The less time spent there, the better.
It’s sad; I used to love going to the grocery store every week. Pick up some fresh produce, see all the limited edition snacks, get lucky with a buy-one-get-one. Nowadays, though, the grocery store is a tense battlefield where everyone is armed with gloves and masks and wants to get in, buy literally everything, and leave everyone else in the dust. Well, okay, supply lines are starting to catch up, so there’s more toilet paper now. The point I’m getting at here is that until this pandemic is over, you shouldn’t be dilly-dallying in the grocery store.
The produce section, in particular, can be a tricky mistress in this situation. For one thing, due to the current situation, a lot of grocery stores have gotten an influx of unripe produce due to the surge in demand. While it won’t necessarily hurt you to eat, it probably won’t keep very long, which is a problem if you’re trying to go to the store as little as possible. While it may break some of your hearts, you might just have to suck it up and go for frozen veggies. What they lack in freshness, they make up for in shelf life, and they’re still plenty nutritious.
Shelf life is the name of the game here; only buy fresh meat, for instance, if you know you’re going to use it all up quickly. If you want something that lasts longer, try eggs or canned fish. Again, not as tasty, but we gotta make sacrifices here. Even if you can’t get super fresh stuff, you can still plan your cooking around longer-lasting stuff. My sister just made a batch of cookies with oatmeal and peanut butter, two great staples of a stocked pantry.
If you’re really worried about leaving the house, remember that many brand-name stores also offer delivery, though that tends to cut down on your selection options a bit. But hey, if you’ve been reading this, then that’s probably not an issue.
