Grocery shopping tips during Coronavirus quarantine #3

[PayrollNerd]

I wish! High of 88 today. I’m so tired of hot weather.

87 here and I was thinking about chili but it's too hot. Altho, we are supposed to get a cool front come across the gulf tonight. It is supposed to be 64 in the morning. I may need to peruse the cabinet and see if I even have the ingredients to make chili. I bet I don't. I haven't made it since last winter. Who knows if Publix will even have anything in stock anyway!!!

 

[anneg]

Squirrel Brunswick Stew with Acorns - GeorgiaPellegrini.com
Young squirrel is good simply quartered and fried. Old squirrel is good stewed. When in doubt, it is safest to braise or stew a squirrel...

Are you "game" enough to try it?

Not I!

 

[neesaki]

Most of you may have noticed this already. But I didn’t realize that the antibacterial dish soap, Dawn, states on the back label, that it’s use is as an antibacterial handsoap. And gives instructions on how to use. I was checking to see if it needs to be left on dishes for a few minutes before rinsing. But nothing about dishwashing, lol. I just thought it was odd.
Back label.
https://www.amazon.com/Dawn-Antibacterial-Dishwashing-Liquid-Blossom/dp/B07CX2XQVR

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

DH and I usually have two fish/seafood dinners weekly, one of which is almost always swordfish. Love it! Nino's has had ample swordfish supplies until recently. The "previously frozen" swordfish that they feature and even put on sale occasionally comes from Singapore. Evidently, Nino's is unable to get the frozen swordfish at this time due to supply shortages. The frozen swordfish is probably on a container vessel adrift at sea somewhere waiting for its cargo to be offloaded and shipped to various destinations. DH stopped at Nino's after his swim yesterday hoping to get swordfish for dinner. All that was available is fresh Florida swordfish for $28.99 a pound! I'm sure it's delicious, but the price seems ridiculous.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Most of you may have noticed this already. But I didn’t realize that the antibacterial dish soap, Dawn, states on the back label, that it’s use is as an antibacterial handsoap. And gives instructions on how to use. I was checking to see if it needs to be left on dishes for a few minutes before rinsing. But nothing about dishwashing, lol. I just thought it was odd.
Back label.
https://www.amazon.com/Dawn-Antibacterial-Dishwashing-Liquid-Blossom/dp/B07CX2XQVR

I bought Dawn dish detergent once and never got it again. I'm surprised that it is actually recommended for use as a hand sanitizer as it gave me a burning skin rash.

 

[PayrollNerd]

DH and I usually have two fish/seafood dinners weekly, one of which is almost always swordfish. Love it! Nino's has had ample swordfish supplies until recently. The "previously frozen" swordfish that they feature and even put on sale occasionally comes from Singapore. Evidently, Nino's is unable to get the frozen swordfish at this time due to supply shortages. The frozen swordfish is probably on a container vessel adrift at sea somewhere waiting for its cargo to be offloaded and shipped to various destinations. DH stopped at Nino's after his swim yesterday hoping to get swordfish for dinner. All that was available is fresh Florida swordfish for $28.99 a pound! I'm sure it's delicious, but the price seems ridiculous.

After an appt last week I stopped at Morton’s Gourmet Market in downtown Sarasota. They are probably one of the best markets if quality is your thing. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw the meat case and the seafood case. The prices were astounding! I went looking for a tomato and oregano. Yeah, I left, went to Publix.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

After an appt last week I stopped at Morton’s Gourmet Market in downtown Sarasota. They are probably one of the best markets if quality is your thing. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw the meat case and the seafood case. The prices were astounding! I went looking for a tomato and oregano. Yeah, I left, went to Publix.

Morton's Gourmet Market | Sarasota Florida (mortonsmarket.com) I could spend hours - and major bucks - in this place

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

DH made a major trip to Nino's after he swam today. He went to the fish counter and discovered that the fresh Florida swordfish had been marked down to $19.99 per pound as it was not selling at the higher price. We will have swordfish with acorn squash tomorrow night. We haven't gotten a whole beef tenderloin for months because the price was ridiculously high. For some reason, it's more reasonably priced at this time, so DH asked for about 6#, counter cut and packaged in twos. The ground trimmings and are good for chili or Bolognese. We will have grilled filets with baked potatoes and asparagus tonight.

 

[neesaki]

Check your onions friends.

Onion salmonella outbreak 2021: CDC links cases to onions from Mexico

"Throw away any whole red, white, or yellow onions you have at home that do not have a sticker or packaging," the CDC said, noting some may have packaging indicating ProSource as the brand and that they were grown in Mexico. "If you can’t tell where the onions are from, don’t buy or eat them."

 

[PayrollNerd]

Morton's Gourmet Market | Sarasota Florida (mortonsmarket.com) I could spend hours - and major bucks - in this place

I remember when they started making gluten free cookies and cupcakes. I'd stop in there and buy one of every kind that my 2 kiddos could have. They were pricey and the kids would cut the items in half. That way they each got to taste each dessert. They'd be so excited when I had an appt near there because they knew I'd bring them dessert. I learned how to convert a few dessert recipes pretty quickly. LOL!

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Check your onions friends.

Onion salmonella outbreak 2021: CDC links cases to onions from Mexico

"Throw away any whole red, white, or yellow onions you have at home that do not have a sticker or packaging," the CDC said, noting some may have packaging indicating ProSource as the brand and that they were grown in Mexico. "If you can’t tell where the onions are from, don’t buy or eat them."

I was watching WFLA live stream yesterday for updates on the Petito/Laundrie case. JB's guest was reporter Josh Benson who said that he'd been home Wednesday with a bad case of food poisoning. I wondered if he had eaten something with the bad onions or if he was aware of the recall.

 

[PayrollNerd]

If you know anyone in the Sarasota FL area who qualifies for the food bank distributions, this is the post card I received yesterday. It’s a frozen turkey, fresh veggies and dry goods like stuffing mix and canned yams. I can’t remember everything they gave us but that’s the bulk of it.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

We had takeout from P.F. Chang on Thursday night. DH left early to pick up our order so he could stop at Trader Joe's for a pumpkin cheesecake. TJ's is smaller and not as pricy as the one that we've had from Costco but is every bit as good, if not better in some ways. I like the gingery crust, the pumpkin-forward filling, and there doesn't seem to be as much of a dairy component as in the Costco pumpkin cheesecake. I can actually enjoy a sliver without taking Lactaid or having a digestive episode

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

CDC: Salami sticks linked to salmonella outbreak (clickondetroit.com)

Salami products sold at Trader Joe’s may be linked to salmonella.

The CDC has issued a food safety alert about Citterio brand Premium Italian-Style Salame Sticks. The packaged salami was linked to a salmonella outbreak in eight states, including Michigan...

 

[PayrollNerd]

I went to the food pick up this morning. I hadn’t gone in a month or more. I’ve been using up what I have in the freezer. But I was ready for some fresh produce! Lots of yummy items and these apples smell wonderful! I’m craving some warm fresh baked bread this rainy dreary day. I think I’ll use these pears for the Pear Bread recipe I made a few months ago. We got a bag of gluten free bagels just by chance! My kiddo will be excited.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

DH left in time to be at Costco when they opened this morning. He got butter, peanut butter, mini Naans, Bel Gioso snacking cheese, Perrier, bottled water, Lindor Truffles, salmon, a rotisserie chicken for tonight, toilet paper, mouth rinse. We've been stocking up on pantry items, as well: canned tomatoes, beans, stocks, rice, grains, pasta. We want to be prepared in the event that there are supply chain issues in the coming weeks, months. We both still have our fourth quarter OTC allowance available but neither of us needs anything urgently. We've got until 12/31 to place an order, so maybe we'll find some way to not let the allowance go to waste.

 

[PayrollNerd]

DH left in time to be at Costco when they opened this morning. He got butter, peanut butter, mini Naans, Bel Gioso snacking cheese, Perrier, bottled water, Lindor Truffles, salmon, a rotisserie chicken for tonight, toilet paper, mouth rinse. We've been stocking up on pantry items, as well: canned tomatoes, beans, stocks, rice, grains, pasta. We want to be prepared in the event that there are supply chain issues in the coming weeks, months. We both still have our fourth quarter OTC allowance available but neither of us needs anything urgently. We've got until 12/31 to place an order, so maybe we'll find some way to not let the allowance go to waste.

Maybe you can find some basic items and then donate them to a church or shelter? We used to have a family homeless groups living in the woods back during the recession. So many kids to the point they added a bus stop! We collected all kinds of small bottles and containers of hygiene items, bagged them up into kits and donated them.

I can't always figure out how to use my monthly medical allotment either. I just don't go thru that much stuff. I did finally get some lens wipes and they are great. My reading glasses are cheap plastic lenses so more difficult to get clean. I gave some of them to my youngest who is the vet tech. The animals are always slobbering on her glasses. LOL!

I picked another blood pressure cuff so that my youngest has one. It has come in handy with all her telemed appts lately. My oldest always needs contact solution so I ordered that for her.

 

[anneg]

I went to the food pick up this morning. I hadn’t gone in a month or more. I’ve been using up what I have in the freezer. But I was ready for some fresh produce! Lots of yummy items and these apples smell wonderful! I’m craving some warm fresh baked bread this rainy dreary day. I think I’ll use these pears for the Pear Bread recipe I made a few months ago. We got a bag of gluten free bagels just by chance! My kiddo will be excited.

The pear bread sounds yummy... Are those Macintosh apples? Looks like the bag I got at Trader Joe's recently. I love Macs for making applesauce, winter squash with apples, and just eating.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Maybe you can find some basic items and then donate them to a church or shelter? We used to have a family homeless groups living in the woods back during the recession. So many kids to the point they added a bus stop! We collected all kinds of small bottles and containers of hygiene items, bagged them up into kits and donated them.

I can't always figure out how to use my monthly medical allotment either. I just don't go thru that much stuff. I did finally get some lens wipes and they are great. My reading glasses are cheap plastic lenses so more difficult to get clean. I gave some of them to my youngest who is the vet tech. The animals are always slobbering on her glasses. LOL!

I picked another blood pressure cuff so that my youngest has one. It has come in handy with all her telemed appts lately. My oldest always needs contact solution so I ordered that for her.

Good suggestion, and I will keep it in mind. Our BCBS OTC option changed to a new vendor several months ago (Nations OTC). The site is not user friendly - starting with there not being a way to sign in automatically. We have to get our cards and type in a 19-digit number to gain access. There are dozens of pages of items, and I can't imagine taking the time to comb through each and every product that is listed. We've mostly stuck with familiar items that we use regularly. I'm sure if I spent some time going through the product list, I might be able to find some items that we could use.

 

[PayrollNerd]

The pear bread sounds yummy... Are those Macintosh apples? Looks like the bag I got at Trader Joe's recently. I love Macs for making applesauce, winter squash with apples, and just eating.

I'm not sure. It says Midwestern Apples on the bag. They smell good but look a little green. I'm not sure if that is normal for that type apple. But they're in the fridge chillin' anyway! I'll use my apple corer / separator thing and put a bunch in a big bowl to snack on. I also just remembered I have a gluten free crust in the freezer. I could make a pie from them for the kiddo to take home after her surgery tomorrow. Hmmm.