Grocery shopping tips during Coronavirus quarantine #2

[BetteDavisEyes]

For the first time in months, Nino's had chicken livers yesterday. Plenty of stock in a freezer with other "specialty" meats and seafood. I didn't get them because I'm not craving liver right now, but maybe I'll get them next week and keep them in the freezer. Lots of Michigan produce: We got corn, eggplant, and tomatoes. We had California BLTs last night, and I'm making the warm Caprese with eggplant to serve with lamb burgers tonight. Grilled chicken and corn tomorrow.

 

[mickey2942]

For the first time in months, Nino's had chicken livers yesterday. Plenty of stock in a freezer with other "specialty" meats and seafood. I didn't get them because I'm not craving liver right now, but maybe I'll get them next week and keep them in the freezer. Lots of Michigan produce: We got corn, eggplant, and tomatoes. We had California BLTs last night, and I'm making the warm Caprese with eggplant to serve with lamb burgers tonight. Grilled chicken and corn tomorrow.

Yum! Love Michigan this time of year. And apple season is coming up. I went to college in Kalamazoo. My friends and I would go pick apples. Fun times.

Well, my CSA basket this week; tomatillos, several varieties of peppers, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, zucchini. I am going to be adventurous and make a tomato tart. It has a cheese crust, tomatoes and basil.

 

[Midwestmom2019]

Peach issues. I presume you all know about it.

 

[LadyL]

Yum! Love Michigan this time of year. And apple season is coming up. I went to college in Kalamazoo. My friends and I would go pick apples. Fun times.

Well, my CSA basket this week; tomatillos, several varieties of peppers, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, zucchini. I am going to be adventurous and make a tomato tart. It has a cheese crust, tomatoes and basil.

with vegan cheese right?

 

[mickey2942]

with vegan cheese right?

Yes, have you read the book "The Cheese Trap"? I hated that book! So full of truth!

 

[LadyL]

Yes, have you read the book "The Cheese Trap"? I hated that book! So full of truth!

no I haven't but I've seen enough online so I get where you're coming from

 

[ilovewings]

Which Costco? We go to Costco on Telegraph north of Square Lake in Bloomfield Twp. They haven't had Clorox wipes for months

Costco in Commerce Lake----

 

[ilovewings]

For the first time in months, Nino's had chicken livers yesterday. Plenty of stock in a freezer with other "specialty" meats and seafood. I didn't get them because I'm not craving liver right now, but maybe I'll get them next week and keep them in the freezer. Lots of Michigan produce: We got corn, eggplant, and tomatoes. We had California BLTs last night, and I'm making the warm Caprese with eggplant to serve with lamb burgers tonight. Grilled chicken and corn tomorrow.

I love sauteed chicken livers but my husband doesn't- I cook those about once a year-- because they are so fatty but so darn delicious!!!!

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

I love sauteed chicken livers but my husband doesn't- I cook those about once a year-- because they are so fatty but so darn delicious!!!!

DH says chicken livers "stink up the house", so I rarely cook them. When I do, I usually make a luxurious pate.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

no I haven't but I've seen enough online so I get where you're coming from

When/If you develop lactose intolerance, you'll give up the cheese fetish very quickly I can't tolerate most dairy now and have to be very careful about ingesting foods that might have a unexpected dairy component. I always have Lactaid tablets in my purse in case I order something in a restaurant that might have dairy that isn't mentioned in on the menu.

 

[ilovewings]

DH says chicken livers "stink up the house", so I rarely cook them. When I do, I usually make a luxurious pate.

I use lots of garlic and paprika, so my chicken livers definitely stink up the house!!!!

 

[PayrollNerd]

Yum! Love Michigan this time of year. And apple season is coming up. I went to college in Kalamazoo. My friends and I would go pick apples. Fun times.

Well, my CSA basket this week; tomatillos, several varieties of peppers, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, zucchini. I am going to be adventurous and make a tomato tart. It has a cheese crust, tomatoes and basil.

Oh that tomato tart sounds heavenly.

I cleaned out my small inside freezer. Now I'm working on my little chest freezer. I decided to use up what I have before preserving more food.

Yesterday, I simmered a big pot of veggies: 1/2 head of frozen cabbage from earlier this summer, 2 big carrots, 6 potatoes, 4 cloves of fresh garlic and 1/2 a medium onion. I used veggie broth and added salt & pepper. It's not quite a soup but it is thick. Just yummy enough to dip a biscuit in. I found some chicken breast that I had cooked and froze so I chopped it up and added it at the end.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Oh that tomato tart sounds heavenly.

I cleaned out my small inside freezer. Now I'm working on my little chest freezer. I decided to use up what I have before preserving more food.

Yesterday, I simmered a big pot of veggies: 1/2 head of frozen cabbage from earlier this summer, 2 big carrots, 6 potatoes, 4 cloves of fresh garlic and 1/2 a medium onion. I used veggie broth and added salt & pepper. It's not quite a soup but it is thick. Just yummy enough to dip a biscuit in. I found some chicken breast that I had cooked and froze so I chopped it up and added it at the end.

There were severe storms in our area on Friday and Saturday, but we didn't realize that there was a lot of flooding and tree damage. The power went out at 1:48AM on Sunday and wasn't restored until 5:20PM. Thankfully, it has cooled off significantly since last week when we had overwhelming heat and humidity. We kept the fridge doors and freezer drawer closed, and we don't need to toss any food. DTE text said that the local outage was due to tree damage on private property that affected the transformer for the area - about 1K customers without power for 15+ hours.

Once the power was restored, we went through the fridge/freezer to weed out items that need to be used promptly. I assembled Mexican-themed turkey meatballs for dinner tonight: 1# ground turkey, broken pieces from a bag of tortilla chips, 1/2 package of Queso Fresco, onion, garlic, cumin, dried cilantro, paprika, an egg, Worcestershire, salt & pepper. Hope they turn out alright

 

[LadyL]

When/If you develop lactose intolerance, you'll give up the cheese fetish very quickly I can't tolerate most dairy now and have to be very careful about ingesting foods that might have a unexpected dairy component. I always have Lactaid tablets in my purse in case I order something in a restaurant that might have dairy that isn't mentioned in on the menu.

I'm vegan for ethical reasons so I don't eat any dairy. I believe @mickey2942 is too and a few others here. There's lots of yummy vegan cheeses you might want to try that satisfy that cheese craving without dairy.

 

[acutename]

I did some searching and found dozens of recipes for vegan stuffed cabbage. Combinations of whole grains like quinoa and brown rice, and/or assorted vegetables - I might even make one of the recipes for a Meatless Monday.

my mother made stuffed cabbage AND stuffed peppers which I missed since I stopped eating meat... I made a veg version once but it was kind of labor intensive which I hate wish some modern frozen food co would sell veg stuffed peppers or cabbage....

 

[acutename]

Would it come from the peaches or being stored incorrectly in sweaty plastic bags?

usually it comes from improper handling where they are picked... something in the field or soil that is not supposed to be there...

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

DH ran a couple of errands yesterday, including getting a mum for the urn on our front porch. Dragon Wing begonias were looking tired and becoming woody, so we pitched them. DH also stopped at Meijer for a few items and found Meijer brand disinfectant wipes. The canisters are about half the size of Clorox Wipes in bundle pack at Costco, and there is a limit of three per customer. DH will start getting three whenever he goes to Meijer so we will have replacements when Clorox wipes are gone. We still have one unopened canister and two partial canisters, so the circumstances aren't dire yet. I don't know that anyone can predict what fall and winter will bring, but we want to be prepared.

 

[mickey2942]

I'm vegan for ethical reasons so I don't eat any dairy. I believe @mickey2942 is too and a few others here. There's lots of yummy vegan cheeses you might want to try that satisfy that cheese craving without dairy.

Dairy is my personal "Bete Noir". I work on it. The struggle is real.

 

[PayrollNerd]

SWFL grocery update:

I have been putting off going to the grocery store. I finally went today at 11:30. I was thinking it would not be crowded because of Sunday and people watching/going to church services. Boy, was I wrong. Publix was packed. I'm sure due to the holiday weekend and NO RAIN!!! Haha! I did notice everyone wearing a mask, being very polite, not crowding into one another, etc.

The directional arrows on the floor were gone. Thankfully. I never followed them anyway. I thought they were a bit over the top and I'm too d*mn tired to retrace my steps. Shopping is exhausting for me.

The new self checkout lanes were busy but I wasn't going to go there. Too many people touching too many things.

The paper product aisle was reasonably full, paper plates, paper towels, toilet paper, etc. Considering it is hurricane season I was actually impressed. I did notice, of all things, the tissues were not very plentiful.

The spices looked like they were definitely selling. I'm sure because more people are cooking at home. Lots of people in the ingredient aisle. I had to look for a bit to find Rosemary. I got my red potatoes all prepped this morning and realized, my kid moved out, and so did my new container of Rosemary. Hate when that happens. LOL!

The baking aisle was busy. I usually make fudge at the holidays. I decided I would get one set of ingredients, evaporated milk, chocolate chips, bag of sugar, jar of marshmallow creme and real butter. Popped the butter in the freezer.

I slathered in hand sanitizer once I got in my truck. Brought in the groceries, washed my hands. Put the groceries away, washed my hands. The Rosemary Red Potatoes are in the oven - yum!

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Yum! Love Michigan this time of year. And apple season is coming up. I went to college in Kalamazoo. My friends and I would go pick apples. Fun times...

I know you're in Montana now but didn't realize that you lived in Michigan previously. Kalamazoo College?

Fall is and has always been my favorite season. We're very fortunate in the Great Lakes State to have fabulous falls, and this year will be no exception. Daytime temperatures in the low-to-mid 70s, and cooler overnight temperatures make for "good sleeping weather", as we like to say. I never really liked summer (I don't like heat and humidity) and was happy when school started and my ballet classes resumed.

Cider mills opened this weekend, as did local self-pick apple orchards. A trip to a cider mill to watch how it's made and enjoy sampling cider and donuts is a long-cherished fall activity in these parts. A drive to an orchard, riding on the hay wagon, climbing apple trees, filling a couple bags or a bushel basket with hand-picked apples was always great family fun. Sunday drives to see the changing colors were also part of Michigan's magnificent autumn glory. I'm sure Montana is gorgeous in the fall, too, but I'm glad that you remember Michigan's fall splendor