I've been avoiding trips to stores whenever possible. My reduced lung capacity (which is why I stopped SCUBA diving) makes me an excellent candidate for death if I catch COVID-19, so I just don't risk it. I think the last time I went was two weeks ago, but it was just an in-and-out at Safeway for some rice noodles and Sriracha. I didn't hang around to do any serious shopping.
Which means that my groceries are running low.
Which means I have to psyche myself up for my monthly grocery run.
I was planning on going yesterday, but I had my Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon recipe box to use up, so instead I cooked Salsa Verde Cheese Enchiladas with Sour Cream & Scallions, which was phenomenal...
Then tonight I had Pasta & Fresh Tomato Sauce and Seasoned Ricotta, which was also excellent...
I can only really afford to get Martha's boxes when I have a coupon, so they're a rare treat now-a-days. And a delicious one, when the recipes end up being as amazing as these.
And now that I'm done with my meals-by-mail, I have to start thinking of groceries again.
I started making a list... trying to think of things I really love that can be prioritized by how quickly they expire. Fresh fruits and vegetables are used up in the first week or two... canned, frozen, and dry goods are saved for the rest of the month. Which is to say that my early meals are awesome, then get progressively worse as time goes on. I try to plan my meals so it's not too horrible, but when you can't run to the store for a missing ingredient, it's tough.
Especially when all I really want are cookies.
Every trip to Safeway I talk myself out of buying them because I am far better off without the refined sugar load packed into a cookie. And every time I get home I regret it because cookies are all I can think about and the only thing I want to eat.
So this time they are going at the top of my shopping list, and we'll see if I'm strong enough to talk myself out of it again.
I love comments! However, all comments are moderated, and won't appear until approved. Are you an abusive troll with nothing to contribute? Don't bother. Selling something? Don't bother. Spam linking? Don't bother.
PLEASE NOTE: My comment-spam protection requires JavaScript... if you have it turned off or are using a mobile device without JavaScript, commenting won't work. Sorry.
Atom Entries Feed Comments Feed
What happened to your lung capacity (if you’ll pardon my asking)? I have Type 2 diabetes, so also high(er) risk. I wouldn’t mind so much, but I made a lifetime commitment to my kats, so I’m hellbent on sticking around for a few more years.
Is curbside pick-up or home delivery not an option for you?
We are SO in the same boat. I don’t care about myself… it’s Jake and Jenny that I worry about. I have horrible allergies. I guess decades of drainage into my lungs has ruined them. I feel I always have fluid in there. Didn’t realize it until I went diving in Australia and burned through oxygen really, really fast. I asked my doctor when I had my physical and he said that drainage and age coupled with my non-active lifestyle probably made it so that I’m not as efficient with my breathing. Might be asthma in there too… hard to tell with my allergies. I was going to go to Seattle for a study where they hook you up and put you on a treadmill to measure everything, but it was pretty expensive (and apparently not covered by insurance). And so… I don’t dive any more… and I am extra careful with protecting myself from the pandemic.
Just out of curiosity, do you have all of your estate planning documents completed and current? You can tell I usually work in the legal field, but I encourage this of everybody. In my Will, I have a section that deals specifically with the welfare of my kats. I don’t want any of them to ever spend so much as a day in a shelter. The problem is that two of the three were feral born (mother/daughter, but they don’t know that). One of them was about 3 months when they found me and I was able to tame and rescue her by six months. The other was about 2 years and had several siblings, all of whom I fed for several years. After a while I could pet all of them. My girl was the final survivor and she literally and clearly domesticated herself to me. She was probably about 9 years old when I brought her inside 3 years ago. So, those two are ONLY domesticated with me and will not get anywhere near anybody else. They would be deemed unadoptable at a shelter. My solution is to leave every penny of my assets to them in trust and to direct my executor to place them with a reputable sanctuary for the rest of their lives. Said sanctuary to receive regular donations from the trust fund. Of course, I hope to be with them for as long as they live but it would be selfish of me to not make alternative provisions.
OK, I just hijacked your comments again! This might become a habit because I think you are a very interesting person and I enjoy (most of) your stories.
All my estate planning is taken care of. But there’s nobody here to take my cats. Instead I have people I’ve asked to make sure they get rehomed… which will not be easy. Jenny is terrified of other people. I think Jake would come around eventually.
And no, my small town doesn’t have delivery or curbside pickup. I think I can get that at the grocery store where I shop, but it’s tough to do that because I only buy stuff that’s on sale, and it’s difficult to know what that is because so much of it isn’t flagged in the shopping app.
If you want inspiration for cooking with canned goods, I can recommend https://amzn.to/31TfVrJ – it’s by a British author who spent time living in poverty and is aimed at people who have a very limited shopping budget.
Do you know if there are a lot of vegetarian options? Usually I can’t buy generic cookbooks because most of the recipes are meat-based.
There are several vegetarian recipes in it, and most of the desserts are vegetarian. One of the authors other books is entirely vegan. I have the paperback copy.
I’m also having a hard time cooking with the ingredients on hand, particularly in a healthy way. I too have high blood sugar, which I was just getting under control pre-pandemic with a lot of exercise and little to no sugar. That little sugar has gone out the window due to my pandemic comfort chocolate and the exercise is difficult to pull off in my tiny apartment. (I know I can go outside but it’s hotter than the surface of the sun at present).
Anyway, all that to say I feel you. One small tip that I have, is I’ve started freezing some of my own fresh vegetables and fruit. If you prepare them, like cut up strawberries or broccoli however you would want to eat them, you can place the cut pieces on a single layer on a cookie sheet. Then place the cookie sheet in the freezer until the food is frozen through, then you can bag it and put it a bag or container back in the freezer. This keeps them from sticking together. I don’t think it would be great with tomatoes sadly, but it helps with a lot of other things. It’s nice to have local stuff last a bit longer instead of just eating my frozen bag of vegetables from who knows where.
I also have a small tomato plant that I’m hopeful might bear fruit… I strangely have a new love of tomatoes after hating them my entire life.
On that subject, I just want to recommend this pasta recipe if you have never tried it before. It is so delicious, I could eat it so often if I had more fresh tomatoes. It also takes very few ingredients, although I do recommend you splurge for the real parmesan cheese.