Some grocery hacks, to follow the CDC's protocol to stay the safest, which means stay at home and not go in any public setting.
Living the times when grocery reminds how blessed you are.
At the start of this blog post I will admit, that the subject of this post is definitely privileged. I am aware I am discussing grocery shopping hacks, when there are people who may not have a job to afford grocery.
We are following the protocol that's the safest. Which means we have been at home and not gone in any public setting. We do go for a walk on the side walk (not park because there are more people there). As we stay in the suburbs, we literally cross 2 - 4 people per day; people will cross the road or maintain 6 feet distance, when crossing us. Lastly, we are getting grocery delivered.
If you have tried grocery delivery in current situations, delivery slots for grocery is rare to come by. I always feel, if this pandemic was before I had a child, me and my partner would be so chilled. Last thing we would worry about would be grocery, as we would make do with what we have. With a toddler we have to preplan because if something does get over you might have to deal with a few meltdown's until the next delivery slot.
After a couple of deliveries I learnt from my mistakes and here are some things that worked for us.
#1 Responsibly stock up
This step is strongly recommended by CDC, as this will limit your potential exposure to others and the virus. Buy in bulk to last your family for 2 - 4 weeks. Costco is a great place to buy. The access can be frozen and used over the month. We stock for 2 - 4 weeks because we all need to be responsible citizen's and be considerate towards the society (and not go crazy stocking up for a year or something insane like that). We are in this together and we all need to care for each other.
If you do try freezing fresh produce it will clump up together and you will have to thaw the whole bag to make it useable for cooking. Which is not recommended as it increases the risk of food poisoning, every time you thaw and freeze again.
Here is a quick step by step, if you want to freeze fresh produce.
Cut produce to the size you will be using it in (dice, julienne, slice, etc).
Place it on a tray without overlapping
Freeze it for 1 hour
Bag it in freezer safe ziplocks. One tip that quickens cooking prep time is to roughly bag as much as you might use at a time. However, with this method the veggies freeze individually and won't stick to each other, so bagging in any quantity is fine.
Flatten the bag, get all the air out. Stack it like a pile of books. That way it more space saving.
We have been using self-frozen produce for 3 weeks now. Vegetables that freeze well are bell peppers, mushrooms, beans, broccoli florets, peas, corn kernels, all leafy vegetables, spring onion, leeks. Other things that freeze well in the original packaging are bread, cheese, cream, paneer, butter, makhan, meat. There is no taste or texture lost.
For onions and tomatoes we did something differernt.
Fine chop four onions/tomatoes at a time using a food processor.
Pack this batch in a freezer-safe-ziplock-sandwich-bag. It perfectly fits four onions or tomatoes. That way when you need, you can briefly thaw it by leaving it on the counter for 1 - 2 minutes, break it into four and each part is equal to one onion or tomato.
Flatten the bag, get all the air out. Place it on the tray and freeze it for 2 hours.
You can just put this in the side trays in the freezer like a file system. Super space saving.
Indian everyday condiments like coriander and mint
Freezes well as chutneys.
Or fine chop. Divide equally in a ice cube tray, fill each space to fit the quantity you will need for one dish. Store in freezer safe bags.
Or dry the fresh produce by spreading on a mat. Both cilantro and mint air dry in a day or two. You will see the leaves texture change they become brittle, fragile, crunchy. Crumbel/crush it and pack into airtight containers. Store in refrigerator.
#2 Getting delivery slot
It feels like you won a lottery when you get a delivery slot. A lot of people complain they never get any. The trick is, being persistent. Keep checking every hour or two. We have been lucky to get 2 - 3 delivery-slots even on weekends with this method. Three because one of them got cancelled by Instacart and we had to reorder. Sometimes it took us a day and sometimes a whole week of persistently checking.
One more reason to shop in bulk so you do not have to do this every week.
#3 Milk alternative
I always talk to my lo of facts/truths and he does know about the pandemic and why we have to be at home. He has been very understanding 95% of the time. However, that does not mean he will respond positively each time. We have faced meltdowns, as milk was over, for 5 days until the next delivery window.
The backup solution is shelf stable milk. It's the same milk, no preservatives just the technique of heating and packaging is different, which makes it last six months on shelf. The only vice is shelf stable milk, comes in tetra pack and is not the best for the environment. Cow's milk come's in 8 oz packaging which make them most trash producing item. Better option, if your kid is not too picky is almond, soy, cashew milk which come in 64 oz packaging and are shelf stable too.
Second backup solution is milk powder.
To be fair to the environment, we use both these alternatives to fill in the gaps between grocery delivery windows.
#4 Curb our eating
Make one pot meals, or only one sabji with rice/roti/daal/fruit/salad, we enjoy being creative with leftovers and eat + cook modest quantities. We feel that is the need of the hour. Currently food chain is getting affected and if the pandemic time period extends we all may face food shortage.
#5 Donate (not a hack)
Every time we buy or discuss grocery, we remember all the daily wage workers and how they will be coping with the pandemic 'shelter in place' need. We have started donating every 2 weeks as we feel we need to support our society in these times.
Regardless of which country you live in, we cannot rely on the government to bridge all gaps.
We have supported by delivering grocery at doorstep through a local group.
These are the hacks that work for us in the current situation. Apart from that we are counting our blessings! A lesson of gratitude learnt on time.
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