I don’t advocate shopping out of fear, and a scarcity mindset. I just happen to know what it’s like to have to shop once a month. I doubt we’ll need to do this as urgently as it appears we do. I was a welfare Mom, and those deposits only hit on the first of the month. I had to stretch what we had, when all we had was never enough. In today’s climate of fear, some of those lessons helped me with my grocery list and I’m sharing what I can.

I also went long periods of time being home alone with young children. Going stir crazy can happen.

Self Care Basics

Remember to wash your hands frequently with soap and water. Touch fewer people and keep your hands off your face. Get proper rest and nutrition, supplementing with vitamins as you need to. Destress as much as possible. A strong immune system will help you fight viruses and bacterial bugs.

Preparation is Key

One of my first lessons on monthly shopping was about food storage. Be mindful of what you’re buying, and where it will be until you’re ready to use it. Buying more than you need won’t help in two weeks, if you’re throwing it all out in one week.

Make sure your basic needs are met before venturing out with others. Shopping while tired and hungry will lead to impulse shopping and a short temper. Being tired won’t support your ability to respond to stress, and you can expect a store full of anxiety. There’s a lot of herd mentality, FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and overall fear of the unknown.

Again, Don’t shop while hungry or tired. This is sound advice for anything you need to do with young children. They will behave better if their needs are met first. If you can leave kids at home, please do. I’m not anti-kid, but in the current climate of fear, adding scarce resources won’t support their sense of security. As parents, it’s important to be an anchor through the uncertainty. Who they are in the world as adults, has a lot to do with who they are shaped by, as children. My Kid3 had a post shower freak out about rain water getting him sick, until I reminded him Covid-19 is passed from person to person because it won’t survive without a human incubator.

Sticking to a budget and your list is easier without adding your children’s wants to your list of needs. Sometimes having someone buy us something is how we feel loved and acknowledged. Don’t fall into this trap. Make a plan and stick to it It’ll help you feel in control in a situation where you might not feel grounded.

It helps to plan meals for the coming days. Take stock of what you have at home, and make a grocery list of what is needed for specific meals. When I make the time for it, I organize my pantry, much like the grocery store does. When I can easily see what I have, it becomes easier to imagine the meals I want to prepare. I do a lot of cooking from scratch, so staples like milk, (gluten free) flour, eggs, rice, cheese and butter will help me throw together meals, especially impromptu ones. The same can be said for cream of mushroom soup if you’re big on casseroles. It’s important to buy the things you would actually use. I don’t really do casseroles anymore, but throwing together a tuna noodle casserole has bailed me out in a pinch when I needed to make my budget stretch.

Bring your grocery store bags. Most people running out to horde things don’t have the amount of grocery store bags they need, and my local grocery store ran out. (I’m flexible. I bought a box of trash bags and let them double as grocery store bags because I didn’t plan ahead for the multiple stores I stopped at.)

Where to Shop

Right now, a lot of stores are running out of supplies, but they’re still getting daily deliveries, without plans to close any time soon. The city might be shut down, but malls and bars won’t close until the government tells them to. I’m sure it’s the same for your local grocery store. I went to a few stores today, and the ones that ran out of supplies were running out of the same things. Get creative. I found success in a restaurant supply store open to the public, and smaller mom and pop stores in my neighborhood. The smaller the parking lot, the more likely they are to have fresh produce, a butcher willing to make special cuts, and provide service with a smile. They’re not used to the influx of customers, and their gratitude will show. Be patient and show up with a smile. They’ll go the extra mile for you.

Fruits and Vegetables

Fresh produce won’t stay fresh for too long. Consider frozen or canned veggies. If you are going for frozen foods, consider the space in your freezer. I have a deep freezer, and it comes in handy around the holidays when I have a ham and turkey to store. When I don’t need to use it, I unplug it. Frozen goods shouldn’t be in your fridge or on the counter.

Think about starting a veggie patch. It won’t help immediately, but it’s a good time to start a spring garden of lettuces, peas and carrots. Start with seeds or seedlings from your local garden center. There have been times when my little garden has saved me from a last minute grocery run.

Consider preserving fresh fruits before they spoil. Get comfortable with Pinterest and online recipes. Carrot cakes, banana bread and zucchini bread have saved my spoiling produce. Wrapping your celery in foil paper before putting it in the fridge will help keep it crisp longer.

Meats

When planning for longer periods of time, it’s a good idea to consider buying in bulk, and separating it into portion sizes for what you need, per meal. When you separate your meats into freezer storage bags, do your best to get things in flat layers, and squeeze as much air out of the bags as possible. Air pockets encourage ice and freezer burn. When it comes to meal planning with meat, it helps to stretch it out with food fillers. Think about ground beef and how it can be stretched with breadcrumbs in meat loaf or rice in cabbage rolls or stuffed bell peppers. Making chili with beans is a good idea. Get protein in peanut butter and hard boiled eggs. Protein will help you feel full for a longer period of time.

Dry Goods

It’s good to prepare for the long haul with dry goods that can be reconstituted with water, but consider your needs. Pasta, flour, cornmeal, beans and other dry goods will attract small bugs. Moisture can make it grow mold. I repackage my dry goods in plastic containers. The soups I cook at home are going to up the humidity in my home, far beyond grocery store levels. I have boxes of pancake mix that are inside of gallon size zip top bags. The goal is to limit air and moisture.

Being Home

Going stir crazy is really easy when you are confined to your home. Routines and structure will help, but being flexible with your boundaries might help too. The important thing is to listen to your needs. My list is short at just 8 tips, but there are many resources online. Telecommuting has been around for a while.

1. When working from home, setting a schedule, separating work from rest spaces, getting dressed each morning, and taking time for self care is important. I will take a minute to breathe on the porch. Watching the rain fall, birds chirp and feeling the fresh air will help shift your focus if you get stuck. It’s most important to understand your working style. Do you prefer silence, or do you need noise? Do you need something to nosh on? What about pen and paper alongside your tech. For the next two weeks, I’ll also be homeschooling my sons. For at least part of this time, my desk will be the dinning table, next to my kids where I can make sure they’re not learning from YouTube.

2. Distance yourself from screen time. This will help you with keeping normal sleep patterns and regulating your diet and hunger. It might help to start a jigsaw puzzle, but ideally, step outside for a while. It can be simple, like sitting on a porch. Sunlight is great for vitamin D and combatting seasonal depressive disorder.

3. Leaving a television on is distracting in a bad way. You’ll lose focus. Television is created to distract you from life, and shows are meant to entertain you. You can’t blame a television for doing what it was created to do when you’re looking at a task list that isn’t checked off.

4. DO NOT DISTURB yourself with your phone and messaging systems. Slack, emails, Salesforce Chatter, calls and text messages can all pull your attention away from a task at hand. Not only is that time taken away, but the additional time to refocus can take away from your to do list. Snooze is your friend. When working from home, be intentional with start and stop times. Block out times for your to do list, emails, and to respond to messaging, if it supports you. Leave your phone out of reach when you’re in bed, so you can wake up without it demanding your time and attention.

5. Plan self care breaks. Mom mode affects me at home. I am very much on the Mom clock. I function from Sons up, to Sons down. There is no rest or relaxing in between until I’m done for the day. There are no such emergencies at work. At work, there’s a stocked kitchen and a fancy coffee machine without children to keep an eye on. It’s easier to take care of myself at the office. It helps to schedule food breaks, drink enough fluids to have to take multiple bathroom breaks, and stretch often, giving your eyes and body a break.

6. Track what you do. If you have a to do list to check off, you’ll not only recognize your accomplishments, but prioritize your goals.

7. Over communicate. It helps to keep you on track with work, and you won’t have as many people asking where you are, assuming you’re binge watching something distracting. It also helps with the loneliness. Personally, I love being alone, but if it’s not what you’re used to, it can feel lonely. A few co-workers had a virtual meeting to share greetings from their dogs. It was epic.

8. Get active. Exercise is important to boost endorphins. If you’re home with kids, put on some music and start dancing. Dance through housework. It’ll help your mood.

In short, scarcity shopping and staying home is all about careful planning.