It’s important to keep up morale during the emergency. One way to do that is food. But what to do when you hit those days when your delivery order isn’t ready yet, your curbside pickup order isn’t till tomorrow, or you just don’t feel like going to the grocery store yourself? This kind of circumstance can lead to a lot of bean and rice dinners, and who’s to say that’s a bad thing? It brings us back to basics, enduring a little hardship in what is, after all, a life and death situation. On the other hand, simple, noble cooking can be seriously boring if you really like food.
I think the key for me is to have on hand a few basic meals that we actually like to eat. That way, we can always make something reasonably appetizing. It’s important to keep meals appetizing because boredom and depression can diminish appetite and you want to keep eating, within reasonable bounds. Food makes us feel good, and it’s good to feel good, especially during an epidemic, because feeling good boosts our immunity.
I also think treats are important. And snacks. Not having these things around leads to roaming the kitchen at odd hours eating anything that even remotely resembles a snack. Creativity is good but it’s nice to have fast, potentially healthier options around to ward off the desire to eat peanut butter by the spoonful out of the jar.
Staying on top of groceries is hard though and the risk of running out is real. Witness toilet paper. We prided ourselves on taking early, moderate action to stock up by a week or two on some basic groceries. We thought this would blow over in a few weeks and then we’d be able to buy more supplies. If that didn’t happen, we figured we’d improvise. And now, here we are.
After four weeks, even with one big replenishment of nonperishables via Instacart, we’re still out of a lot of things. My healthy snack supply is gone. There’s nothing but a not-so-healthy chocolate bar that I’m rationing one square at a time. (Gotta have chocolate.) Otherwise, it’s back to beans and rice, where lately it seems all culinary roads lead. One month in and suddenly, I’m vegan!
Sometimes it takes a major disruption to change the behaviors of a lifetime. But even if it changes nothing in the long run, it gives us a new appreciation for just how important food is, and how much we’ve come to take easy access to it for granted.
I may be bored with beans and rice, but I’m oh so glad to have them when the cupboard is bare and that’s all there is.
Beans, rice, and peanut butter
Thank You for mentioning peanut butter by the spoonful. It’s nice knowing that I’m not the only one who indulges in the essential in that manner. It has been nearly impossible to find a jar of Teddie’s lately. (Great product, imho. Nothing in there but peanuts and salt; salt free is available. Reading the labels of other peanut butters removed them from my purchasing consideration.) Even though I grow several herbs in my garden, I don’t feel like I know enough about them. They certainly offer flavors that boost my standard recipes, which had become too basic and plain. Every year I intend to return summer savory to the garden (wonderful with beans) but every year I forget. Etc. Sometimes, it’s just a sprinkling of grated or shredded cheese that has perked up my own boring dishes. Adding (or not) hot peppers, sriracha, sesame oil, and all the other suspects has been a boon. Sorry if I’m rambling. I’m sort of hoping others will chime in with a few ideas. Even if it’s just which pre-packaged chili mix to use. (One of these days I’m going to get really dangerous and try inventing my own. ) By the way, on the chili front, it was only during this last year that I learned about – uh, oh, I think it was Cincinnati style? – which adds in chocolate to the chili…. (I liked it; it wouldn’t be my regular way of making chili, and my cobbled together recipe needs work, it was a nice change of chili pace.)
baking and woks
I’ve gotten out my baking supplies and started in on baking again (I had been distracted with home repairs for a while, and now that the kitchen looks a bit better….) Nothing fancy at the moment – bread and crackers for now, but if I get my hand on some good fruit some pies will be coming, and if there is a motherhood of unsalted butter at some point I may indulge and bake a cake with buttercream. I did try a butteries devils food cake from a depression-era cookbook. It worked. A bit dry, though. Needed some chocolate sauce to liven it up… just some hot milk mixed with chocolate scraps.
Crackers are an easy recipe, folks – two cups flour, mix in about 8 tablespoons of any fat (oil, shortening, lard, butter), ad flavorings of any type (flax seeds, spices), then add enough water to get it all to hold together just barely. Roll it out really thin – no, a bit thinner than that…), spike it all over with a fork to make little holes, throw some salt on, and cut into cracker sized pieces with a pizza or pastry cutter. Put it on a lightly oiled baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes at 350, or until the edges brown. Crackers!
My go-to simple meals are often done in the wok. Make some rice, then chop up whatever is available and stir fry it. I like that all the prep cutting makes everything bite-sized and easy to eat when done. Lise has a new Asian cookbook so we’ve been trying out some noodle dishes, too, which have been working well. Do a stir fry, add some sort of sauce, and stir in cooked noodles at the end.
If I could only have one pan, it would be a wok.
Meat consumption has dropped significantly – there were stocking problems for a while, and now it just seems safer to avoid food that gets handled too much, at least for a few months.
Anything Goes
After 2 years of little wheat, and a year and a half of nothing carby, no fruit, and no added sugar, that’s all out the window. Not only is grocery shopping FUBAR, I’ve just generally given up caring about anything but getting thru this as cheerfully as possible. So I’ve made one banana bread each week (though woefully without Teddie’s pb on top) and occasional starches. Immediate weight gain followed, but that will drop off when things get easier to cope with and my head isn’t feeling fuller than my stomach. Living like a Spartan does make me healthier, but not happier. Right now, happier is more important.