking. Subbing heavy baked for lighter dishes.