It has been awhile since we have checked in about grocery shopping! Partly it’s because there’s been less to report. Supplies have seemed steadier overall, with a few persistent exceptions: usual bread still not available, usual pizza sauce still not available, disinfecting wipes/sprays and my usual disinfectant cleaning spritzes still not available, still only a few kinds of chicken nuggets, still very little yeast, still only unfamiliar-brand hand sanitizer in what looks like water bottles. Frozen fruit is still patchy, but better. Vegetarian meat-equivalents have been VERY patchy, but I’ve been able to find enough to get by.
I don’t think anything at my grocery store is currently limited to a certain number of items per customer: not the meat, not the flour, not the sugar, not even the toilet paper or paper towels. In fact, the paper products aisle is STUFFED FULL, with extra paper towels taking up space in the still-depleted cleaning-supply section.
I’m noticing a LOT of store-brand merchandise, including for products that didn’t used to have a store brand (or perhaps I just hadn’t noticed the store brand, and/or it wasn’t so prominent before). I’d heard online that soy sauce was hard to find, so I checked for it, and on the shelf was one single extra-large bottle of Kikkoman soy sauce, and the rest of TWO ENTIRE SHELVES was filled with store-brand soy sauce. And they were out of our usual pasta sauce, and that area of the shelf was filled with a store-brand equivalent I don’t remember ever seeing before. Most of the abundance of paper towels and toilet paper are the store-brand.
Eggs have been oddly small. We’ve had some dozens where some of the eggs are regular size but maybe half of them are so small I use three eggs as the equivalent of two.
Flour variety is still patchy. Last week I went to the smaller branch of our grocery store that’s nearer to us (during the pandemic I’ve been going more often to the larger branch further away, because they have better supplies and wider aisles), and they had only two kinds of flour, and also I noticed they were charging SEVEN FORTY-NINE for it. I know such things vary regionally, so for comparison this was for the more-expensive-brand flour that is usually right around four dollars at that exact store. I wonder how long I might have been paying $7.49 without noticing? I am normally a price-noticer, but the last few months I have not had the available neurons for that—and also, with some products out of stock and others filling in the gaps, it can be hard to even find the price. Today I went to the larger branch, and they had MANY more kinds of flour (even the unbleached version of one brand), and they were charging normal prices for it. But it makes me wonder if the reason our grocery bill has been high is not just that I’m buying more per trip, but also that things have been priced higher than usual without me noticing.
I have been craving coleslaw, so I bought another bag of the pre-shredded cabbage blend to make it with, and when I got home I noticed it said “Use by July 28” on it. (Today is July 31.) Not even “sell by,” but USE by. (Checking expiration dates is another task I don’t have the available neurons for.) It didn’t seem slimy, just extra cabbage-fragrant; I made coleslaw out of it anyway. Do you want my coleslaw recipe? It’s based on my dad’s recipe, but he uses Miracle Whip so I changed it to accommodate mayonnaise. Here’s my dad’s recipe, if you use Miracle Whip:
Swistle’s Dad’s Coleslaw Recipe (Miracle Whip)
1 lb. shredded coleslaw mix
3/4 c. Miracle Whip
1.5 T. sugar
1.5 T. vinegar
Mix all ingredients together. Refrigerate awhile to allow flavors to blend.
We used to use Miracle Whip, too, but then I was on keto so we switched to mayonnaise and we haven’t switched back, at least not yet. I looked up how to substitute mayonnaise for Miracle Whip, and found several LONG and INVOLVED recipes, including one that wanted me to COOK the mayonnaise with the additional ingredients (honey, no), but looking at a bunch of different recipes it seemed as if the gist was that if I used mayonnaise I should add some vinegar, sugar, and salt. Since my dad’s recipe already calls for vinegar and sugar, I just used more. I also added salt. And then I impulsively shook in a little bottled lemon juice. So here’s my recipe, if you use mayonnaise:
Swistle’s Coleslaw Recipe (Mayonnaise)
1 lb shredded coleslaw mix
3/4 c. mayonnaise
2 T. sugar
2.5 T. vinegar
a good pinch of salt
like a teaspoon or so of lemon juice
None of that seems like it has to be super precise. I put in more like 1.5 T. of sugar when I made it today, because 2 T. just seemed like kind of a lot; we’ll see if it makes a difference. [Update: It made a difference. Not a good difference. I added more sugar. I like non-sweet coleslaw recipes, too, but this is a sweet/tart one and it needs the sweet to balance the tart.] I like to mix everything except the bag of shreddies in a big plastic bowl, then add the shredded stuff and stir it, then spatula it into a 1.5-quart lidded glass bowl. I know that makes for an extra bowl to clean, but I don’t like to have to be careful when I’m stirring, and coleslaw is fun to stir, and the extra bowl is quick to wash.
For the past FOUR trips (remember we’re still talking about grocery shopping), the store has been out of the Gardein Beefless Ground I use for the vegetarians in our household. We have tried other brands, and none of the ones we’ve tried have been anywhere near as good. This time they FINALLY had it back in stock, and I bought three bags—but now they’re out of the Morning Star faux-chicken patties and nuggets.
I am still doing the shopping before my daily shower, so that afterward I can shower off the real and imaginary germs without feeling as if perhaps I am going a bit far with this. Also, I am much more tolerant of being hot/sweaty if I know I’ll be showering soon, and it’s always hot and humid now. Also, because of the heat/humidity, I need to get the groceries inside and put away QUICKLY, which means I end up even hotter and sweatier and stressier. A nice cool shower is a good reset button. (And I count the shopping and putting-away as my exercise for the day.)
Speaking of the heat and humidity, I was explaining to Elizabeth that I would not be able to successfully purchase the Klondike bars she was hoping for: the grocery store I was planning to go to is 20 minutes away, and I don’t like to count on the ice cream making it that long in summer. She suggested bringing an insulated bag, and I reminded her that the store is not currently allowing customers to bring in their own bags. “…But you can still use it in the car,” she explained gently. My goodness, imagine having all those fresh youthful brain cells!
So I DID bring the insulated bag, with several ice packs in it. Normally (normally during a pandemic, I mean), when I come out to the car after shopping I triage the groceries a little, putting things that don’t mind the heat so much (toilet paper, flour, cereal, canned stuff) into the trunk, and the rest of the stuff into the air-conditioned interior (this helps me prioritize things to bring in / put away soonest when I get home, too); and this time I added the extra step of putting some of the frozen stuff (the Klondike bars, the frozen fruit) into the insulated bag. It was GREAT. I have added “insulated bag and ice packs” to my pre-grocery-shopping checklist. I might purchase MORE insulated bags.
How has your grocery shopping been going lately? Do you have a coleslaw recipe you like?