topic Re: Thinking outside my norm. Food in Community Chat

Thinking outside my norm. Food

TheMemphisVette — Sat, 04 Apr 2020 18:28:22 GMT

Some of my go to grocery items have not been available. I view what is available and chose from that. Happily the change up of some different items than normal has been good, fun even. I have made things I haven't in years and made things I never had before. I have subbed things in dishes I would never have tried. We have been so blessed with anything we want being available, this is hard for us. But it can be turned into somewhat of an adventure. And in some cases , they are out of the convenience version, but have the regular, ie. shreaded cheese. packaged cut up veggies.

they only had red onions. i have now used them in many dishes calling for white or yellow. also used some dried onions vs fresh with success.

no celery......i cut up water chestnuts for tuna salad. delish

no ground beef.........i ground up a sirloin steak from my freezer.

no lunchmeat........i cooked a whole small turkey. cut it down to sandwich portions, now ready in fridge. will do the same with a ham when the turkey is gone.

no head lettuce....i chose a small pack of 4 types of fancy leaf lettuce......yummy

no fresh garlic.....i got a jar of minced

no boneless fresh chicken breasts.......i got the bone in.....i had forgotten how much better cooked with bone in tastes.

out of size i normally buy........i got the bigger cans and put the extra in a lock n lock in fridge making a mental note to use within the week.....ie baked beans, green beans, etc

no walnuts........i got pecans instead for my chicken salad.......wow

no turkey pepperoni......i got turkey bacon for my pizza....so good.

fresh fruit is hit or miss.......got some canned versions, not a fan but it works.

Re: Thinking outside my norm. Food

suzyQ3 — Sat, 04 Apr 2020 18:32:34 GMT

We're doing the same thing when necessary, @TheMemphisVette

Tonight my husband is making an Asian dish that we like. I had to substitute something for canned baby corn and lo-mein noodles. He, the perfectionist, isn't thrilled. Too bad, so sad. :-)

Re: Thinking outside my norm. Food

SugarPuff — Sat, 04 Apr 2020 19:34:30 GMT

I guess I'm lucky,the stores here have had everything you listed for a couple of weeks now.

Re: Thinking outside my norm. Food

Leggett28 — Sat, 04 Apr 2020 20:45:45 GMT

@SugarPuff Same here.

Re: Thinking outside my norm. Food

Oznell — Sat, 04 Apr 2020 21:06:47 GMT

I love your 'can-do' spirit, @TheMemphisVette . A lot of us seem to be improvising as we go along. Sometimes our supermarket has almost everything, then here and there will be a shortage-- like I wanted a whole chicken to roast with lemons, but there were no roasting chickens one time! Next time there were.

Stuff ebbs and flows, and we're trying to roll with it. Very glad though that the food supply chain is holding, even with some gaps. Those farmers and truckers and warehouse people and grocery stockers, they are hard-working heroes of our time!

Re: Thinking outside my norm. Food

suzyQ3 — Sun, 05 Apr 2020 00:39:20 GMT

I forgot to mention regarding you list, @TheMemphisVette, that we've recently gone back to recipes using bone-in thighs (I know that you listed bone-in breasts). They've become our favorite. No worries about them coming at overcooked and dry.

Re: Thinking outside my norm. Food

Snoopp — Sun, 05 Apr 2020 01:27:15 GMT

Poultry is rationed here, as is beef. I am happy if I can get one package for myself and one for my mother. Whatever they have. One store had no poultry at all.

Re: Thinking outside my norm. Food

tansy — Sun, 05 Apr 2020 01:38:04 GMT

@Snoopp wrote:
Poultry is rationed here, as is beef. I am happy if I can get one package for myself and one for my mother. Whatever they have. One store had no poultry at all.

Same with me, @Snoopp. I take whatever the market has and count myself fortunate. We're having very simple meals. I might drive over to a butcher shop on Monday and see what the selection is like.

Re: Thinking outside my norm. Food

iwrite — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 01:02:52 GMT

@TheMemphisVette

thank you for posting this. i think it will help people that don't already cook on a regular basis.

i've had substitutes for a while because i can't stand having to go to 2 or more stores to buy 3 or 4 items that the 1st store didn't have <smile>

always have to have a plan b!

i say free your ham and cook it now, then cut off what you want and vacuum seal the rest for next month or whenever OR we can exchange. i can ship you some of the ham i cooked the other day and you can ship me some turkey.

a day or so ago, i read an article that talked about the fact that a large number of people bought a stand alone freezer and plastic containers so that they could stock out for months. and now many stores don't have any freezers. i've had a freezer for longer then i can remember because i don't like to shop. plus, some meat is cheaper when it's off season.

Re: Thinking outside my norm. Food

sissel — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 08:28:38 GMT

I only have a side by side fridge, we talked many times about a small freezer for the garage after all this I think we will do it. Just two of us but things are changing so fast. Yes also learn to do a meal plan for a week, when normal comes back will we be normal? I am scared & will never forget. More aware now. Valcuum sealers are great thanks QVC. Learn to store food & make it last.

Re: Thinking outside my norm. Food

SuhseK — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 09:57:16 GMT

Sunday night, my SO made chicken fried steak, with mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans and corn.

I'm a dietitian and he's the son of two retired cardiologists, so, safe to say, we don't make dinners like this every night, but, it was delicious😃

It was his Grandmas recipe for the steak, he uses ground beef or ground round, not some type of cube steak and he mashes the potatoes with real butter, and sour cream.

A comfort food dinner for sure, but we deserved it!