Zero Food Waste Edition

 Hubby goes through a lot of pickles.  In most Ukrainian families pickles are a staple so back in January I had bought a huge jar which he finished off this morning.  I had 2.5 cucumbers in the fridge so decided to take one and use the leftover pickle juice and some new garlic to make some refrigerator pickles.  They will be ready to eat in a day or two.  They are not exactly like regular pickles but since they are much cheaper and I am aiming for zero food waste this was a great way to use up the pickle brine and make sure the cucumbers were used.

 I have also started to cook just a little bit less.  This seems to be the magic answer to zero food waste and hubby has been more flexible with what he has for lunch now to ensure we are not throwing anything out yet have a good variety of things to eat.  Funny how food has become so precious again so fast. We were pretty good at not wasting food before, but now I am closely monitoring what and where things are in the fridge.  Meals will be built around that.

I said I would share with you photos of our new patio furniture.  We bought it back in mid-January as the store was having an early bird 50% off sale.  It is wonderful and we see many hours spent back there as soon as it warms up a little bit.  The table in the middle is also a fire table although we also intend to eat suppers out there.  It has a propane tank underneath and the fire comes up through beautiful glass in the middle.  Our neighbor has one and we went to her house last September and both of us immediately wanted one.  The picture of the umbrella is lousy but it is massive and can be moved over to the other area of the patio that is meant in future for 2 chaise loungers - at this point likely to be purchased later in summer or next year depending on finances.

Yesterday I had to go pick up our online order of groceries, went to the bank and the post office as well for our business.  All 3 were rather strange experiences.

Hubby did the post office.  The worker there actually joked about having a cold.  In this day and age is that appropriate?  Idiot.  There are no guarantees on shipping right now, even if you pay more.  Soon there will be no out of country mail, that is in the works already.

I deposited our corporate checks at the bank.  There was a line up for the instant teller.  For the actual bank they had the doors closed with a narrow passageway for people to go in and out and a worker at the front limiting it to 2 people in the entire bank at one time.  There were ropes up in front of the tellers so you couldn't get too close.  You had to stretch out so they could reach your deposit book.  Anyway, at least the bank is still open at our location.

Next up was our Superstore online order.  I believe I booked our timeslot about 5 days out.  I was able to add items to my cart right up until the night before delivery day.  I got a text an hour ahead indicating I was to come to the store and park in one of the pickup reserved spots and then there was a phone number to call once we were parked.  I called, he confirmed substitutions and then brought out the cart.  Of two households worth of products 8 items were not available.  Nothing we can't live without.  I definitely would use the service again.  I saw a huge line of people waiting to get into the store with their carts as they are really limiting the number of shoppers in the store at one time.  All grocery stores have had to hire additional security to enforce crowd size.

That was our final grocery shop likely for 3-4 weeks.  It is the cheapest place to get most items which is why it is so popular.  There is a much smaller grocery store near my house which has a good selection and much smaller crowds but higher prices.  I will go there when we just need a couple of items like bread, milk, eggs and produce.

One OTC item that can only be bought in a pharmacy I need for hubby has been out at the last 3 stores so tomorrow I am going pharmacy to pharmacy to try and find him some.  Unfortunately this is the way of the new world.  If I find any of the other missing items on my list at the same time I will pick those up.  We are stocked up on everything else in the mean time.

Late Wednesday we drove down to the ocean for a breather.  I got out for a few minutes but there were so many cars there trying to do the same thing, most people stayed in their cars to keep the distance.  We didn't spend very long there but I did take a couple of photos which I will share in my next post.  Simple pleasures like going to the ocean are more difficult now since most parks have been closed.

Tonight I am making pizza from scratch for supper.  I don't usually have the hour and a half it takes but now I do.  That's what is shaking in our world.  Be safe everyone!