Balance of Food

Embracing your stress eating during the COVID-19 coronavirus

There was the gourmet strawberry ice cream that ended up in the shopping basket. The containers of Belgian chocolate pudding that were the only thing I could find that I wanted at Trader Joe's. The on-sale canisters of Planters Cheez Balls.

These are the byproducts of stress eating and buying in recent grocery store trips during the limited trips outside thanks to the COVID-19 coronavirus.

I also bought spinach, carrots. I have had blueberries in my freezer from last summer.

Limited exercise. Restaurants out unless they are carry out (no car so no drive-thrus). Food as entertainment is true more than ever.

You can allow yourself treats during isolation. You can manage your food supply.

If you do work outside the home and are working from home, let's celebrate the calories you aren't consuming. The hurried breakfast you ate as you were running out the door or on the way to the office. No bagels and donuts at the office. The crappy, expensive, calorie-laden lunches. The opening of cans and boxes because you were tired to make dinner after a rough day at the office.

Alternative foods if your grocery store has been raided due to COVID-19 coronavirus

Will COVID-19 play a role with farmers markets?

You have time to cook and more hands to help with dinner.

As we've noted in the past, if you are going to dip into the pool of treats, treat yourself well. Premium ice cream and pudding. Okay, the "cheez balls" not so much. I hadn't had them in awhile. These are tough times.

Alton Brown did an episode on Good Eats about how much more you get with premium ice cream vs. fat-free ice cream. You get more with premium.

You deserve a treat or two. Make the ice cream last by taking smaller servings. Get your fruits and vegetables in earlier in the day. Develop some new habits. Drink the water. Fix a breakfast that will last you awhile. Learn some better eating habits.

This shelter in place system may last longer than the authorities have said. Pace yourself. Treat yourself well … just not too many treats.

photo credit: me

Alternative foods if your grocery store has been raided due to COVID-19 coronavirus

You may have seen the grocery store shelves in North America where people came in and hoarded groceries thanks to the COVID-19 coronavirus. Most of that food likely won't get eaten in the next 2-3 weeks. The hoarding makes some feel safe leaving others without actual options.

Milk, bread, eggs are usually what gets taken in with an impending snowstorm. This is worse in a major way since most communities dig out of a snowstorm faster.

If you got to the grocery store later than you wanted, here are some good foods that will help you last longer in a "shelter in place" scenario.

Rice lasts a very long time, much longer than bread. The worse the bread is made, the longer the bread will keep thanks to chemicals. Bread of any type will last in the freezer. Rice is the go-to carbohydrate. Brown rice holds nutrition and fiber advantages over white rice. Fiber is crucial when trapped inside for long periods, keeping you full longer.

You can make rice in large batches, bring them out of the freezer in small batches, and warm them in the microwave. Rice is also huge in terms of being cheaper than any level of bread and, in the best way possible, you have more rice left over when things get better.

Pasta is also inexpensive and lasts for a very long time. You can also make pasta if you have flour and eggs or flour and water.

UHT milk provides longer shelf life but nutrition and taste are lost

You could cut back your "milk" consumption during this time. If that is not practical, you have a few options.

Powdered milk might be easier to find. The idea of mixing water into your milk container may seem, well, gross. Powdered milk is likely not a key raided product.

Alternative milks that are shelf-stable gives you flexibility.

We dread the UHT milk that seems to be quite popular. The longer expiration dates make consumers feel safer even with the nutritive losses with UHT milk. You can extend regular milk beyond its expiration date within reason

Switching to cheese and yogurt helps the dairy and protein requirements. Milk in its forms does offer versatility missing from other dairy products

Will COVID-19 play a role with farmers markets?

Eggs bought from local farmers last longer than store-delivered eggs. Find out if a local farmer can satisfy that requirement. Knowing your farmer is helpful in such times. Farmer markets are pretty much done in the current pandemic. If the farmer can get to you or you can get to the farmer, you can get amazing eggs that will last a long time.

Pasteurized eggs and egg substitutes offer alternatives that are less flexible than actual eggs.

BalanceofFood.com farmers market coverage

Fresh is better: canned and frozen fill the gaps really well. Rinse and drain anything that has been in a can. In a pandemic, canned and frozen are extremely legitimate sources of protein (canned fish, beans) and fruit/vegetables.

photo credit: me

Will COVID-19 play a role with farmers markets?

In a new era of social distancing, farmers markets remain a personal way to get fresh produce and converse with the person who created the food.

New York is banning gatherings of more than 500 people. San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose all have bans of more than 1,000 people. Washington Governor Jay Inslee set the mark at 250 in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties (Seattle metro area). All the bans are tied to reducing the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Most of the country does not have to worry about a local farmers market reaching those proportions, even in good weather. The bans could become more significant as the weather warms if COVID-19 doesn't ease in its growth projection.

The Pike Place Market in Seattle covers a lot of ground. You can certainly find more than 250 people in nice weather. Pike Place has a lot of buildings as well as the open market so that might not be an issue under the Washington state ban.

The Ferry Building Farmers Market in San Francisco likely doesn't hit 1,000 but there are usually several hundred people across the front and south side of the building on Saturday mornings.

The Green City Market in Chicago doesn't go outdoors until May. Chicago's brand new mark is 1,000. The market draws a few hundred people at a time, nowhere near 1,000.

As the weather improves, markets might become a concern. Other Chicago markets start in May, especially in downtown Chicago.

Even if crowds are a concern, there could be bouncers, limiting access until other people leave.

Crowd bans reduced in size even further could impact farmers markets.

The farmers coming to the markets also have to deal with the potential of a coronavirus. That might unnerve some farmers from coming to markets.

BalanceofFood.com farmers market coverage

Here at BalanceofFood.com, we don't like scaring readers into something or away from something. That isn't our style. We worry about farmers and farmers markets. The hope is the conditions in North America will improve by May.

We also recognize that May is a long way away in terms of where the COVID-19 coronavirus will be in North America. We worry because farmers markets are a good habit that may be difficult to reclaim if lost due to a pandemic.

Short-term sacrifices are a concern. Long-term damage to farmers markets would be a greater concern.

photo credit: me

What's Eating America devotes cable news time to important food issues

What's Eating America with Andrew Zimmern is shining a light on food-related society issues. The 5-part series is running on MSNBC Sunday nights at 9 pm Eastern.

The opening episode devoted 2 hours to the ties between immigration and the food supply. Subsequent episodes covered climate change, addiction with voting rights and fresh food fail coming up.

The immigration and climate change episodes relate all too well to food supply concerns in the United States. Great to have a 5-part series, but wish all the episode were devoted to concerns in the food supply chain.

The addiction episode was more about Zimmern's addiction issues and the impact of alcohol and drugs in the bar and restaurant industry. The voting rights and voting suppression issue is crucial, but looks to be not really food-related.

The food system is also about who is involved in your food

In the immigration episode, you might have recognized Cristina Martinez, who runs a popular barbacoa restaurant in Philadelphia. Full Frontal with Samantha Bee profiled the impact of immigration on food in 2018.

Samantha Bee, a documented immigrant herself (she's from Canada), guided the audience through a path of undocumented immigrants in kitchens. Bee talked with Martinez at her popular barbacoa restaurant in Philadelphia as well as undocumented restaurant employees who didn't want their identity revealed.

Behind the jokes, Stephen Colbert shines light on plight of farm workers

Colbert Report to shine spotlight on farm workers and their sacrifices

Zimmern points out that these are skilled workers given the work that they are doing and that most Americans won't do. He notes that immigration reform would extend the use of food trucks to bring different cultures at lunchtime.

Watching Zimmern pick strawberries shows the need for immigrant workers. Watching that footage reminded us of Stephen Colbert on the Colbert Report taking us through the arduous process of picking fruits and vegetables.

Zimmern's style is easygoing, curious, and relatable to people of all classes. The show bounces to all parts of the country whether that is the lack of perch in Lake Michigan to the dead oysters in Apalachicola Bay, Florida. Chef and humanitarian José Andrés helps out in the immigration episode.

168 hours in a week should be long enough for cable news to cover food-related topics. Sadly, that isn't true. Zimmern is a chef who does a lot of television and knows the impact of food in our society. 6 hours is not a long time to cover food issues. The show hopefully will inspire more food journalism on cable TV news.

What's Eating America with Andrew Zimmern runs Sunday nights at 9 pm Eastern on MSNBC. You can catch up (with authentication) on previous episodes.

photos credit: What's Eating America with Andrew Zimmern/MSNBC