“Shelter In Place” Bulk Buying

The Covid 19 pandemic has changed our lives, at least for awhile. The purpose of this blog is to outline how we have changed the way we plan, purchase and prepare for meals in the “Shelter In Place” mode of operation.

I had become my father. My dad was a college dean, but when he retired he would decide what he wanted for dinner and then head off to market daily. There is one big difference between me and my father. He had lima beans with every meal. Me, I haven’t had a lima been since he died, but I do like going to the market.The good news is that the coronavirus pandemic has broken me of that habit. We are now in the mode of buying basics in bulk (Costco) for a month worth of meals and then weekly trips to the market (Kroger) for fresh vegetables, milk and eggs.

There are three keys to buying in bulk. Planning, Creativity and Flexibility

Planning

To have any chance at making buying in bulk successful you need a plan.

Rough Meal Plan

From there I created a rough shopping list:

Shopping List Outline

One key thing about buying in bulk is that you don’t get to scale your purchases to meal time needs. I have found that it makes sense to “portionalize” the bulk quantities. For example, if you buy chicken breasts at Costco they come in 2 and 3 breast units. We use one breast at a time, so just breaking down the pack and wrapping the breasts individually just makes sense. It also makes it easier to store in the freezer and defrost when needed

Creativity

One thing I hear all the time is: How do you know what to make? In a blog from awhile back I listed the top sources of menu ideas:

Restaurants
Travels
Markets
Books/Magazines
Internet

https://impromptufridaynights.com/the-top-5-sources-of-dinner-party-menu-ideas/

Living in our current “Shelter in place” mode rules out the top 3 of the 5. Thank goodness for the internet. At times like this, we certainly have time to try something different.

Cassoulet

I have been a fan of this dish for years. I first had it in Paris, but never got around to making it. The traditional preparation is based on duck fat, duck confit, white beans, chicken and sausage or mutton. In scrounging through my cabinet and freezer I had

A bag of dried beans my niece gave me for Christmas a few years ago
3 lamb chops with freezer burn
Chicken breasts, bacon and sausage from my Costco run

Somehow, we don’t have a ready inventory of duck fat or duck confit. So I substituted bacon fat for the duck fat and away we went. It was a 2-day process as the beans had to be soaked over-night. The result was a very tasty dish. Regretfully (and subconsciously) we didn’t get a photo. While I would have liked to have one for the blog, it really didn’t look great. But, it tasted great and was enjoyed both by us and a grateful neighbor.

Back to my first Cassoulet in Paris, I ordered a bottle of white wine thinking poultry pared with white wine. The waiter very politely (and directly) told me the vin rouge was the proper paring with duck. Of course he was right.

Flexibility

When you are not going to the store every day, you will invariably have to improvise on ingredients. Who has an inventory of duck fat? Bacon fat worked fine. With the 30 different ingredients in the Cassoulet, you have to trust me that no one could tell that bacon fat was used instead of duck fat. Besides, how many of us really know what duck fat tastes like.

Costco Purchases

Kroger Purchases

Wine Purchase

Summary

The bottom line is that with a little planning, creativity and flexibility you can eat really well for a month for under $600. Beyond that this exercise provides an insight into how I think, as twisted as that may be.

If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons follow me on Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and check out my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Published by Morgan James Publishing and available through most channels where books are sold.

It’s Just A Chicken

It is truly amazing of what you can do with a few ingredients and a little time. As the world turns inward with the coronavirus pandemic, a whole new spectrum of culinary options unfold. Our week started with the social distancing mandate that ended my practice of daily trips to the supermarket. After stops at Costco and Kroger we had the basic ingredients to keep us well fed for a month. In hindsight it was amazingly cheap.

The availability of basic groceries was really pretty good in Memphis. I was talking to friends out on the eastern end of Long Island NY and they referred to finding eggs to scoring eggs. It was almost like finding eggs was like finding drugs. At Costco I even bought a two month supply of toilet paper (one Costco pack) with no problem. The cost of buying groceries in bulk was inexpensive considering it will feed us for a month.

The one Roast Chicken dinner had a cost of $7.30.

(Apologies for this over analytical recap of ingredients, but you can take a guy out of financial analysis but sometimes you can’t take the analytic out of a guy)

Not only did the roast chicken feed 3 people well, it became the genesis of four additional entrees that will provide at basis for at least another twenty meals.

Just A Chicken Meal Plan

The prep time for the Roast Chicken meal was 20 minutes. After peeling and chopping, I added the vegetables to the bottom of the pan with a good sprinkle of kosher salt, freshly ground pepper and 2 cups of chicken stock. Then we roasted the chicken at 400 degrees for an hour and 10 minutes. When the chicken was done, I plated it along with the vegetables. I then added another cup of stock to the pan, scraped up the brown pieces, reduced it by a third and then thickened it with corn starch. Voila!

After dinner, the leftover chicken went into multiple directions.

The chicken carcass went into a pot along with celery, onion, carrot, potato and water to make a very tasty soup for the next night.
A portion of white meat was set aside for Declan’s (16 months old) lunch (see below)
The remainder was shredded and boxed off to become the basis for the lasagna and ravioli

This guy loves his Gramp’s cooking

In the end, we had a wonderful chicken dinner. The beauty of this type of cooking is that not only can I feed my family, but I have been making up care packages to drop off with less culinarily adept friends. So while we are not exactly socializing over a meal with friends, we are practicing social distancing and making a few friends pretty happy. Its not Just a chicken.

You Don’t Realize How Good You Have It

You don’t realize how good you have it till it is taken away. I Never Thought I Would Say This. It is not a good time to get together with friends to socialize over a meal. There I said it. The coronavirus has changed the rules of the game. This is temporary. Life as we know it will return. Things are returning back to normal in Asia and they will return to normal everywhere else. When they do, we need to make sure we get together with friends to socialize over a meal

Right now, instead of socializing over a meal with friends, we need to be thinking about Social Distancing. I had never heard about selfies growing up and Social Distancing is certainly new to our vernacular.

What does Social Distancing mean?

If you google it we are told:

Social distancing is a term applied to certain actions that are taken by Public Health officials to stop or slow down the spread of a highly contagious disease.

There is a great article in The Atlantic.

While we are dealing with the Coronavirus there are new rules:

Dinner parties of more than 4 people don’t make sense
You should be keeping a personal space of at least 4 feet
If you go to the gym use a sanitizer before and after touching equipment
Try to shop at times when the store is less crowded
Keep your hands away from your face
Wash your hands
Wash your hands
Wash your hands

Right now, it is all about reason and common sense versus panic and hoarding. People are going CRAZY! Situations like what we are going through right now, bring out the best and worst in people. The local markets here in Memphis are a perfect example. Last week I saw a man buying 12 bottles of Isopropyl alcohol. He was hoarding. Today you can’t find isopropyl alcohol anywhere. Saturday (yesterday) you couldn’t find a potato anywhere in Memphis. Sunday (today) the shelves are restocked. It reminds me of September 11, 2001. I remember talking to my sister who worked in the city that day. She said as she walked the streets, it was really weird. It was really quiet, and what was really really weird, New Yorkers were being nice to each other.

Speaking of common sense, you might want to enjoy a glass of wine. The funny thing is that with all the panic buying, the supply of wine hasn’t been an issue here. The stores are well stocked and my guess is that production continues.

For now, have the glass of wine, plan your next supper club dinner party for after the coronavirus and enjoy a good laugh.