Coronavirus - Covid 19


 
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Today was a good day, well actually it was yesterday considering it is after midnight here. Sam's Club had all we needed back in stock, although the meat case is still somewhat barren. I stopped at Walmart on the way home for the first time in two weeks, and the store looked clean as a whistle. Not too many shoppers for a Monday afternoon, and it was peaceful inside for a change. The employees were friendly, too, but the meat case was under stocked, and there was no chicken at all. Still, we found everything we needed.

Looks like the President is hinting at putting folks back to work soon, and I am in favor of it except for high-risk areas like the big cities. It just doesn't make sense to shut down the whole country and destroy the economy in the process. Someone has to be at the helm of the ship sometime sooner or later.
 
Bob Correll said:
Two local chains are putting in Plexiglas shields between customers and grocery store clerks.
Also distance markers for those in line.
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Was at two grocers this morning. I hit each about an hour after opening. Both were relatively quiet - especially compared to Thursday, when I last went and got there when they opened to a couple hundred people in line outside. Distance markers at the checkouts, and a sign stating that you should stay at that point until the cashier has indicated the area has been cleaned. It never got cleaned. At least there were hand sanitizer stations near the doors, so I made use of that on my way out. One store was empty of meat. The other had a decent stock - both were cleaned out last Thursday.
 
Dan Leighton said:
Things are starting to improve here for seniors. You need to have a scorecard to tell which days and hours the various stores are catering to seniors. Albertsons was a little better today, again thanks to the independent vendors. Trader Joe's was like hitting the jackpot.... Fresh produce, dairy, some meat, and frozen vegetables. At this rate, I may try Costco on Thursday to pick up our Dunkin Donuts coffee and trash bags, both on sale and of course a chicken for supper if they have any cooked. So far though, very limited cleaning products and no TP in sight.
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I'm in my 6th day of self imposed house arrest, hating every minute of it.
My three freezers are full but not because we are hording as a matter of fact we have only added two whole chickens since this disaster started. We stock up when there are sales. I haven't been to a grocery store in two weeks of course with Barb working at Safeway there really is no need for me to go.
I'm glad things are starting to get better in some areas.
I read something that may be a big contributing factor to the shortages. The sale of freezers has jumped ten fold in the last 30 days and most stores are completely out and don't anticipate getting any in until late April or May.
 
Rich, I did a small errand yesterday, it felt like the two hours out was an eternity! It’s so crazy out there, I can’t believe the rush at the neighborhood grocery store was as bad as it was! Costco was amazingly quiet at 5:00! Vodka, paper towels, some frozen pizzas, nothing too disaster driven.
I opened the freezer in the kitchen and just started to laugh, there was no room for ANYTHING! Then down to the basement, I had to get a butt and a bag of wings out to fit the pizzas in! Looks like we might have some pulled pork this weekend!
 
Chris Allingham said:
You can't draw any conclusions based on the experience of ONE person. For every guy in lung cancer remission who has modest Covid-19 symptoms, there's the hospital nurse I saw on TV tonight who is the picture of health, NO underlying health issues, who's been HAMMERED by this disease. There's the young congressman Ben McAdams of Utah with Covid-19 who says his breathing feels restricted like he's got a belt strapped tight around his chest. There's the 7 month old baby Emmett Doster in South Carolina with a 104*F temperature with Covid-19.

Let's just say your brother-in-law's brother is one lucky dude.
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I guess we're all going to have different sets of opinions on this whole thing. Is caution required? I never said it wasn't. Caution IS REQUIRED. My friend also had it and is also a cancer survivor. And again, for him he thought it was a flu. And here too. Not saying flu is not serious, Heck my own Dr has told me flu for me with what I have could be fatal. So yes I am taking REASONABLE precautions. Against BOTH not just this Covid thing. When a vaccine is available I will make sure that just like flu and pneumonia I will be sure to get that too. So I will continue to be cautions when out in public, (shopping, conducting my business which BTW has picked up like crazy not that people have rediscovered cooking at home) so I am 15 days out on orders for mixer repairs and purchases. But, I refuse to live in fear cowered away in a locked room.
Caution again is called for and on that we don't disagree.
I will continue to respect and not belittle anyone else for their opinions either. I just think the fear is worse. I also do not think my thoughts are cavalier or senseless. They're just my thoughts and opinions.
 
Our freezer's meat stock had gotten kind of low before this started due to not many good sales.
A small local store had enough this morning to get us by for a period of time.
Yes, one package is pork steaks.

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Mrs Dollar and I hit the grocery store and Sams this morning and there was not a lot of people at either. It was almost normal. And we found most everything we needed at both places. I even found a prime brisket at Sam's for $2.78 # . I could not pass that up. But there were still bare shelves , especially in meat depts and some canned goods.

Oklahoma is up to 81 confirmed cases . Its been jumping by about 15 per day. Should get our daily up date in about 30 minutes. I would guess we go over 100.
 
We normally keep a 2-3 week food and water supplies in our house at any one time in case of disaster. The Elsinore Fault, capable of up to a 7.5 Mw shaker, is a little over a mile from us. 25 or so years ago we were told, that in the case of a major earthquake, expect to be on our own for up to 2 weeks before help would arrive. That point was really driven home when I volunteered for our local PD.
 
I just tried our hand at using our Vacu Seal or whatever it's called. I noticed after putting some portions of catfish fillets in the packages for my dad no matter how my wife set the machine there seemed to be air gaps (small but there) around the meat. After a couple tries wife said no more the stuff is too expensive to keep throwing it away (the plastic not the fish). Later in reading online helpful tips they indicated if freezing meat or fish to pre-freeze it on a sheet first to get a better seal and such. So we had some top sirloin cap steaks. So we did on those put them on a cookie sheet, after thoroughly drying them off. It does seem the meat portions sealed with fewer gaps around the meat than the way the fish looked. Anyone else seen this? Not wanting to load up a huge freezer as we only have the 2 refrigerators so all we can hold is maybe 10 or so packages of meat. So basically a "backup" for when the store shelves are empty. Just looking for assurance we're doing the right thing as we've not had much luck in the past. Though, in the past we did not pre-freeze the meats.
 
LMichaels said:
. Later in reading online helpful tips they indicated if freezing meat or fish to pre-freeze it on a sheet first to get a better seal and such. So we had some top sirloin cap steaks. So we did on those put them on a cookie sheet, after thoroughly drying them off. It does seem the meat portions sealed with fewer gaps around the meat than the way the fish looked. Anyone else seen this?
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Yep, definitely helps if you throw them in the freezer first and seal them when they are almost frozen .
 
When vac sealing fish fillets or leftover stews and soups, I put them in those square glad storage containers to freeze before sealing. They pop out like ice cubes and then I vac seal them. A bonus is that they stack very neatly in the freezer and don't fall out when I open he freezer door!
 
LMichaels said:
I just tried our hand at using our Vacu Seal or whatever it's called. I noticed after putting some portions of catfish fillets in the packages for my dad no matter how my wife set the machine there seemed to be air gaps (small but there) around the meat. After a couple tries wife said no more the stuff is too expensive to keep throwing it away (the plastic not the fish). Later in reading online helpful tips they indicated if freezing meat or fish to pre-freeze it on a sheet first to get a better seal and such. So we had some top sirloin cap steaks. So we did on those put them on a cookie sheet, after thoroughly drying them off. It does seem the meat portions sealed with fewer gaps around the meat than the way the fish looked. Anyone else seen this? Not wanting to load up a huge freezer as we only have the 2 refrigerators so all we can hold is maybe 10 or so packages of meat. So basically a "backup" for when the store shelves are empty. Just looking for assurance we're doing the right thing as we've not had much luck in the past. Though, in the past we did not pre-freeze the meats.
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Larry, Barb and I freeze a lot of stuff with our vac sealer. Things like soups, sauces, we put those in the freezer bag and stand it up in the freezer when it's frozen we then vac seal it. Casseroles and the like we freeze on a cookie sheet then vac seal it. Spray a light coat of pam or something similar will keep the food from sticking to the cookie sheet. Almost anything that has moisture the vac will want to suck it out of the bag making for a complete seal difficult
Hope that helps.
 
LMichaels said:
...in the past we did not pre-freeze the meats.
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It's a great technique to get a better seal, and to avoid pulling meat juices out of the package that create a mess in the machine and make it harder to get a good seal. For example, when sealing thick slices of leftover prime rib, I will place a slice in a vac bag, fold over the top, and place the bags unsealed in the freezer for a couple of hours until they're solid (set a timer or you'll forget). Then run each through the vacuum sealer. Great seal, juices stay where you want them.
 
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