I had a bottle of laundry detergent on my last order and didn't get it. Better grab some if you see it.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I wish I could post photos of grocery shelves in the stores I have visited over the past few days. I was finishing up some merchandising resets before they got canceled. They were all health and beauty department, hair care in particular, so there was actually product to move around (for now). Anyway, completely empty TP shelves, packaged deli meats, soups, etc. Ridiculous.

I wonder how long it is before they buy all the shampoo and conditioner? I guess I had better go grab a couple bottles of laundry soap, too.

@MFJohnston wrote:

Hand lotion!

I have at least 50 bottles from hotel shops and ten others, just because I always have that many.

I have always washed my hands at least 20 or 30 times a day, due to my work. You really have to keep ahead of the dryness, otherwise it’s really tough to get back to normal.

For some purposes (but probably not SoCalMama's job) you could wear disposable gloves some of the time and wash them a few times before changing to a new pair of gloves.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/2020 12:49PM by Shop-et-al.

Sanitize the face of my smart phone twice a day. Wiped down my amazon.com boxes and have them in a 24 hour quarantine.

Work wise, sold out 8 cases of steam and UV sanitizers. Helps the income stream as i had them in stock for 2 years and was looking to whole sale them out. Redoing my storage and organizing merchandising.

Checking to see that finally restaurant shops are dropping off. No dine in in Indiana.My MFI search today gave me 10 shops, 5 for April.

When folks are under stress, comfort food is just that—comforting. We are under stress with the virus and the unusual amount of government involvement in our lives to try to keep everyone safe. It probably is the better part of wisdom to cook at home because even take out or delivery food needs to be handled with care in case the preparer, delivery person or even just the person restocking supplies is ill. Remember that the guidelines for take out these days are to remove the item carefully from its packaging and microwave it while treating the packaging as if it is contaminated and do your handwashing.

One of the easiest comfort foods is Mac 'n Cheese out of a box. If the box sits in your pantry for a few days it will be safe to handle. Most of them only need butter (margarine) and milk as extra ingredients. If I don't have milk around I can use a little bit of sour cream and a little bit of water to get it to the correct consistency. Sour cream has a much longer refrigerator life than fresh milk.

Spaghetti is an easy comfort food. The pasta sauces in jars are decent and have a less 'tinny' taste than the pasta sauce in cans. Frozen meatballs, while mostly filler rather than meat, are not too bad thawed in the heated pasta sauce and following the package directions for boiling your pasta is not rocket science.

Stews are comforting and especially easy if you have a crock pot. Carrots keep a long time in your refrigerator. Boneless chuck roast cut into about 1” chunks, a good handful of carrots, a package of dry onion soup mix, a cup of fluid (red wine, broth or even just water), smashed garlic cloves and you have the basis for a good stew that will be ready in 4 to 6 hours depending on your heat setting. If you have celery, potatoes, bell pepper, turnip etc. you can tthrow them in, but they are not needed. Serve with noodles or boiled potato.

Sweets are almost always comforting. Get some slice and bake cookies to have on hand or have around the ingredients you need to make cookies with your family. Make a cake from a boxed mix and amuse your family as you attempt to ice/decorate it. If you have a can of pineapple slices, brown sugar and a boxed cake mix, make a pineapple upside down cake.

Eggs & bread = french toast.
Eggs & leftovers = frittata
Hardboiled eggs = egg salad or deviled eggs or slices on a cobb salad

Most 'comfort foods' are based in carbs and fats so weigh the relative need for comfort vs need for calorie control during a time of relative inactivity.

All I have to say is the OK passed the Medical Marijuana Act a few years ago and since the stepson is hanging out because he cannot keep a place due to mental illness we are keeping him as stoned as possible. We can grow 18 plants because this is his address so that gives us 6 plants each in various stages of growth. Luckily I have taken on the lifestyle of a prepper and we have everything need. The only thing is I was not able to set up my hydroponics farm yet.

My other job is substitute teaching, so I will almost certainly not be back until August.

I am taking on small house projects every day. I'm also pulling out the back-of-the-pantry items and finding a way to use them up. I'm baffled on why I bought them in the first place, but I refuse to let them go to waste. My big problem is I tend to fill spare time by baking and cooking. I need to find a new hobby before I outgrow all my clothes!

I love baking and I always have. Being really busy helps keep it in check somewhat but this is going to be a disaster unless I keep myself busy doing projects. I eat healthy except for the baking. I love whole foods, veggies just baked or steamed or raw. I like making soups too. So I am just going to have to limit my baking.

I wipe down everything. I have two Amazon packages on a two day quarentine. I wipe the screen of my smart phone several times a day.

I ran out of bottled water. I went to buy some at the market on Friday, and they were out.

@whosear wrote:

Work wise, sold out 8 cases of steam .

I am am running out of steam. Where can I buy that? Also in need of blinker fluid.

What do you use puchased steam for outside of a manufacturing plant?

LOL!

I ordered in tonight for the first time, and guess what...Domino's had the best non-gluten crust, great pizza, came in 35 minutes,free delivery, will be doing it again soon.

I am betting that they are baking traditional Icelandic steam bread, Rúgbrauð, also known as Thunder Bread. [en.wikipedia.org].

@HonnyBrown wrote:

What do you use puchased steam for outside of a manufacturing plant?

Being a healthy eater has been dismissed due to my craving for low salt potato chips, one of the few things I enjoy that is sugarless. I stocked up on my Hazelnut coffee creamer, have everything else. Making an appt. for my bank, appt. only these days, bank closed otherwise, and staying in, lots of T.V., computer stuff, joined ZOOM and having a ball talking to everybody, had a mock Passover with daughter, her cousin's and my cousin leading it....went to a memorial service via ZOOM, fabulous invention during this alone period.
Washing hands. wearing mask, doing my share, no crowds. Just heard 6 million filing for unemployment, any of you doing that?

@Flash wrote:

One of the easiest comfort foods is Mac 'n Cheese out of a box. If the box sits in your pantry for a few days it will be safe to handle. Most of them only need butter (margarine) and milk as extra ingredients.

Most 'comfort foods' are based in carbs and fats so weigh the relative need for comfort vs need for calorie control during a time of relative inactivity.

We love "Pasta No Milk," which is what we call boxed mac 'n cheese. No need for any additional ingredients at all. Deliciously unhealthy, it is the epitome of quick & easy comfort food.

Don't buy Kraft-branded products. According to their customer service representative, Kraft has "reformulated" the recipe, and the pasta falls apart even if cooked for less than the required time stated on the box. Velveeta-branded products are a wonderful alternative.

Incidentally, for a money-saving alternative to many "name brand" products, try Dollar General's Clover Valley brand. Coffee pods, non-dairy creamer, toaster pastries, and lemon cookies are all very good CV-branded products.

@Opanel wrote:

Don't buy Kraft-branded products. According to their customer service representative, Kraft has "reformulated" the recipe, and the pasta falls apart even if cooked for less than the required time stated on the box. Velveeta-branded products are a wonderful alternative.

Always treat suggested cooking time as just an estimate. You know the texture of pasta that your family likes. During pasta cooking, check your pasta frequently to see if it is the texture you want. On comfort food I go for very soft pasta.

Last evening I did from scratch mac 'n cheese, stirring in cooked, frozen shrimp and scallops and distributing into individual small casseroles to bake until bubbly, the grated cheese on top melted and forming a few burned bits. The pasta used was Ronzoni elbow macaroni that supposedly cooks in 3 minutes. After 6 minutes it was still not soft. Surprise, at 9 minutes it was the desired degree of softness--pretty much the same as any elbows.

I have tried some other brands of quick pasta, and the other ones actually did cook faster...but I found they weren't hearty like regular pasta. The texture was much lighter and we didn't care for it. For mac and cheese, I too like a soft pasta. Spaghetti I like a little firmer.

I never did buy any more laundry detergent. I still have 2 bottles left in the laundry closet, so I should be okay until at least mid May if not all the way to June 1st. It's not like I am doing much where I need to change clothes and do laundry frequently. Still got enough TP in the hall closet to last for another 6 weeks, too. Sure am glad I bought extra when it was on sale a few months back!

How much longer before people quit panic buying and the stores get restocked with basic necessities?

@CoffeeQueen wrote:

I had a bottle of laundry detergent on my last order and didn't get it. Better grab some if you see it.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I wish I could post photos of grocery shelves in the stores I have visited over the past few days. I was finishing up some merchandising resets before they got canceled. They were all health and beauty department, hair care in particular, so there was actually product to move around (for now). Anyway, completely empty TP shelves, packaged deli meats, soups, etc. Ridiculous.

I wonder how long it is before they buy all the shampoo and conditioner? I guess I had better go grab a couple bottles of laundry soap, too.

I have no idea how long it's going to take for the panic buying to ease up. I was out of everything so I stocked up which took a few weeks with intermittent orders where I wasn't getting stuff I wanted. At any rate, it's not very comforting that prices are skyrocketing and things are still not in stock. I just placed an order to pick up in 6 days. Will the beans make it onto this one? I have no idea. But I actually love pinto beans and they are a normal purchase for me. I've had to get laundry detergent and TP both from Amazon.
I'm also trying not to go out but about twice a month so my orders are larger than normal. I wait until I need salad ingredients and/or dairy.

BTW JAS, my lettuce is growing in the jar of water. Yay!

Ordered some things I needed from Walgreen's like my vitamin. D3, and got an email saying they are out of everything and will go to a second warehouse, but will take 48 hours if they find it.

The complete Messiah On this day in 1742, the oratorio Messiah was performed for the first time at Dublin's New Music Hall, in Fishamble Street. The music was commissioned by William Cavendish and intended to raise money for hospitals and debtors prisons.

These days, our hospitals are needy and we will have to do something (besides lock 'em up) with the likely large numbers of debtors who might get stuck due to COVID-19' increasingly long trail of issues and sequelae.

But just for me, it is irritating that I cannot find my one and only complete version. This is its inaugural performance anniversary and meaningful for today's citizens. And I can't find it!

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah! I mean, I could find it online..

Stock up on red and white meat folks. Several plants have closed across the US. I buy clearance meat and then vac pack. I've already cautioned myself that my crown of being the Casserole Queen will need to be put back on, so as to not rely on solid hunks of meat for dinner.

Old-fashioned type of planner. This old-school tool organizes me more effectively than all my devices combined.

And it doesn't need re-charging!

@Shop-et-al wrote:

Old-fashioned type of planner. This old-school tool organizes me more effectively than all my devices combined.

@kimmiemae wrote:

And it doesn't need re-charging!

@Shop-et-al wrote:

Old-fashioned type of planner. This old-school tool organizes me more effectively than all my devices combined.

I ordered mouthwash, hair spray, vitamin D3, lipstick and such from Walgreen's, and it's taking two weeks to get here...ho hum, they first said 48 hours, but I'll wait it out, I am not going out. Food I have and I observed Passover for 8 days, no bread, finally it;s over tomorrow....but tuna on egg Matzah is a good thing.