How are you making your resources stretch? Let's share, here

Now that COVID-19 is in every state and province to some degree, many of us are under shelter-at-home mandates by our government leaders. And for those of us who are not, the national government is strongly suggesting that if we don't need to be out, to please not be. So, a lot of us are just hunkering down, trying to ride this out while minimizing any trips to the grocery store.  As we could all guess, this means we'll run out of some food supplies before others. 

By sharing how we're managing our resources, we can bolster each other's efforts during this difficult period. I'll start.

1) You know from my post yesterday that I'm using eggs sparingly. Last night I baked a pumpkin pie using 1  1/2 eggs instead of the usual 2 eggs. That 1/2 egg saved may not sound like much. However, I intend to make a dessert for my family using that 1/2 egg instead of the usual whole egg in the next day or two. To compensate for the half egg less, I reduced the milk for the pie by 1/4 cup. The pie set up nicely and was delicious. I'll also add that this was perhaps the least extra flour I've ever used to roll the crust out on the counter. There was no leftover flour after rolling the dough, and I had to very carefully peel the rolled dough off of the stone counter to place in the pie plate. 

2) I made a large chicken and rice casserole using 1 chicken leg quarter (chicken drumstick and thigh) to feed the four of us. 

I didn't have any canned cream soup, so I made my own cream soup, using some of the stock from simmering the chicken, milk, onion and garlic powders, fresh onion and celery, seasonings, and a bit of flour to thicken. 

I simmered the chicken for a couple of hours before taking the meat off the bones. Afterward, I put the bones and skin back into the simmering stock and left it all to cook in the crockpot overnight. 

Your turn. How have you been stretching your resources?



I want to add this: a completely voluntary work-from-home began in the Seattle area almost immediately following the first death in Washington state (and the entire US). That first death was reported over a weekend and by Monday, my husband reported that all of the commuter buses he took to and from work that day were half full (usually standing room only). By the end of the week, the big tech companies were all requesting employees to work from home. By Friday, March 6, the local news had showed photos of downtown Seattle looking deserted. Although our governor mandated we all stay at home just last week, a large percentage of the Seattle population had begun social distancing by mid-March. And now, some experts are suggesting that social distancing may be working, as they can see a flattening of the curve beginning to develop in Washington state. We still have a long ways to go, here. But it has been gratifying to hear that our collective efforts may actually be making a difference in my state. Washington state was hit earlier than other states with COVID-19. So, we've been at this social shutdown for just a tad longer than many regions of the US. 

If you are wondering if staying at home will really make a difference in your area, I'm just saying that your efforts could help flatten the curve so that medical resources could be available to all who need them in your state and not overburden the doctors and nurses in your community. 

Staying at home for my family means that we're not going out except to fill prescriptions (and those we do in the drive-thru at our pharmacy to minimize interaction). We're choosing to do this not only for our own safety, but also to reduce the overall spread of the virus with hopes to spare more lives while we wait for effective treatment or a vaccine.

I've been experimenting with using half an egg in recipes

In addition to hoarding toilet paper, flour, baker's yeast, and canned goods, Americans apparently have been hoarding fresh eggs, pushing prices on eggs higher. Egg prices came close to $5 per dozen in one store in California late last week. Fresh eggs are no where near that price in my area. However, the news also reported that in order to meet the current demand in stores, the inventory that was being held back for the upcoming Easter holiday week were released for consumer purchase in the past couple of weeks. This means that those super deals on eggs may or may not happen in the second week of April, as many of us have become accustomed to over the years.

In addition, as I'm not going out to stores right now, I have limited access to buying more fresh items, such as eggs. So, I've been experimenting with baking without eggs or with half the amount of eggs. This past week, I cooked/baked two items using a half an egg in each recipe, bean burger patties and a batch of oatmeal cookies.

I simply broke the egg into a custard cup and beat it before spooning out about half the beaten egg for the first recipe, then covered and kept the remaining half egg in the fridge until I baked the other recipe. The end products for both recipes turned out well. With the bean burger patties, I didn't alter the recipe in any other way. And with the cookie dough, I added about 1  1/2 tablespoons of milk to make up for the lacking moisture from using only half an egg.

I still have a few dozen fresh eggs in the fridge. I intend to stretch out their use over the course of a couple of months, if possible. In the next week or two, I'll be freezing some of the eggs to further their safe-to-eat life and provide us with eggs for cooking into the weeks of May.

In addition the using half the usual amount of eggs in cooking and baking, I've also been using egg substitutes, such as ground flax seed and a pinch extra of baking powder. Here's a post from a few years ago that outlines which substitute to use based on the function of egg in different recipes.

I hope you're all doing well.