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Errands  today.

Aldi's, pepBoys, Advance Auto., Dollartree. Goodwill for the first time in several months.

 

All places have signs on doors for people to wear masks.  It's rare to see people not wearing them.

 

Advance auto actually the air inside was tolerable.  It didn't have the high toxic petroleum smell that Auto parts and tire dealers often have.  I really don't know how people can work in that.   But pepboys was stinky inside and they didn't have the part I was looking for.

 

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Aldis I had to wait 10- 15 minutes outside in 95 degree full sun which was OK for getting my vit D.  Everything for the most part was stocked. 

Still no Baking Soda.  Limits on some things like those 12 packs of t.p. from last week, only can buy 1.  There were only a few left and there were no other t.p. products.

Prices for some things actually were reduced.  The Kiwi which is typically 3.99 for 6 was 3.50.  The package of pre-sliced sandwich "Black Forest" ham which is typically $3.19 was $2.95

 

Other stuff like raspberries, green onions, and bananas seem to be unchanged.

 

Got a bag of frozen onion rings for $2.19   and 4 lb.s sugar $1.73

 

One thing I've noticed that's gone up over the last month are green peppers.  I'm growing my own so, whateve...

 

 

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Dollartree- They are limiting how many people in the store, but i didn't have to wait.  Noticed that the Marshall's (don't know what they sell) next door was open and relatively busy.

Spent like $10 on various things.   

 

Got a newly REDUCED size  Clorox bleach?  Really?  It was already small before.  It went from 16 oz to 11 oz.  This will typically last for me 6 months.

It still uses the same cap.  Am I the only one thinking this toxic chemical is in an adorable mini-bottle size?   lol

 

They did have the single rolls of t.p. that are Scott equiv.  Didn't buy any.   Got a mini bottle of Gain detergent.

Bought cough syrup which I use sparingly and it usually lasts 6 months.  I swear by this stuff for keeping me from ever getting sick.  When I went through the check out the computer has the cashier ask if the purchaser is at least 18, which is a new thing.  I was like 'yeah, I'm just a smidge past 18'. 

 

The women behind me was like there are some people buying that to use in making meth.  

What?   ugggh.  disgusting.  I guess it's better than the anti-freeze, and radio active isotopes, and gasoline I heard they used.   .... disgusting.

 

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Goodwill- There was a woman inside the door ready to limit how many could enter the store but I didn't have to wait. There weren't that many people there.

 

Found a lamp and a Eureka vacuum.

 

 

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It's not just the fat...

The proteins in raw meat are relaxed. When they are cooked, they tighten up and this is a major reason why even a lean cut of meat will shrink when cooked, along with loss of both fat and water based fluids.
 
 

 

I've just never heard of condensed bleach. 

I remember when they condensed the detergents in the 80s.  There was a time they recommended 2 cups of Tide for a large load of laundry in a top loader.

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WOW!

I ventured out to get my hair cut Friday and stopped in at the supermarket in the same plaza; Hannaford. Generally the only time I go there is for corned beef briskets around St Pat's Day because for some reason they're the cheapest, and if I need to run in for 1 or 2 items. They're on the expensive side... same or maybe a little more so than Roche Bros. and Stop and Shop.

I thought to see what was going on in the meat area. Lo and behold... pork for $0.99/#!!! They had sirloin chops, rib end chops, and country-style ribs all for that price! With the current climate I couldn't believe it! You bet I grabbed some for the freezer! I thought of it later- I could have grabbed some, stripped the bones and had ground pork for a little more than $1/# and had bones for a slow-simmered sauce!

As a comparison for Hannaford's pricing, boneless rib-eyes were $19/# there where everyone else seems to be in the $11-14 range.

Chuck

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<span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">$12.99 for a pound of sirloin, and ground at that. Lucy & Ethyl were selling sirloin steak for 79 cents a pound, and at a profit. Talk about inflation...</span>

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Glad you're

feeling good Joe! I happened accross Sean A806 on instagram. He lives near Palm Springs. I said thats near twintub dexter. He replied he hadn't heard crickets in here from you. He posts lots of classic car pics. He doen't chime here often lately.
Our kids bought ten pounds of ground round from a gourmet market week before last at the high dollar. Upon opening it up to divide into smaller freezer bags, it smelled foul, like horse manure. The store was reluctant to exchange it. Unbeleivable. Some Italian's make ashamed I am one.
 
Instacart Anyone?

I was looking for Kemp's Frozen Yogurt (because where I buy it does not have it anymore) on Google and Instacart came up. I have never used before but am trying this time for 4 cartons to be delivered between 9 and 10 tomorrow morning. A friend a year older than I uses it for all of her grocery shopping.
 
I Just Got Thru Putting Away the Groceries

and its 8:54am as I begin to write this.  I left the house at 7:45am and drove the 5 miles to Target going the back way to help charge the battery.  

 

The store opened at 8:00 am and I had all my groceries checked out and in the trunk by 8:21 am.  I had a full shopping cart too.  The score of the day was the purchase of three 1 lb pkgs of extra lean ground beef for .69 cents each and they had $5.00 off coupons.  The expiration date for use or freezing is 7-9, so in the freezer they went.  For $2.07 I got 3 lbs of 93% lean ground beef, and Target’s lean ground beef is the best I’ve ever purchased anywhere, consistently fresh, lean and tastes good too.

 

I haven’t filled up with gas since 3-5-20, over 4 mo ago and when I got back home the trip odometer had 219 miles showing and I still have 1/3 of a tank left.  This is unbelievable!  I may even make it to the 5 mo. mark on one tankful at this rate!

 

Target has discontinued the Senior hour on Wednesdays, but the checker told me that if I come any day at 8:00 am the store isn’t crowded.  What a blessing!  And they had just about everything stocked too.  I can make it thru this pandemic OK if this keeps up.  I strive to stay away from people as much as possible to remain uninfected.

 

Eddie
 
What a difference a week makes.  Last week, HEB's web site had a tremendous variety of whole wheat pasta and I could order as much as I wanted.  This morning, only one option for WW pasta.  The runner even called me and told me almost all pasta of any kind was gone and the same with dried beans.  And he said they are continuing to intensely restock the shelves.  
 
 

 

Unreliable restocking. Yes, that is certainly an issue. Today's order from Instacart (Stop&Shop), out of 25 items ordered, 8 were "of of stock".

It happens a lot on Amazon Fresh as well but at least it shows you when an item is not available before you order. And these are common, everyday items. Here we are 7 months later and this crap is still going on. Just goes to show how fragile our food distribution system really is.
 
I’ve never found online grocery shopping to be reliable.  Fifteen years ago I tried doing online shopping at Safeway three times in a row.  It was very time consuming going thru screen after screen, specifying the size and amounts of meat and produce I wanted and checking to be sure the items were in stock.

 

Each and every time I received my order there was always at least one or two items that weren’t there, stating they were out of stock.  And the expiration dates on the dairy products were always close to their final sale date.  The weight of the meat packages was always over what I’d specified and the produce was always a higher weight than I’d requested.

 

So, I still had to go to the store anyway, and guess what, those items that they claimed were out of stock were always there when I arrived about 30 mins after I’d received my order.  I think that the store shoppers just didn’t give a sh*t, if it took too much time to locate an item they just said it was out of stock.

 

After these experiences I gave up on online grocery shopping.  Four months ago when this mess all began I tried to order online from many different sources.  Each one never had most of what I wanted, so the hell with them.  I’ll just go to the store either during Senior Hour or the first hour of opening, with a list in hand and get the hell out ASAP.

 

Eddie
 
I do my selections via the HEB web site.  When I put a selected item in my "list", the system will notify me if there is none in stock.  I'm very methodical, I don't select generic item descriptions, I go through and enter the item description as it states item by item because I have specific items I need.  Also, HEB is very good about removing items from their web site when items are no longer in stock.  
 
Pickup at Kroger

 

<span style="font-family: helvetica;">I have been doing my shopping on line and picking them up at the drive thru.  My experience is mixed.  Some weeks a complete order and other weeks many things are "out of stock."  I turned off the option to substitute because they have to be on some kind of drugs to pick the subs they pick.</span>

 

<span style="font-family: helvetica;">I would go in the store and shop but these people are f'ing crazy.  Everyone ignores the signs on the floor and at the registers and to add insult to injury no one enforces it.  The aisles are too close and I just don't feel safe.  I feel like I'd have to wear a hazmat suit to feel safe.  I'm too old to take the chance.  So if I have a few missing items I deal with it.</span>

 

<span style="font-family: helvetica;">I will say that as I had been working on a project to redo our laundry room, I used the curbside pickup multiple times at Homo Depot and Lowe's.  I had great experiences every time.</span>
 
Little things to celebrate....

Was in Kroger yesterday and came across a 6 pack of Bounty paper towels --The Full Size Sheets!  You can bet that found it's way into my cart.  I've seen lots of Select-a-Size Bounty but I hate that with a passion and would do without rather than buy. I was down to the last 1/4 of a roll from the 18 pack I bought last year at Sams.  Debated for a few seconds since I really prefer the Mega Roll vs the double but at this point there really wasn't a question.

 

Now I'm on the hunt for a 3 pack of  Puffs Plus at a reasonable price.  Usually get it for $3.99 -4.99 but have only seen it at Walgreens for $7.99, not paying that price...
 
<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">I like this chart. You have to start somewhere. Notice that grocery shopping is near the top. </span>

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Matt, I’m just the opposite as far as the paper towels go.  I prefer the select a size as there is less waste.  Many times a half of a paper towel is just enough.  If I want a full size paper towel I can easily just tear off two half towels.  Cutting a full size paper towel in half is a PITA, but I will do so to conserve on the unnecessary of the waste of paper.

 

Joe, thanks for posting the chart of the scale of risk for everyday activities.  Its a great reference resource.  BTW, I hope that your recovery is continuing to progress well.

 

Eddie
 
As of Monday

Texas medical cemter Houston had no ICU beds available. All were filled by Covid patients. It's one of my hubby's project hospitals. Those being ignorant and not wearing masks or taking precautions are putting otheres at risk. It's selfish. Our gym is open illegally 24/7. Members posting on Instagram were unmasked. A local Red Robin closed last week when employees were working sick. All it takes is for one of them to be in a gym, etc. and infect others. Many young people here live with their immigrant parents and elderly grand parents. Our grnadaughter said the other day she doesn't want to wear a mask to school. Betsy DeVoss announced today that schools will lose funding if they are not 100% open, and enrolled in September with zero online virtual teaching. She's a dinwitt too!
 
Eddie, just like you.  I prefer the select-o-size paper towels.  I use cloth cleaning rags 99%  of the time.  A roll of paper towels can last me over 1/2 a year.  
 
I don't know, it's rare for me to  ever need just a half sheet of paper toweling.  I use them as a napkin with my dinner and hate nothing more than having select a size splitting in my lap or wiping my face. A half sheet just does not fit my hand well when cleaning.

 

I don't use a massive amount, a mega roll will last 6-8 weeks if not more.
 
I ran a couple of errands in and around Fort Lee & Englewood yesterday. First time doing so during business hours in at least a month. Fort Lee is the NJ side of the George Washington Bridge. I can walk from my building across the bridge to the subway in less than a half hour.

Anyway.....

Dentist: Called office from my car when I arrived. Receptionist in full gown, gloves, & face shield. Temperature taken and was given a squirt of hand sanitizer. Dentist and hygienist in gown, gloves, & mask. Oh, yeah. Tooth has to come out and was given antibiotics for infection.

CVS: Garage was about 1/3 full. Store not crowded. All in masks.

Acme supermarket: Store not crowded. Every person I saw had a mask. Random empty spots on shelves. Ample stocks of Regio toilet paper and one brand of paper towels. Picked up Boars Head chocolate hummus* 50% off with 7/13 expiration. SCORE!

Realized I'd forgotten pseudophed and batteries at CVS so...

Walgreens: Few people, no crowds. had what I wanted but noticed several 'button' sizes out of stock.

NJ law mandates masks in all businesses. I saw 100% compliance. I saw a few people walking outside with masks off but dangling around neck. Everyone I saw outside not social distancing had a mask on, including teens.

Traffic was definitely up since I last drove around during business hours. I'd guess about 1/2 pre-Covid volume.

*Chocolate hummus is not terribly unusual. The Boars Head I bought is a somewhat less sweet version of the filling used in mini-calzone popular around Christmas. The internet says it's "southern" but I can tell you it runs at least as far north as Abruzzo. Traditionally the sweetener is not sugar, but 'black' grape syrup (name forgotten). Sugar used to be very expensive. During wine making gallons of the raw juice 'black' and 'white' were separately boiled down to a syrup. They'd be used instead of sugar for pretty much all baking. As an aside, Abruzzo is far enough south that butter was not commonly used. There is/was a particular type of olive oil used for cakes, cookies, etc. I'm afraid I've forgotten the details over the past 30 years.

Here're two links with recipes for the chocolate filling:

https://www.shelovesbiscotti.com/chocolate-chick-pea-calzoni-aka-calzoni-di-ceci/


https://www.justcrumbs.ca/2017/11/06/ceci-ripieni-italian-chickpea-chocolate-cookies/
 
Since this is sort of related....

Got a text today from a cousin, she alerted me to the fact you cannot find canning supplies!  Was out so stopped at 2 or 3 stores and it's true, shelves are stripped bare.  As she said all the "Preppers" are out in full force.  Not sure how much I'll can this year, and do have some lids from last year so I might be ok.  But will be on the lookout for supplies just in case.
 
No Salt

I went to my local Nob Hill (Raley's) Monday morning.
No iodized salt.
No "name brand" dishwashing liquid
No isopropyl alcohol (haven't seen that on the shelf since March).

On the flip side, I also went to Total Wines & More during their "60 & over" hour Monday.
No one but me (and employees) in the store.
In and out in 5 minutes with everything I came for.
 

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