How's your pantry doing?

Blessings Darlings!

Food is no longer FLYING off the shelves in the grocery stores.  Most things are now stocked when you try to shop.  Not flour, or the mixed veggies I want, not always toilet paper or paper towels, but fresh foods are now easier to find. 

If you have the finances, it would be a good time to re-stock your pantry. 

Yes, I'm one of those folks who are worried about our food supply.  And our economy.  And ... let's face it, it's fair to say that I'm 'a worrier.'  The fact is that my family has had some hard financial times, and it shows.  And with farmers right now dumping milk and letting veggies rot, because our food distribution system isn't easily switching from getting the food that used to go to restaurants to grocery stores, I see this as a problem that isn't going to go away soon.

And, yes, I think that quarantining the population is the ONLY reliable tool we have against the Covid 19 pandemic.  So I support that being in place, while pushing congresscritters to support the 'essential' workers ... with protective gear and better pay and dismissing the student loans of all medical personnel. 

And yes, I'm unemployed due to Covid 19.  So just maybe I feel the financial issues sharply right now.  But I'm restocking as best I can anyway. 

The 'pantry' is just the regular grocery stuff.  I want at least a couple of months of reserves there, at all times.  Pasta.  Pasta sauce.  Flour. Sugar. Coffee. Canned veggies. Dry Chinese mushrooms.  Soy sauce.  Taco Seasoning.  Rice.  Beans.  Canned tomatoes.  You know - the stuff you can make meals out of and survive well enough on. 

But the 'pantry' is just one part of our food reserves.

I'll post about our 'deep reserves' tomorrow.

Frondly, Fern

Cycles....

Blessings Darlings!

So, I'm slowly getting better.  But now the Chubby Hubby is ill.  At least it got him after we made some progress on consulting projects in the business, and we have enough money to get thru' the the next month.  I'm quite fond of being able to pay the rent and utilities and such you know.  And our grocery spending will only be $100 below food stamp levels.  Whoo hoo!

I even made it to the stores for the 'big monthly shopping trip' yesterday.  I wasn't able to buy everything I'd have liked to (you can check my ideal monthly shopping list here) but I also hit the corned beef and beer on sale for St. Paddy's day and got wine to cook with, all for my $100.  I'm really low on sugar, but, let's face it, until I'm better I'm not likely to bake.  I've even been relying on store-bought cheap styrofoam bread since getting sick.

Being able to rely on the pantry while sick is of course making life easier.  We rely on apple juice when sick - it's sort of a family tradition.  When the Spawn started this round of illness I grabbed another bottle as insurance, even tho' we already had bottle here.  We're opening that bottle today for the Chubby Hubby.  The Spawn, who is working a 12-hour double shift today, won't have to drag his sorry butt to the grocery store after work to help his Dad out. 

Frondly, Fern

Chicken

Blessings, Darlings!

Chickens were on sale this week, whole ones, for a change.  So I stocked up.

This first one is providing 3 meals for the family, which is great.  Baked, then chicken pot pie, then chicken and dumplings.

The next 4, well, that's different.  The Spawn is going to get deep hands-on experience at assembly line cutting, battering, and frying them.  At Popeyes, he worked the serving, not cooking, end of the business.  Here he's watched but never gotten club hand from repeated dippings in egg wash and flour yet.  He's gonna get his rather gooey baptism!

Then all but that night's dinner chicken will get put in trays to freeze in individual pieces, then all will be bagged and labeled and tucked into the freezer to supply meals for the next 8 weeks.

I love it when a plan comes together ... and I HATE doing 4 chickens alone.  So much easier with help!

Frondly, Fern