Thoughts on Sheltering In
A Pandemic Story, The Early Days*

When I prepared for a long stay at home, I did not anticipate the amount of ketchup my husband Jim would consume. (Going through my mind right now: Carly Simon’s song “Anticipation” while your ketchup is sloowly creeping out of the bottle.) Canned goods, fine, ground coffee, fine, flour, sugar, fine, WHERE IS THE EXTRA BOTTLE OF KETCHUP IN THE PANTRY?

Oh, well, we had to run out of something, right?

Jim wasn’t so much concerned about paper products as he asks, “We’re not going to run out of wine, are we?” I assured him our wine club memberships would not allow that.

Things I have learned in the first two weeks we are sequestered at home:
The pancake recipe only uses one egg. Great for breakfast or lunch. Blueberries for breakfast, diced chicken and apple is the filling for lunch. (I only had 2 dozen eggs, I’m trying to ration them.)

Frozen fruit lasts a lot longer than fresh fruit.

Wisconsin Cheeseman delivers a lot faster than Omaha Steaks, but they charge for delivery, and Omaha Steaks will be free. My husband never says “Omaha Steaks,” he says “Obama Steaks” and now he’s got me saying that.

I found a great recipe for Starbucks Sous Vites Egg Bites and you can make 5 or 6 with just 3 eggs.

You can sing for a nursing home via Skype.

I thought we’d never have fresh food again. Then the Sun Basket box arrived with fresh everything. I nearly cried. They delivered every week without fail, right to the front door. The menus were fun, the recipes delicious and easy to prepare. 

We are fairly prepared. Life is good.

* I realize this should have been published in March. Really interesting to look back and feel the panic rising.