My fall pantry doesn't look any different than any other time of the year. My freezer however is another story. I've been weeding out the freezer-burnt foods from last year, so they can be replace by things from the garden this year. Hopefully things will get a little better arranged as well. 🤭

I cleaned out both my freezers a couple of months ago and have been rapidly refilling them as I found really good buys on meat and veggies. Now I'm working on canning and dehydrating for the pantry. I live in a rural area, on top of one of the tallest hills. I'd like to have enough put up to keep trips out to an absolute minimum this fall and winter.

Madonna

I'm at a bit more stocked than usual for this time of year. The freezers are full and at the "eating down" point right now. I got a bit ahead of myself on some freezer meals and lunches as well as getting a couple unexpected good sales on meats.

The dry pantries are larger than usual this year. Did some re-arranging and added in a new shelving unit. I did a lot of early stocking up on herbs/spices, rice/grains, beans, and slews of the condiments and oils and such. Some baking supplies, but not a ton- we don't really eat sweets and don't need a lot of bread so a little goes a long way for us.

Usually I run around a 3-4 month larder. With some perishables like milk and some fresh produce being more frequent. Like right now it's normally stocked up for the holiday sales and garden surplus. But this year I'm bumping out to more of a 5-6 month larder. Been doing more canning and dehydrating. Not a lot more, but enough.

It's not just C-19 for me. After a bad injury last fall followed by a couple bad rounds of being sick this year... I'm just trying to do what I can now to minimize having to go out in winter as much as possible this year.

After a bad injury last fall followed by a couple bad rounds of being sick this year

that's a good reason to stock up. I've been doing it more in the last year than previously because of that. An unexpected leg surgery in 2018 and a year of having a more difficult time getting around ... so I'm thinking ahead a bit more in case something else unexpected pops up - as did covid 19! so I try to keep things here for at least a month or so in advance. I don't wait until I'm out of something to put it on my list. If freezers become available again I plan to get a small one and maybe put a small shelving unit in a back bedroom.

Beesneeds, I'm stocking for 5 to 6 months supplies, too. One of my friends asked if I was planning to feed an army since there's just me. Nope, but with the way things have been going, well I have no one to depend on but me. If something would happen and I couldn't get out, at least I'll have what's needed. What I have yet to stock up on is dog food and scratch and feed for my chickens and ducks, but I need to get more storage containers for that.

Madonna

Ain'tnothing wrong with being an army one one. We are an army of two, and yes, it's a lot of food.

Some of my prepping too is that I live in a rather rural area- but we got some serious Chicago eating habits. As in all the different ethnic foods. Good thing I trained in some of the kitchens there- if we want ethnic other than Mexican or Chinese, I gotta make it myself. The local Italian/pizza joints are just awful, I make better at home. And for years it's just been cheaper to eat at home than eat out- only been last year that we started to go out for Friday fish frys once in a while.

Been debating the notion of getting an air fryer or maybe the broiler/fryer lid for my instant pot as part of fall stocking this year.

I agree, there's nothing wrong with an army of one, if you don't need it you can have a big freezer/pantry cleaning party in the spring!

beesneeds, we're kind of the same here, very rural. We do have a sushi restaurant in town now, catering to the college students and employees: https://ttowasushi.com/

The only "chinese" food is one of those buffets which isn't really Chinese and the only Mexican is El Burrito and Taco Bell. So, anything at all different and I have to make it myself.

I'm still fighting with my air fryer, I haven't gotten the best of that fight yet, but it makes pretty good "fried" chicken. I haven't managed to do anything else outstanding with it,m but I keep trying.

Annie

Surprised to see a TV commercial this morning for wipes. Not sure if lysol or Clorox, but they have not been available here since March. Maybe an anticipation ad to look for the re-stocking? We still have a couple Costco wipes I purchased last Fall. One in each car and on each front door and garage door. (the big tubes)

I finally used my first instacart delivery a couple hours ago. I've had an open cart for a couple months but did not use the service. Pretty sweet. Angelica (shopper) texted me if I had any questions and will let me know if she finds out-of-stock and needs a replacement. I know that grocery well, Shop-Rite. Iffy-crappy but I need tp and tissue and non-produce selections.

Pretty hilarious. Getting play-by-play with a personal shopper, sending pics of the shelf per sending me text pics of shelves. I lucked out with a good shopper. And adorable.

I find it weird. Slightly uncomfortable, but she has made it hilarious and fun....sort-of.

Nice format. I know someone that received 6 bunches of bananas instead of '6' bananas and 4 bags of lemons instead of '4' lemons. ETC.

Hehehe annie, closest sushi around here is about 45 min away. Oh, there is a sushi cabinet at one of the local Meijers too that isn't too bad- at least for their potstickers and seaweed salad. I've even been lucky enough to be there on the one morning a week the guy is there making the sushi, then I might pick up a fresh roll or two from his hands to mine.

This year is so weird. I’m surprised it is almost September.

A great deal of my cooking and food motivation, it turns out, is social. With our social life reduced to brief porch chit chats, the real cooking here is down to about a fifth of normal and the volume of pizza delivery is triple the usual.

I sous vided some salmon and made some fresh pesto yesterday and you’d have thought I’d delivered a five course meal. And that’s all the ambition I have for the week.

On the bright side, I’m greeted as family by the Chinese takeout place, and have a whole new appreciation for canned tuna.

We’re headed to Tahoe next week for a Covid-altered week with our friends. No kids, just a small nucleus of diligently quarantined adults. But we’ll have fun cooking again.

John, my cooking has changed too, without big family dinners and altering all meals to fit Mother's limited likes and Elery's Weight Watchers requirements. Now he's not as diligent but still won't eat pasta, potatoes, bread or grains. The only bread that really gets baked any more is Mother's cinnamon rolls, and she refuses anything whole wheat, so all my lovely bags of wheat berries and einkorn sit unused. (sigh)

Enjoy your Tahoe trip, sometimes just a change of scenery is nice, and it'll give you an excuse to cook.

beesneeds, our Meijer has a sushi counter too, and the guy is there on Wednesday's, I think. I've been kind of scared, though. (grin)

Annie

Annie, I'm so impressed Elery has stuck with it. So often it is a fail.

We were always the party house and sometimes I miss the insanity. I think the dentist visit and DH a couple weeks later to the eye Dr. put us on edge. Both appointments and offices were so careful but so much unknown.

I did get a fresh 1/5 gallon of Clorox yesterday. No problem most things we usually need. It is what those that have preferred needs like your mothers pot-pies for quick meals....if you see it, stock up. (then she over-night does not like it, oy!) 😂

DH is back at work with a core small work force. Tested three times now and I think about 50-60 people, all negative. Masks, n95's, and face shields. New wash stations foot activated, all doors propped open. New HVAC systems with proper filters. Still unnerving. We shall see. Testing and medic team on staff. Masks properly fitted. Homemade or purchased masks for comfort are ok but must have a filter pocket and a fitted wire nose strip. Filters provided.

John, I'm impressed you have successfully created a safe bubble of friends. We failed at that. Even with NYState having very low numbers, we are still a bit shy about social gatherings. Really just not in the mood. We tried a 4th of July gathering but it was short lived.

You do seem to thrive on cooking for gatherings of friends. Good you have a trip planned to re-boot the lack of cooking enthusiasm.

Sleeve, I’d also be rattled about working around lots of other people. I do think that with good masks and ventilation (or serious HEPA air cleaners where fresh air is not ample) the risk is much reduced. But constantly guarding against a slip or momentary inattention seems like it’s going to stressful. And I imagine there will be people who have to be unmasked as part of the work.

Bon courage!

My friends are all being very, very cautious. WFH, masking, distancing. None of my close friends or even close acquaintances have gotten Covid, so these precautions do seem to work.

DD reports that among her California friends (all early twenties) the extent of precautions varies widely. Some are very cautious, others not so much, several have gotten Covid, none seriously ill yet. DD herself has made a couple trips to CA, then isolated herself in her Eugene apartment for two weeks before coming up to Portland.

She’s moved home now and will soon start her Covid job (full time teacher, tutor, language, and general nanny for some kids enrolled in a French immersion school, perfect fit for DD) so her social life will be drastically curtailed. But it won’t last forever (the kids’ school will eventually go back to in-person) and she’ll be saving quite a bit of money for her post-Covid plans. She still wants to live Somewhere Else then eventually go back to Europe to work or study.

DS is going to have a hard time staying Covid-safe when he’s back at college. The classes will be all online but kids in college are getting infected all the same. His housemates and he are all very cautious but still . . . I’m hoping he surfs and camps on the weekends instead of hanging out in college dives.

I’m very optimistic that we’ll see the pandemic recede in six or nine months. By mid ‘21 anyone who wants to be vaccinated should have been so, and even a 40% vaccination rate plus maybe 30% infected-recovered implies a much less vulnerable population. Even the 1918 pandemic only lasted a little over a year, although it claimed a huge number of people before it burned out.

So, just need to get to the other side, healthy and sane and hopefully neither rotund nor ill-fed :-)

Annie, a couple of my favorites in the air fryer besides chicken are eggplant parm....I could never get the eggplant crispy before the AF. Egg rolls.Crispy burritos.

Of course all involve some sort of breading or wrap, but they make a very good ww tortilla. You can use whatever coating for the eggplant you use for your chicken (WW flour, ground quinua, or whatever suits your fancy) I think egg roll wrappers are just that. I don't know of a substitution.

Right now, dehydrating things.

I've pulled most of the potatoes, and I will dehydrate some of those... chopping into diced bits.

Beets and Asian greens await a nearby harvest.

I hope your'e right about about the six to nine months, John. This is getting old and I'm in an area that hasn't been hit hard.

As far as fall prepping goes, I just got back from judging preserved foods at our fair, which is one of the few that didn't get canceled (Annie, did you have Fair this year?). I live in the land of preppers....people are moving here like crazy because, well....no masks, no mandates and land is cheap (wait 'til winter). I didn't know whether to expect a ton of entries because we have so many new and enthusiastic canners, or to expect low entries because people are scared. It was about normal, which was comforting in a weird way, lol. People were relaxed, hand sanitizer available and other than a superintendent that kept getting too close, we social distanced nicely. So nice to do something "normal".

I have three freezers to reorganize before our beef is butchered. Yick.

KatieC, our Fair was cancelled, as were pretty much all of them in Michigan, we took a pretty hard hit. Detroit really rang up our numbers but that's a long way from me My own county has about 200 cases, both active and recovering, with about 50,000 residents, so a relatively low percentage. We do have a mask mandate which people refused to follow so our Governor made it a criminal offense with a $100 fine. A lot more people started wearing masks, oddly enough. (ahem) Lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth, of course, like wearing a mask is a terrible hardship for them to endure. Whatever.

Freezers? Yeah, me too. I'm at least happy that we have beef to butcher.

I also hope John is right about the 6 to 9 months thing. If we can get decent fast testing, and a vaccine that works reasonably well, we might be able to achieve herd immunity if enough people opt for the vaccine. I hope so, even I'm getting kind of antsy and I kind of like staying home and not seeing anyone!

artemis, I've also been dehydrating things, like these Sriracha flavored zucchini chips and a couple of batches of dehydrated green onions:

nancyjane, I did okra in the air fryer tonight, Elery said it was good. I ate one piece, then got the slimy glob at the back of my throat and I was done. Elery was happy, it left more for him, LOL. My eggplant isn't quite ready yet, but I'll remember the air fryer when it is, thanks!

sleevendog, Elery gained about 10 pounds back and now is back to taking it off. Something about that replacement hip AND replacement knee and he doesn't want to do that again, so he's pretty diligent. Mother? Well, there's nothing to be done except make two separate meals, one for her and one for Elery. Time consuming and sometimes annoying, but it's the only thing I've found that works.

Annie