Some Food For Thought & For Enjoying Life
Under Quarantine
May 12, 2020
Given the many stories we are seeing about food shortages on account of COVID19, and all the shut-downs, which basically deprive people of any pleasure in life. I for one was raised with the ethos of making my own fun, because for the first part of my life I was an only child. So I was taught to amuse myself and make my own fun. Something that has stood me in good stead over my lifetime, considering there were large periods where due to my disability, our income was rather limited and we needed to find ways to enjoy life with our kids despite that.
Coming from NS, where the maritime kitchen party is commonplace, that's basically what we used as a means for entertainment and enjoyment during our lean years. We used to have friends or family over for dinner and maybe a game of cards or a board game like monopoly or something, or maybe to watch a rented movie with us, with some popcorn (made with popcorn kernels and not the microwave stuff), and top it the way we liked, or with tortilla chips and salsa or guacamole and some soft drinks or beer (the beer was mostly for the men and the women & kids had the soft drinks). Their kids and ours would get together and play or watch movies while we adults played card or board games, or just run around outside together getting exercise & fresh air. But everyone enjoyed themselves for next to no cost and not having really to go anywhere to do it (other than come here or us going to their house for a change).
I realize that now the restrictions we're living under we can't even really do that as gatherings are forbidden. So it's up to us to entertain ourselves by ourselves the best way we know how, since a lot of the outside venues for entertainment & exercise have been mandated closed. So I will post a lot of various means of doing that here today and over time.
But I thought I'd start with food first because of the stories we're hearing about the impending food shortages and price hikes, making the food we do have that much more precious. Not to be wasted or taken for granted. What better way not to waste food, than to make it irresistable? So that we actually want to eat the left overs later and not toss them on the compost heap. To not waste any and learn how to use left overs in other meals as well. If you're missing out on your favourite restaurant or ethnic food, there will be sites and books that will help with that. All you'll have to do is make it following the instructions given in the recipes.
If you need to know the basics on how to cook using certain techniques there will be books for that. If you want to get your kids involved in cooking - I have some links for those books as well. But food is one thing that is essential to all of us and the one thing under these circumstances we shouldn't waste at all.
So the first things you need to know about not wasting food is how to make sure you don't to start with. If you live alone or are only 2 people, you can buy in as large quantities as you want so long as you are able to store it. By store it, I mean if it's perishable you can either freeze, can or otherwise preserve it so it doesn't go bad, if it's canned or jarred goods, a place to put store those. If you buy say a head of cauliflower but you know you aren't going to eat the whole thing right away because it's just too much for you and you don't want to be eating cauliflower exclusively for the next few days, just cut off the parts you want to save for later and blanche them.
Blanching entails putting a pot on the stove filled with water (with sufficient room to put the quantity of produce you want to blanche in the pot), to boil. While it's coming to a boil, wash & cut your cauliflower into either bite sized pieces or the size you wish. When the water is finally boiling, put the cauliflower in the water, and wait for it to come back to a boil again and time 3 minutes on a timer. When the 3 minutes are up, remove the cauliflower from the stove and drain the water immediately and dump cauliflower into a colander with running cold water running over it until it's totally cooled off. Let sit to drip dry for a few minutes and then judge how many servings per meal (a serving would consist of, 2 person individual servings if there's 2 of you, otherwise if you're the only 1 then it's only what you would eat in one meal, if there's more then judge how much would be required for the meal for everyone) and portion that out into freezer bags, that are marked with the contents and the date and freeze it immediately. Most other veggies can be treated the same.
Some veggies don't fare so well when treated like that though and that's onions, mushrooms, lettuce, peppers, corn and tomatoes. Lettuce is the only one out of that list that I have no clue on how to preserve for later use, so you'll have to consume that as quickly as possible.
Otherwise the rest can be used in preserves like salsas, pickles, chutneys, etc.... Or in the case of onions, dehydrated to be used in soups etc, same with mushrooms. Peppers can be chopped into the size and shape you wish to use them in your cooking and put in labelled freezer bags like that. Corn just needs to be stripped from the cob and put into labelled freezer bags. I found that generally speaking an ordinary sized corncob provides enough kernels to equal what you get in those cans of kernel corn. So basically packaging the kernels from 1 cob per bag will be sufficient for 2-3 people as a side dish.
As for meat, you can buy meat in large chunks/quantities from grocery stores and butchers (if there's any left), and butcher it yourself into roasts, cubes, steaks, strips, and mince (you will need a meat grinder or moulinex type appliance for that though). My husband has done that ever since we've been together. But for those who don't know how, there will be a book link for one dealing with that subject here. Then of course you do the same with the meat - whether you bought it packaged or you butchered it yourself, - package it in freezer bags in quantities that will be used per meal. So in other words if you're one person but bought 10 lbs of ground beef because it was on special, that's fine, but don't freeze it like that or you'll still be stuck with the problem of what to do with that much meat all at once. So portion it out for the various things you intend to do with it. Like say you want a couple of hamburgers one night - make the patties & put parchment paper inbetween them to freeze them in a freezer bag. If you want to make a bolognese sauce or maybe tacos another night, portion out the amount of ground beef you think you want for those and write on the label what it is (ie: ground beef for tacos) along with the date and freeze it. Do that for all your various meats and cuts and you shouldn't have any waste.
As for fruit, there's a ton of different things to do with that but if you have an excess of a certain kind perhaps you can can it, or freeze it, bake with it, make juice out of it, or if you have a dehydrator even dry it (depending on type of fruit).
Anyhow with that said you will be provided with ample sites and books to enable you to make or do anything you wish with whatever food you have on hand.
Some of the stories about the latest shut-downs and deprivations will be posted below. With all of these closures being listed from the Canada Day Celebrations on Parliament Hill, to the Stampede, now the Toronto Exhibition, and all the cancellations in Montreal for summer festivities like all the outside festivals, and concerts. It wouldn't surprise me any to hear LaRonde is also going to be closed all summer long. Now Ste. Anne de Bellevue - where the board walk is, wants to have more police there to ensure physical distancing and the boardwalk is shut down altogether. It seems they want the police there to "ensure physical distancing" because they want some of the money from the $1,500 fines being issued. I mean pretty soon it'll be illegal to get outside of your bedroom into the rest of the house. Too bad you need to eat and use the bathroom. That's your problem. If you try to breach the perimeter of your bedroom you'll be fined $1.500. That's basically what it's coming down to, I think.
They just want us to exist or subsist but not live. Actually, I think what they really want is for as many people as possible to die, one way or the other. Either from heat stroke because they're not allowed to cool off by going swimming, or by boredom where they get so bored and see no point to life they wind up killing themselves, or something. I don't know. All I know is it feels like they've sucked the life out of the universe or at least the planet. So in my own humble way I'm going to find a way out of the gloom and doom and enjoy life despite them. I invite all of my visitors to join me in doing the same. Make a loud rowdy ruckus to show them that they haven't sucked the life out of us yet and they never will because we won't let them! Nor will the virus!
Now for the news stories relating to what I've been talking about here:
ANALYSIS-As U.S. meat workers fall sick and supplies dwindle, exports to China soar Wondering how come they can't get the meat to their local grocers in the same country but they have no problems getting it to China? What's that all about anyhow?
Food inspectors could face sanctions if they refuse reassignment to COVID-19-infected meat plants, union told Yes, that's the way to do it. Put the lives of the people who ensure food safety for the rest of us, in danger.
Funds to fight COVID-19 in meat plants might not move for months, feds say Is this geared towards taking meat off the table and turning us into vegetarians and vegans? Is that the purpose of this? Seems like it might be, with all the previous talk about cow farts causing climate change.
Coronavirus: Stonehenge summer solstice gathering cancelled Yet another outdoor activity cancelled. What's wrong with allowing it, but enforcing social distancing? I mean is everyone just supposed to roll over and die when they're not even allowed to go see a bunch of standing stones?
Drive-thrus and drive-ins: How we're relying on our cars during the pandemic Anddd? This is fun? How?
US grocery costs jump the most in 46 years, led by rising prices for meat and eggs Guaranteed, it's going to be the same thing happening here.
Old Home Week among 10 Island festivals and exhibitions cancelled due to COVID-19 I've never been to "Old Home Week", but it must've been something special, allowing kids to get away with blue murder maybe, because everytime I wanted something that I wasn't allowed to have, or do something that I wasn't allowed, or did something but was just on the razor's edge of crossing the line completely, my mother would exclaim in exasperation "What do you think this is, Old Home Week or something?"
Beach bummer: novel coronavirus can live in water, but is it infectious? The authorities need to just give it a rest and stop banning everything because "it's too dangerous". Everytime we cross the street - especially in Montreal "it's too dangerous" but yet if we need to get to the other side of it, that's what we have to do and no one is stopping us from doing that. In fact, I think crossing a street on foot in Montreal is way more imminently dangerous than any virus that takes days to kill us is. But then that's just me. Being stressed out with no fun and no release with nothing but the virus in your face and top of mind all the time, is equally dangerous I think. Considering more than a few people are likely to blow more than a few fuses eventually and when they do it may not be pretty. Who knows maybe that's what caused that guy in NS to go bonkers and kill so many people? We don't know because before anyone had a chance to speak to him to find out his motives, the cops killed him.
So now, to not only make the best of the food we have on hand and not waste it, but to actually enjoy it, so that we don't want to waste it, we need to get started on how to prepare it. From techniques involved to the actual preparation of the recipes. All of the books are downloadable at the longfiles link, and the ebook format will be indicated beside the name. So let's get started:
Getting Started in the Kitchen
Cooking With Kids
Desserts
Miscellaneous
Pasta Recipes epub Morning Food azw3
Baked Potatoes Cookbook epub Seriously Good Salads epub
Easy Weekend Cooking PDF Let's Do Lunch! epub
Classic Candy mobi The Ultimate Bar Book mobi
Simple Homebrewing epub Come get your Fudge epub
Preserves & Food Conservation Methods
Mini Farming Guide to Fermenting: Self-Sufficiency from Beer and Cheese to Wine and Vinegar - mobi Canning and Preserving Recipes epub
Special Diets
Vegetarian & Vegan
Deliciously Ella azw3 Vegan Meal Prep epub
World, Regional & Ethnic Cuisines
Jamaican Recipes Cookbook epub Asian Delights epub
Extra Cooking Knowledge
Online Recipe Sites
The following links are to recipe sites, that have a large variety of recipes for almost any kind of cuisine you can think of, or for a very special segment of the culinary world. You can search for particular recipes by name, there's even one or two that allows you search by ingredients, or just browse their offerings. In any case between these sites and those books along with all previously posted recipe/cooking related links you should have plenty recipes and information on cooking to turn you into a master chef by the time full quarantine is lifted and you can entertain friends and family at home again. So enjoy.
