Octopus Overlords

I just did a grocery run this morning and the frozen pizza section looked like it had been attacked by a flock of hungry badgers. Almost everything else was somewhat reasonably stocked, but frozen pizza is the first hot item this lockdown.

Everything was looking well stocked on Sunday morning when I went. We'll see what it's like next Sunday.

I haven't really dipped into my stocks from last time, although I've rotating through the frozen meats (using old stuff, then buying more to freeze).

Thursday afternoons are my grocery day. Tomorrow I'm going to plan menus for two weeks, since the following Thurs. is a holiday and I won't want to shop at all during that week. I made two-week runs a few times at the start of the pandemic to minimize my grocery trips, and it worked out OK. There are only a few fresh things that won't keep for two weeks (e.g., mushrooms for pizza). If I center it around casseroles and soups, I only have to cook every 2-3 days.

I maintained my hoard of paper and dry goods throughout the summer, so I don't need to restock anything in bulk. I'm good for at least a month on everything.

I have to go out Thanksgiving Day if the store is open. A local food store has a deli and they rotate what they sell each day. Thursdays is chicken & dressing. I want some dressing. But this Thursday is too early. So Im hoping they are open and have some Thanksgiving Day. Im worried how many might be there too. But me and my wife used to drive to the mall for Thanksgiving dinner and I dont recall it being bad. So maybe a local food store will be ok.

I did my grocery trip today and saw that toilet-paper rationing was back in place: one package per customer (so naturally the largest packs were sold out).

This was surprising since I heard that the toilet-paper issues of March and April were due not to actual shortages but to separate supply chains (one for the home bathroom market, one for businesses). I thought they had worked it out in the meantime.

Maybe there has just been runs on TP since the COVID numbers got worse again.

I'd hate to be strained on toilet paper. Fortunately we've bought ahead, so you could say we're pretty... flush.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Wed Nov 18, 2020 2:36 pm

Z-Corn wrote: ↑Wed Nov 18, 2020 2:29 pmI should have bought a still though.

Figure out something soon. Everyone should have a hobby to carry them until March.

Ha! Trust...plans are moving forward for a new hobby. Gonna get my worm bin up and running again too in anticipation of next year's Victory Over Covid Garden. That'll totally be a thing next year, right? RIGHT?

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Wed Nov 18, 2020 2:36 pm I have jugs...

Hell yeah you do!

Z-Corn wrote: ↑Wed Nov 18, 2020 7:15 pmHa! Trust...plans are moving forward for a new hobby. Gonna get my worm bin up and running again too in anticipation of next year's Victory Over Covid Garden. That'll totally be a thing next year, right? RIGHT?

From your lips to Bob's ears...

Hell yeah you do!

Today's 2-week grocery run was nominal. Took a long time, but that's because the damned store reorganized and things are in weird places. The only strikeouts were wax paper (again) and parchment paper...and they have imposed limits on paper towel and bog roll. I noticed enormous freezer cases of turkeys. As a turkey apostate, IDK if that means they aren't selling as many as they expected, or if most people just haven't bought theirs yet.

what the christ do people use so many paper towels for? there are such things as washable dish cloths, kitchen towels and regular old rags, seriously.

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Fri Nov 20, 2020 12:07 am what the christ do people use so many paper towels for? there are such things as washable dish cloths, kitchen towels and regular old rags, seriously.

I should introduce you to Wife. I'm just thrilled when she wipes up anything.

A package of paper towels would last me 6 months. Well, maybe 3, since they're also Polish napkins.

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Fri Nov 20, 2020 12:07 am what the christ do people use so many paper towels for? there are such things as washable dish cloths, kitchen towels and regular old rags, seriously.

Less sanitary. We go through a six pack a week...probably would use less if I splurged on higher quality. The shitty stuff takes larger wads to clean up spills. They also double as napkins, snot rags, and, just a few minutes ago, dog vomit remover.

We have kitchen towels hanging on the oven door handle...somehow they go from too pristine to soil to untouchably nasty without my ever using them.

bucket of cloth rags - use each one once, and they go into the washing machine

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Fri Nov 20, 2020 3:17 pm bucket of cloth rags - use each one once, and they go into the washing machine

Yeah, we keep a roll of paper towels in the trunk of the car for spills and emergency windshield cleaning. Never use them in the house.

You people with your washing machines and your space to keep buckets of things and your not having to drive across town to the redneck laundromat!

or just, you know, a few of these

One Swedish Dishcloth replaces 17 rolls of paper towels. They absorb 20x their weight and are far more hygienic than a sponge and won’t crumble or pill. They air dry quickly, so it doesn’t breed bacteria or smell.

and at the end of their usable life they can be composted. i have a few and they're great

They have a display of those right as you walk into Menards. Can't get past the "Sham."

Went to the store today. Everything seems to be in stock, including eggs, TP and paper towels.
Of course this is one of the days they get restocked.

Paper towels and toilet paper:

I imagine you use those plastic cups similarly to how you use three seashells?

wonderpug wrote: ↑Tue Nov 24, 2020 2:43 pm I imagine you use those plastic cups similarly to how you use three seashells?

You mean the miniature bedpans?

My Sunday trip to the grocery store was pretty typical. Fully stocked (although the broth area was a bit low, but I attribute that to T-Day preparations).

You tell me on a Tuesday that broth was sketch on Sunday?

What am I supposed to do for broth now? WHAT NOW???


(what is "broth"?)

Broth is basically soup with everything removed from it. Soup juice. More urgently, what's the difference between broth and stock?

Not stocking anything as nothing is stocked in stores. Still not finding stuff I like or want. Dollar General has kept losing more and more stuff I use so theres no point in me ever going to them again.

I have a half broth.

If you employ someone to make broth, does that make them your brother?

Kraken wrote: ↑Wed Nov 25, 2020 12:32 am Broth is basically soup with everything removed from it. Soup juice. More urgently, what's the difference between broth and stock?

I dunno but bouillon cubes are for making stock and broth is what is come from meat. This suggests to me it's difference between a base from bones and a base from meat.

I'm sure Izzy will be along shortly to google it for me.

Broth is meat. Stock is bones.

I only ever buy vegetable broth and stock, so meat and bones aren't the answer. The products are interchangeable as far as I'm concerned.

Kraken wrote: ↑Wed Nov 25, 2020 11:04 am I only ever buy vegetable broth and stock, so meat and bones aren't the answer. The products are interchangeable as far as I'm concerned.

That's like saying that you only buy vegetarian hamburgers, so beef isn't the answer. Vegetable stock =/= stock. Without modifiers stock is boiled bones, broth is boiled meat (both sometimes with vegetables or flavorings added.)

Kraken wrote: ↑Wed Nov 25, 2020 12:32 am Broth is basically soup with everything removed from it. Soup juice. More urgently, what's the difference between broth and stock?

I'm only quoting this one because it's the first place where I saw your avatar change.... W.T.F.???? I find the image more than a little disturbing. Is that a child vampire or something? Yikes! (Or maybe it's just too early in the morning for me and I need to finish my coffee.)

TheMix wrote: ↑Wed Nov 25, 2020 11:24 am

Kraken wrote: ↑Wed Nov 25, 2020 12:32 am Broth is basically soup with everything removed from it. Soup juice. More urgently, what's the difference between broth and stock?

I'm only quoting this one because it's the first place where I saw your avatar change.... W.T.F.???? I find the image more than a little disturbing. Is that a child vampire or something? Yikes! (Or maybe it's just too early in the morning for me and I need to finish my coffee.)

It's Bat Boy!

I stock up on this:

I was joking with "what is broth" but now I'm glad I asked.

Stock gets extra flavor and thickness from the bones and dissolved collagen. Vegetable stock is fake stock.

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Wed Nov 25, 2020 11:30 am

TheMix wrote: ↑Wed Nov 25, 2020 11:24 am

Kraken wrote: ↑Wed Nov 25, 2020 12:32 am Broth is basically soup with everything removed from it. Soup juice. More urgently, what's the difference between broth and stock?

I'm only quoting this one because it's the first place where I saw your avatar change.... W.T.F.???? I find the image more than a little disturbing. Is that a child vampire or something? Yikes! (Or maybe it's just too early in the morning for me and I need to finish my coffee.)

It's Bat Boy!

Indeed. Bat Boy enjoyed more than his 15 minutes of fame in the '90s; we even saw a local production of Bat Boy: the Musical. You can see from the wiki how much ink he got.

TheMix wrote: ↑Wed Nov 25, 2020 11:24 am

Kraken wrote: ↑Wed Nov 25, 2020 12:32 am Broth is basically soup with everything removed from it. Soup juice. More urgently, what's the difference between broth and stock?

I'm only quoting this one because it's the first place where I saw your avatar change.... W.T.F.???? I find the image more than a little disturbing. Is that a child vampire or something? Yikes! (Or maybe it's just too early in the morning for me and I need to finish my coffee.)

See that? That's the expression on Kraken's face after he consumes vegetable stroth, that is.

So, last March on all of the good advice here, I put back a meaningful amount of food - about three totes worth of efficient food (high protein, high calorie, easy too cook without extra supplies, etc.) It was early. We were all naive. I planned for six months. It's well past that, so today I decided to do an inventory. I ended up removing close to half of everything I had stored due to expiration dates that have either recently passed, or will in the next month. That goes into regular circulation (while some stuff might be stale, there's nothing that will spoil if it's a bit past the date.)

So, now I'm left with a dilemma: Do I restock? Or do I stay with half of what I originally put back? It's expensive, and it takes space that we don't have (it's seriously a problem.) Not restocking means that we have almost a full shopping trip's worth of groceries that we paid for last spring, saving us a couple of hundred right before Christmas. On the one hand, it's nice having it there. It's a level of security. On the other hand, I've still got half, enough for the four of us to get by for at least a ten days to two weeks, longer if we go into 'emergency' mode. We have three or four days worth of water back, too. And the panic that we (the societal we) had in spring has subsided. Supply lines have changed. I'm less concerned about a run on the stores and not being able to find dinner. Of course, the next couple of months have the potential to be the worst yet.

So, stick with the two weeks, save a bunch of money, and reclaim space? Or bulk it back up?

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Sun Nov 29, 2020 11:59 am I ended up removing close to half of everything I had stored due to expiration dates that have either recently passed, or will in the next month. That goes into regular circulation (while some stuff might be stale, there's nothing that will spoil if it's a bit past the date.)

Expiration dates on food are nonsense; it's a quality issue not a safety issue. Unless you have stuff in cans that are bulging, dented or leaking, they're fine, assuming you're not storing the canned goods at high temperature (like in an attic). Canned meats are likely safe for ~36-48 months after the listed expiration date, possibly longer depending on the person you're talking to and the way they were held.

Packages of other shelf-stable dry goods? I wouldn't be worried about them.