I was going to talk about Weight Watchers today but it seems we have bigger fish to fry…
Here in NYC, I haven’t felt the need to go coronavirus shopping—but I generally keep enough dried beans & grains & frozen vegetables & frozen meats on hand that I’m not sweating it too much. But if you’ve got more on-hand than usual now, I wrote a quick article for The Spruce Eats about how to cook with all that great stuff, keeping in mind which items are likely to spoil soonest.
Have you stocked your pantry/fridge/freezer with enough food to stay quarantined for a few weeks (if necessary)? What did you buy? How are you planning to use it?
I looked at epicurious' pandemic meal plan and it definitely isn't as easy family friendly as the one you wrote. Even though I've wanted to eat their Antipasto Pasta since I read it.
In Italy they can go out for groceries, so unless we actually *have* covid19, we'll probably be able to go out for a quick grocery run. If we do get it, we have crackers and rice and chicken broth. Some pedialiyte and plenty of Tylenol. 3/4 of us aren't in a high risk category and my son's asthma doc made sure we were well stocked after his Walking Pneumonia DX on Monday.
Otherwise my husband has been saying we need to "eat out of the freezer" all winter so he'll be glad to eat it up. Pizzas, chicken, venison, random soups and sauces. We'll eat weird stuff but we won't starve!
I stocked up on all the beans and pasta and canned goods, but also baking supplies because if I'm stuck at home I know I'll want to bake all the things.
We have a freezer plus a fridge/freezer in our basement. Sarah (my wife) went through the basement stash of canned goods a month ago and threw out the really old stuff. We still have probably 2 months worth of food in our various stashes as long as we don't lose electricity. We have been trying to cook with everything in the house anyway just to use up existing stuff before we buy more. With evaporated milk (plus sweetened condensed for that all important Vietnamese coffee) we can really survive for a while. Given that we live in a house in a semi-rural area we are not subject to apartment dwelling restrictions and may not be typical of this list.
That said, pasta, dried beans, coffee, frozen meat, various canned tomatoes, frozen bread seem to be the things that are most useful. The frozen venison (from a hunter friend), plus 20 cups of veal stock (organic, non-torture veal) may not be typical either.
Hello! (a bit of a cross-post from the message under the weekly plan) Debbie, I am so excited we have comments now. I found myself wanting to chat with this community and now it's possible. Thank you!
I have an auto-immune disease so eat AIP compliant meaning no grains and no nightshades. In addition, I prefer to eat veg, though will eat fish a couple of times a week. AND, on top of all of that, I'm feeding 4 teenagers (and a husband). So, I use your's brilliant meal plans with modifications. I'll list them here each week as inspiration for other AIP or veg folks.
I just checked my pantry and am going to make a quick Sams run this morning. I need oils - olive oil and avocado oil. Definitely don't want to run low on oils.
I think I'll make a quadruple batch of the Oven Baked Beef meatballs from epicurious (a Debbie recommendation months ago) and freeze them. I'll use ground turkey instead of Beef. And, a big batch of beet falafel sliders.
Stay healthy. Stay home. Cook. Craft. Take that online course. Paint that extra bedroom. Love. Stay home. Fingers crossed we flatten the curve!
We did a Costco run to stock up on tuna, boxed mac & cheese, fish sticks, nut butter, quinoa, rice, marinara sauce, and frozen fruits for smoothies. I love the idea of having lots of baking supplies on hand! Usually in our emergencies we don't have power (we live in FL!) so baking isn't an option. Not food related, but I'm also stockpiling books for myself and my kids, plus art supplies. the thought of being stuck at home with a toddler and 1st grader is a bit terrifying...
I cleaned out my pantry last week and got rid of all expired foods (it had been a while) so I could assess what I actually have. Every week while shopping, I've been buying a few extra staples like canned tomatoes, dried pasta, rice, beans, etc. My local grocery was wiped out of lentils and most beans this week! I also have enough in my freezer to last a few weeks of dinners easily. We shop at BJs weekly also so we always have a stash of paper towels, toilet paper, and my kids' favorite snacks. We would definitely be able to go a few weeks without shopping. My kids would be fine as long as we have Easy Mac and chicken nuggets (and we do). I also bought flour and yeast so I can make bread if I need to -- that and milk are the perishables we go through the quickest.
I'm in Westchester, so have been slowly building my stash as we prepare for possible quarantine (we have quarantined families/staff at my kid's elementary school). I've got ravioli (4 boxes), turkey chili (1-2 meals), split pea soup, frozen fruits and frozen vegetables and stuff for making stock/soup, frozen bacon, frozen chicken breasts, frozen ground turkey. I've got pantry: pasta, beans, chickpeas, rice, canned clams. I have flour, self-rising flour, sugar, extra yeast, butter and eggs for baking (although the eggs we'd probably go through faster than I'd like). For other refrigerated but longer lasting proteins, I bought salt cod (for cod cakes/bacalao), bought my corned beef early (it will go on sale after St. Paddy's and be a good deal to stock up on then), I have turkey pepperoni, lots of cheese. Tofu also usually has a far out expiry date so I have some Tofu too. Also I have plenty of spices/jarred stuff to help stave off boredom when meals get repetitive.
I looked at epicurious' pandemic meal plan and it definitely isn't as easy family friendly as the one you wrote. Even though I've wanted to eat their Antipasto Pasta since I read it.
In Italy they can go out for groceries, so unless we actually *have* covid19, we'll probably be able to go out for a quick grocery run. If we do get it, we have crackers and rice and chicken broth. Some pedialiyte and plenty of Tylenol. 3/4 of us aren't in a high risk category and my son's asthma doc made sure we were well stocked after his Walking Pneumonia DX on Monday.
Otherwise my husband has been saying we need to "eat out of the freezer" all winter so he'll be glad to eat it up. Pizzas, chicken, venison, random soups and sauces. We'll eat weird stuff but we won't starve!
I stocked up on all the beans and pasta and canned goods, but also baking supplies because if I'm stuck at home I know I'll want to bake all the things.
We have a freezer plus a fridge/freezer in our basement. Sarah (my wife) went through the basement stash of canned goods a month ago and threw out the really old stuff. We still have probably 2 months worth of food in our various stashes as long as we don't lose electricity. We have been trying to cook with everything in the house anyway just to use up existing stuff before we buy more. With evaporated milk (plus sweetened condensed for that all important Vietnamese coffee) we can really survive for a while. Given that we live in a house in a semi-rural area we are not subject to apartment dwelling restrictions and may not be typical of this list.
That said, pasta, dried beans, coffee, frozen meat, various canned tomatoes, frozen bread seem to be the things that are most useful. The frozen venison (from a hunter friend), plus 20 cups of veal stock (organic, non-torture veal) may not be typical either.
Hello! (a bit of a cross-post from the message under the weekly plan) Debbie, I am so excited we have comments now. I found myself wanting to chat with this community and now it's possible. Thank you!
I have an auto-immune disease so eat AIP compliant meaning no grains and no nightshades. In addition, I prefer to eat veg, though will eat fish a couple of times a week. AND, on top of all of that, I'm feeding 4 teenagers (and a husband). So, I use your's brilliant meal plans with modifications. I'll list them here each week as inspiration for other AIP or veg folks.
I just checked my pantry and am going to make a quick Sams run this morning. I need oils - olive oil and avocado oil. Definitely don't want to run low on oils.
I think I'll make a quadruple batch of the Oven Baked Beef meatballs from epicurious (a Debbie recommendation months ago) and freeze them. I'll use ground turkey instead of Beef. And, a big batch of beet falafel sliders.
Stay healthy. Stay home. Cook. Craft. Take that online course. Paint that extra bedroom. Love. Stay home. Fingers crossed we flatten the curve!
We did a Costco run to stock up on tuna, boxed mac & cheese, fish sticks, nut butter, quinoa, rice, marinara sauce, and frozen fruits for smoothies. I love the idea of having lots of baking supplies on hand! Usually in our emergencies we don't have power (we live in FL!) so baking isn't an option. Not food related, but I'm also stockpiling books for myself and my kids, plus art supplies. the thought of being stuck at home with a toddler and 1st grader is a bit terrifying...
I cleaned out my pantry last week and got rid of all expired foods (it had been a while) so I could assess what I actually have. Every week while shopping, I've been buying a few extra staples like canned tomatoes, dried pasta, rice, beans, etc. My local grocery was wiped out of lentils and most beans this week! I also have enough in my freezer to last a few weeks of dinners easily. We shop at BJs weekly also so we always have a stash of paper towels, toilet paper, and my kids' favorite snacks. We would definitely be able to go a few weeks without shopping. My kids would be fine as long as we have Easy Mac and chicken nuggets (and we do). I also bought flour and yeast so I can make bread if I need to -- that and milk are the perishables we go through the quickest.
I'm in Westchester, so have been slowly building my stash as we prepare for possible quarantine (we have quarantined families/staff at my kid's elementary school). I've got ravioli (4 boxes), turkey chili (1-2 meals), split pea soup, frozen fruits and frozen vegetables and stuff for making stock/soup, frozen bacon, frozen chicken breasts, frozen ground turkey. I've got pantry: pasta, beans, chickpeas, rice, canned clams. I have flour, self-rising flour, sugar, extra yeast, butter and eggs for baking (although the eggs we'd probably go through faster than I'd like). For other refrigerated but longer lasting proteins, I bought salt cod (for cod cakes/bacalao), bought my corned beef early (it will go on sale after St. Paddy's and be a good deal to stock up on then), I have turkey pepperoni, lots of cheese. Tofu also usually has a far out expiry date so I have some Tofu too. Also I have plenty of spices/jarred stuff to help stave off boredom when meals get repetitive.