Category: Food

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Note: In the spirit of the holidays, I am going to be recharging my batteries and taking some time off to celebrate and reflect. I will return with my next post on Tuesday, January 5, 2021, so I hope to see you all then and thanks for being a loyal reader! Happy holidays and a healthy new year!

Remember the old days when you would accompany your mother to the butcher shop to buy fresh cuts of meat for the family’s dinner? Every town, it seems, had a local butcher who knew everything there was to know about beef, pork, chicken, veal, and any other meaty delight he had for sale. He’d sell you the best steaks, the juiciest pork chops, and the ideal chicken for frying. He was the expert!

My, how things have changed! Today, most people purchase their meat at the supermarket from vast cases full of pre-packaged choices. Occasionally, the butcher will appear if you request a special cut or some other service that requires his attention. Otherwise, there’s rarely a connection between the two. And even less connected is the option to order steaks online.

Please note this post contains affiliate links which help to fund this blog at no cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Wondering where and how can you get the food you need without venturing out and taking some risk? You probably weren’t doing much thinking about that before a pandemic had you staying inside most all of the time, were you? But the answer was and still is to order online and have things delivered. I know you know that lots of supermarkets are offering these services as well as retailers like Walmart, Target, Amazon, and others who also sell food and beverage, but what about buying grocery delivery from your local office supply store?

The New World

Ever since the world has been standing on its head after being struck by COVID-19, I have been sheltering in place almost all the time. Yes, I know that many of you are now under the impression that “it’s over” and we are getting “back to normal” as some of our politicians are touting and trying hard to ignite. But when you are older or have underlying health conditions, you are less likely to just hop on board the party train and think that the risks are all gone. Every day I continue to see spikes in the cases and deaths from the disease and for me the risks continue to be just too great. At least that’s how my wife and I both feel about it.

It was only a matter of time. The coronavirus is wreaking havoc with our health, our jobs, and now it’s busting a big hole in our grocery budgets. The prices on groceries for April were actually the highest they’ve been in decades!

Prices at your supermarket are rising sharply because coronavirus has disrupted the food supply chain. You’ve been hearing for weeks that there are cracks in the supply chain even though the government has tried to deny it. It is just starting to reach into your pocketbook and the score for now looks like we are in trouble. When you are out of work, as over 30 million Americans are right now, the last thing you want is to have prices on groceries busting wide open!

If you can’t remember the last time you joined your family and friends for a big shindig down at your favorite local restaurant, you are not alone. I can’t either and neither can millions of other people these days. With the coming of COVID-19, restaurant dining rooms are closed and any of the ones that are open are being forced to serve take-out or delivery only. Frankly, that just isn’t the same thing to me. You do lose a little of the “flavor” (pardon the pun) carrying home a brown bag. So that makes it a real challenge to make your dining at home in any way special or fun. That raises the question: “Can it ever equal dining out and be your new normal dining out experience?”

There Are Adjustments

You have always had to prepare dinners at home, haven’t you? Sorry, if you are one of the ones who always did pick-up, delivery, or constantly dined out for reasons which I will never I understand and neither will your wallet! For now, those days are over (which may actually be forcing you to save some money), so what will you do?

It may be something that you thought was totally unthinkable a few short weeks ago, but the reality of the coronavirus pandemic is facing everyone right now, and for some it is both a health and a financial nightmare. If you recently lost your job, are not getting any unemployment compensation, haven’t received any stimulus check yet, or have no emergency funds to back you and your family up, you may now need and qualify to get food stamps.

The “Families First Coronavirus Response Act” and Food Stamps

In general, people usually need to meet some kind of work requirement to be eligible for SNAP (otherwise known as food stamps), but those rules under the new pandemic guidelines are now in suspension so that losing your job and not being able to find work right now will not disqualify you.