Items

• 
  2020-05

  Food Shortages During a Pandemic

  While most people tried new recipes during the pandemic, what I remember most is the food shortages that forced me to constantly change what I was planning to make and how I made it. I began using grocery pickup before the pandemic, and since I am a full-time caregiver to my mother who is high-risk for COVID, we continued to use grocery pickup as much as possible to limit any exposure to the virus. Unfortunately, this meant that I could not get halfway through the store, realize that I could not make what I was planning due to unavailable items, and put stuff back and try to buy something else. Though I do have the store substitute most items when they can, especially during lockdown sometimes they couldn’t provide any substitutions, which would leave me without one or two crucial ingredients and unable to fix anything to eat. To combat this, I started getting enough food for two separate dishes for every meal, so if plan A didn’t work out, hopefully plan B would. I also started planning for meals that could be used with the same ingredients, except for one or two, and then get both options just in case one was out of stock. Beef and noodles and chicken and noodles would be one example of this, where the main recipe and ingredients are mostly the same, the only difference being the frozen chicken with chicken broth versus prepackaged beef tips with beef bouillon. Due to their minimal ingredients and their easiness to make, these two interchangeable recipes to me most represent the pandemic and what I fixed the most of during the lockdown and food shortages. I have attached the recipe for both.
• 
  2021-02-07

  Kitchen Organization during Covid

  During Covid, I started to cook a lot of different foods that I had never before. I was always cooking simple things with chicken and potatoes mostly, sometimes pasta and other easy dishes. During Covid, I started to experiment with new styles of cooking and cuisines. I quickly found that my small kitchen was filling up with items and ingredients which was causing chaos and disorganization. I bought a bunch of bins to get things organized. For all of the terrible things going on during the Covid year of 2020, I tried to take advantage of the time by upping my kitchen game as best as possible.
• 
  2020-05-31

  FDA Loosens Labeling Rules

  Consumers have seen a shortage of ingredients and food like yeast, beef, or eggs. The same goes for food companies. The article by Food & Wine addresses how the FDA has loosened its regulations on ingredient substitutions due to the coronavirus pandemic. While some of these substitutions may seem inconsequential and even good, like not bleaching bread flour because the bleaching agent is out of stock. Why are we still bleaching bread flour anyways? The issue is how this will affect ingredient substitutions in the future as there is no set end date for these new rules. Wiggle room with ingredients can get dangerous for consumers, and while it may be necessary for the moment, it will have an effect on our food in the future.
• 
  2020-03-14

  Grocery List

  A shopping list... trying to minimize trips to the store, think about what staples we have in the house and how to stretch them. A dramatic change from my usual system of planning what we want to eat and shopping for those ingredients.