Panic Buying due to Cornavirus Pandemic

Mr. B.  Perhaps one of the reason is to make sure that they have a quick turnover as if there were outdated tins on the shelves, people will always look for a later date.

May I confess that when I go to my local store that has organic milk, I always check the date on the front ones compared to the back ones, and guess what, I take the later dated ones even though I am going to use it up very quickly.

Kelejan wrote:Mr. B.  Perhaps one of the reason is to make sure that they have a quick turnover as if there were outdated tins on the shelves, people will always look for a later date.

May I confess that when I go to my local store that has organic milk, I always check the date on the front ones compared to the back ones, and guess what, I take the later dated ones even though I am going to use it up very quickly.

WE DO THE SAME THING. THEY ALWAYS PUT THE OLDEST STUFF UP FRONT.

Combining Coronavirus and gardening, here's an interesting graph showing an uptick in interest in gardening. Of course, there probably always is a little uptick this time of the year. Only click on the link if you're ready for the somewhat tumult and mayhem of reddit comments.

Google search trend for the term "grow vegetables" in the USA, past 4 months [OC]

OhioGardener wrote:A whole new concept of gardening...

5 Plants you can grow as Toilet Paper Replacement

Those first 3 are things gardeners have been yanking out of their gardens for aeons. I hope people using this advice aren't flushing the leaves down the toilet!

At least for the curly dock, it might be better to save it for emergency grain down the road.

As far as panic buying at the grocery store, there's certainly some of that going on, but not all of it is due to panic, as I've discovered for myself. Where I live here in CT, we're less than 100 miles from NYC, so that in itself is pretty scary. In CT, we're not under shelter in place orders yet, but are strongly advised to stay at home and avoid all nonessential outings, and stay indoors as much as possible.

One "outing" that is essential is grocery shopping. Our local grocery store has "senior only" hours from 6am to 7:30am, to allow those of us who are high risk to shop when the store is less crowded. If you live alone, like I do, it is necessary to make these occasional excursions. Most of us are trying to limit our outings as much as humanly possible, so when we do have to shop, we tend to buy more than we normally would, just to tide us over. I hadn't been out for a couple of weeks, but had to go grocery shopping this morning. I now feel like I should be able to comfortably last for a month, even though I got home and smacked myself on the forehead (after washing my hands!!!) and thought, "Oh crap! I forgot dish soap and laundry soap and stamps!!!"

I'm really missing fresh produce, so loaded up today and will enjoy it as long as it lasts, then back to the frozen stuff. I was lucky enough to find some chicken today. On my last two excursions, one of them at Costco, there was none. If you're familiar with Costco, you know their longgggg meat case. Well, that was EMPTY except for down at the very end, there was some ground beef. That was it!

So in the beginning, I agree, it was panic buying. But around here, when you see people with overflowing grocery carts, it's most often because they're trying not to have to return to the grocery store for weeks or more. Oh, by the way, I got the last package of toilet paper today. Woo hoo! When did we ever imagine that we'd be getting excited about that?  

Stay safe everyone, get ready for the long haul. If you're lucky enough to live in an area where it's not bad yet, I'd encourage you to prepare like it will. Better off to be ready and not need it, than to get caught by surprise when it escalated like wildfire, the way it did for many of us here in the northeast.  Wishing you all the best.

I am in British Columbia Interior and we can still go grocery shopping so I took the opportunity today after two weeks isolated to stock up a little bit.  Only as much as I can carry,  I have always kept a good store of food but naturally miss the fresh food  during the winter. 

Today our isolation has been stretched another two weeks and I think we really are not going to be allowed out at all. 

The trouble with these earlier senior hours is that I no longer have a car and none of my friends want to get up at that hour of six a.m.  WE shall have to wait and see how things turn out.

I have resuscitated my bread making machine from long ago as I have bags of different flours in my store cupboard.

SOooooo.... YOU have toilet paper??????   Better not post your address on this site. Someone may come and WIPE you OUT.   lol.

MrBooker wrote:SOooooo.... YOU have toilet paper??????   Better not post your address on this site. Someone may come and WIPE you OUT.   lol.

  (The only reason I can laugh is because we were able to stock up.)

MrBooker wrote:SOooooo.... YOU have toilet paper??????   Better not post your address on this site. Someone may come and WIPE you OUT.   lol.

Ah, but I have a guardian cat. He is a monster cat.

Kelejan wrote:

MrBooker wrote:SOooooo.... YOU have toilet paper??????   Better not post your address on this site. Someone may come and WIPE you OUT.   lol.

Ah, but I have a guardian cat. He is a monster cat.

Will your cat fit on my Weber grill. HEY... just say'n... <---<  TEASING.

He is ten years old and I think he would be a bit tough.  You would have to marinade him overnight.  Of course I know you are teasing. 

Kelejan wrote:He is ten years old and I think he would be a bit tough.  You would have to marinade him overnight.  Of course I know you are teasing. 

Yes.. Only teasing. We have to try finding some humor wherever we can. We have cats ourselves so I know they are hard to skin...  <--< TEASING again.

MrBooker wrote:

Kelejan wrote:He is ten years old and I think he would be a bit tough.  You would have to marinade him overnight.  Of course I know you are teasing. 

Yes.. Only teasing. We have to try finding some humor wherever we can. We have cats ourselves so I know they are hard to skin...  <--< TEASING again.

 You will have to be careful what you print Mr. Booker, otherwise Peta might be after you.

Kelejan wrote:

The trouble with these earlier senior hours is that I no longer have a car and none of my friends want to get up at that hour of six a.m.  WE shall have to wait and see how things turn out.

I have resuscitated my bread making machine from long ago as I have bags of different flours in my store cupboard.

Kelejan, check other stores in your area, they may have different senior hours. Costco here, has senior hours T-W-Th 8-9 am. A bit better, but these days sadly, we have to take what we can get. Also, check with senior services in your town, there may be people volunteering to shop for seniors. I was hoping not to have to go today, but they keep saying that the next two weeks are going to be really rough, and I'm thinking it's probably longer than that, but they're trying not to scare us, so I wanted to make sure I had enough for at least a month. It's sad and scary to think of not leaving home for a month. But then I think of those who are sick and the ones who've lost their jobs, and I'm thinking it's not so bad after all.

Yes, I was thinking about bread too, but no yeast at the store today. But I watched Jamie Oliver and his son make soda bread here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD6w6Tt9sAI  That one needs no yeast, so I may try it. Hang in there, Kelejan. Be well. Brighter days ahead.

OhioGardener wrote:That's what we loved about Sourdough Bread for the years we lived in Alaska - Never needed yeast to make more bread once we had a good starter.

I've been making bread since I was in high school, so that's many years. And I never understood why people thought it was so complicated. I enjoyed it, and found it pretty simple. But sourdough on the other hand has always intimidated me. It seems so complicated. I just can't seem to wrap my mind around it. My girlfriend gave me a starter and I managed to kill it. And it's a shame, because I love sourdough. Maybe one of these days.

I do have several packets of yeast in what I call my Survival Drawer. I kind of drawer that I toss in things that might be useful one day, and that day is fast coming.

A couple of days ago I took out two packets of dried and powdered veggies; one dated 2008 consisting of 30 bunches of dried spring onions and I remembered when I bought them of a market gardener who was packing up his stall at the end of the day. I had bought myself a dehydrating machine and was eager to try it out. The other packet consisted of dried and powdered greens and that was dated 2013.  I tried them out and together with turkey broth and added salt and pepper they really tasted nice. So I can add the to soups and they will not be wasted.

We went to our local Rural King store yesterday and bought a few Bell pepper plants and 6 tomato plants. We saw on the news this morning that people were scrambling to get gardens planted in fear of a food shortage.

  We went back to the store this morning to pick up a few more plants, just in case.  TO LATE.
All we found was mostly empty trays. Most everything was sold out in one day.

  I had already planted 6 cauliflower, 6 broccoli plants. I was able to get 12 tomato plants and 4 Bell peppers earlier this week and will plant them soon.

   I got my green Onions and my salad bed planted last week but when I checked the beds this morning the Squirrels had dug a lot of them up. Soon.. I will post some pics of me grilling some Squirrel.  Stay safe and STAY HOME. (Except for plant shopping)...

Kelejan wrote:I am worried about my brother and his family in England as he is also in Lockdown  for 12 twelve weeks and is not allowed out even in the road outside his house.

Still eleven weeks to go.  He has always had a good stock of food but it is hard for him to get to the grocery stores now this his daughter is also in lock down. He lives in London unfortunately.

So far here in British Columbia, I am still allowed out to go for food, but like my brother I have a good store cupboard of my own canned food, thanks to taking up canning three or four years ago.  Freezer food not so much as I had a meltdown last summer and had to throw the contents away.

Today I must take an inventory of everything edible in the house and be more careful of portion sizes. The other day I found six large jars of cherries that were done about four years ago, I  opened one and there were very tasty. I must eat them before I begin eating my cherries from last fall.

 Food & medicine trips out to a close by shop is allowed .

 If he is on the Corona risk register and has no one to shop for him tell get in touch with the local church or town hall they will know of groups who are doing shopping for isolated people .

 If the daughter is mobile but practicing self imposed lock down she too can shop providing she sticks to the rules  & starts using marigolds , a face scarf & washes with soap & water immediately she gets back home.....   wash , then put the goods away , then wash once again just incase there is the virus on the products ,  othe wise follow the above .


Doctors surgeries should have already sent the info to the government about a week ago .   If they haven't yet been contacted  by the government they should send an email to their GP with a working phone number .

MrBooker wrote:We went to our local Rural King store yesterday and bought a few Bell pepper plants and 6 tomato plants. We saw on the news this morning that people were scrambling to get gardens planted in fear of a food shortage.

  We went back to the store this morning to pick up a few more plants, just in case.  TO LATE.
All we found was mostly empty trays. Most everything was sold out in one day.

  I had already planted 6 cauliflower, 6 broccoli plants. I was able to get 12 tomato plants and 4 Bell peppers earlier this week and will plant them soon.

   I got my green Onions and my salad bed planted last week but when I checked the beds this morning the Squirrels had dug a lot of them up. Soon.. I will post some pics of me grilling some Squirrel.  Stay safe and STAY HOME. (Except for plant shopping)... If you want more tomato plants 

If you want more tomato plants .. DIY .

 Get the ripest tomato you have , cut it in half and scrape the seeds out . Put them in a small jar with clean cooled boiled water . Cover the jar , leave it in day light,   shake the jar daily till any flesh comes off the seeds .  .   

Flush the rotted flesh out the jar under the cold tap . Put the seeds on 1/2 " squares of kitchen roll to dry for a week , then well dampen the squares & cover with cling film sandwich wrap .  A few days later  you should start to see germinations . ( unless you have sterile cloned tomatoes )
 Treat the germinated square very gently . Put one square with the seed on to in a four inch plant pot that is filled with potting material or vermiculite . Do by making a 1/4 " deep hole for the square to lay flat in  ,  cover it over then gently water . 

With luck it wont be long before you have baby tomato plants that you will be very thankful for in a few months time.
 Deep frozen fresh tomatoes no par boiled etc jut rinse of dry & freeze in poly bags with the top tied over ( they  look like snooker balls & hurt I you drop them on your bare feet ) 
Use them for making boiled down tomato pulp ,  use direct un thawed  into uncooked stews ,  well fried , soup that gets a few minutes boiling up .  
 I boiled up 14 pints of frozen tomatoes and pressure canned them when I had the time & inclination some  several months after picking them .

Plantoid,  Thank you for posting the information regarding Great Britain policies.

sanderson wrote:Plantoid,  Thank you for posting the information regarding Great Britain policies.

I will email my brother right now.  Thank you Plantoid.  If he has already done it, still, thank you again.

Due to my age and physical condition (heart & lungs) I have been self quarantining for three weeks.  I needed gas today for the lawn mower.  Tried to start the car and the battery was dead.  Has been sitting idle all this time.

My car battery was dead, also! My husband runs the errands and uses his truck, so my car hadn't been used for over 2 weeks, possibly 3.