Quarantine Cuisine

So, I think we can all admit that sh*t is WILD right now. Grown adults are living with their parents (ahem, me), children are exclusively learning online, and toilet paper has gone missing.

I’ll be the first to admit that I panicked when I realized we’d be separated from humanity for the foreseeable future and I won’t lie, some days are harder than others. However, there are silver linings here and that’s what I’m trying to focus on. 

I’m not going to tell you what I’m grateful for or why you should be grateful because that’s not my job. I do hope you’re able to find those things on your own in order to make the days a little easier. But what is my job is to help you feed yourself and those you love, and I can’t imagine a time when that was more important than right now. 

Unsurprisingly, I was unanimously nominated to feed my family while we’re doing this whole “extreme togetherness time” and after a week, I realized that I need to do better planning. Trying to come up with dinner two hours before we want to eat, with my mom’s dietary restrictions and my stepdad’s general “I’ll eat whatever,” was really just not working for my sanity. 

So I finally took things into my own hands and did inventory of our pantry and fridge. I noted all produce, dairy, meat, pantry, and frozen items, and then I created a meal outline for us. This isn’t necessarily a strict meal plan but instead is just ideas that I can put together with what we already have. It’s a list of dishes and sides, and just things that sound good, that I can take a peek at in the morning and offer up as suggestions. The family then gets to decide what is most appetizing and boom, there’s my plan.

I can’t say I have a lot to offer in this current economy but what I can offer you is the creativity and thinking behind feeding your family or whoever is currently locked in your home. Under general circumstances, trying to plan healthful but delicious meals for your people can be stressful enough, but now we’ve added whole new levels. 

We’re all in a variety of situations right now but I’m going to guess that at a bare minimum, you’re cooking more than you’re used to, and the grocery store is an even more uncomfortable situation than ever. 

Service Offering!

That being said, I’d like to offer this to all of you:

Take an inventory of what you currently have in your pantry and fridge (or what you’re planning to buy this week) and I’ll send you a general outline of meals that you can make for your family. If you feel like you want to pay me in exchange for this, I’ll gladly accept it. However I know the purse strings just got a lot tighter for many of us so please don’t worry about it if you can’t. I’m just happy to help you however I can. 

Send me an email with your list at [email protected]! I’m here to answer any questions, talk through your current cooking struggles, or just be a listening ear during these weird and troubling times. Stay well, my friends!