Food in the Time of COVID-19

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food rationing

I’ve officially started to track and ration our food.

Much of this is self-inflicted, given that I will only shop at Mrs. Green’s, whose parking lot has about 15 spots and where only 3 registers are going on the busiest of days. It is my happy place. Yes, I spend twice, maybe three times as much as I would at Stop & Shop, but my anxiety cannot handle a more crowded store, and they have a box of disposable gloves available for use at the entrance. I am often/always the only person in any given aisle. And they let me shop for things I’ve forgotten while checking out.

Last week at Mrs. Green’s, I was able to find produce, bread, eggs (not my usual brand), milk (not my usual brand), and ice cream (woohoo!). I snagged 4 rolls of toilet paper (max allowed, thank you kind store for rationing), and the last 2 cans of chickpeas (no other canned beans to be found). No frozen veggies, no hummus, no lox, no cream cheese, no medium roast coffee beans, no tuna, no canned tomatoes, no shredded cheese (which means no taco night yet again). Similar to that feeling I got as a kid when I found Guess jeans in my size at the bottom of the pile on sale at JC Penny, I get a high when I find a favorite on the shelves, one that is multiplied at home – “I found Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream!” (Cheers all around).

Over the past week, I’ve also become an expert on delivery options. FreshDirect and Amazon/Whole Foods have tested my patience. Even with my $70 upgrade on FreshDirect, I haven’t been able to land a delivery slot despite trying about 348 times. With Whole Foods, at every refresh, I’m alerted that items in my carefully crafted cart are out of stock and therefore deleted. In a panic over Passover, I snagged matzo, soup mix, and gefilte fish on regular Amazon, bypassing the crazy Whole Foods delivery mess altogether. And last week, I placed an order from Baldorfood.com, a restaurant supplier that is now doing home delivery. We loved our bags of oranges, giant tubs of beans, pounds of shredded cheese, and 4 dozen bread rolls.

The kids are baffled about our incessant food discussions considering our fully stocked fridge. Yet it has taken over as our main topic of conversation. What’s for dinner, how many cans of black beans are left, when can I ever have Milanos again? What can we concoct using carrots, cheese, and frozen puff pastry? When should we fire up our last frozen pizza?

We’re slowly introducing the concept of rationing with our kids. They’re on their own for lunch, since work hasn’t stopped for us at home. We remind them almost daily to spread out their use of the food in the freezer, as their favorites are hard to come by. Leftovers are now sought-after rewards because they don’t require preparation (that seems to be a theme among my friends, the new-found ability to eat rather than toss leftovers). And when they ask for something, we tell them to put it on our grocery shopping list, but warn them in advance that it may not be available, and to have an alternative in mind. We’re learning to substitute in recipes and to eat potatoes without ketchup (gasp) and make the ice cream last for a while.

Quickly taking over my mindshare in the food category has been disinfecting my food. Surprisingly, I hadn’t given it a thought before I learned that all my friends and neighbors were using some combination of Clorox and Lysol on their groceries. Lacking both, I took to sunshine, laying out all my groceries on the front porch and turning them hourly, so all angles received sunlight, a move that surely solidified my standing as the crazy lady on the block.

This widely circulated video, showing an MD in scrubs spraying Lysol on his broccoli and projectile throwing bread out of its virus-infested packaging, didn’t help. Luckily, some sane people stepped in to calm my nerves, including voices of reason at The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Cornell. I’m still letting things air out (now in the back) but assuring myself that I won’t cause death upon my family if I miss a spot.

It’s been sobering to have to think about our food supply, really for the first time ever, and change my behavior to take inventory of what we have, plan ahead for meals, ration our favorite packaged items, and spend time with each item I bring into the home. I didn’t think I would experience it in my lifetime, and while it’s far from dire, I appreciate the reminder that food is valuable, and there are many people involved in bringing it to my doorstep. And I’m glad my kids are getting the lesson early in life (though I wish it were under different circumstances, or rather, no circumstances).

2 COMMENTS

  1. Things will never be the same. Food in the time of COVID indeed. My kids have discovered left overs for lunch as well. We’ve learned the value of not wasting food and really appreciating things!

    It aint easy, but man, turns out it’s everything.

  2. I know what you mean, and also wish it were under better circumstances, but this is a much needed lesson for me in the concept that things are not unlimited, and waste is a giant shame. Our society is so used to clicking a button to have whatever you desire at your door in 24 hours, the options being limited only by what you can afford, or how much you’re willing to pay. I know I’ll think twice for some time before squandering food or commodities!

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