Oatmeal is a common hand-me-down from emergency supplies. Ran a batch through a mini-food processor and made oat-wheat rolls. Rolls are nice but more work than just dropping a big clump of dough into a bread pan. I rolled a piece of dough into a hot dog size and shape, real easy to do. Then I took the ends and did a fast semi-knot. This is real fast, simple and easy to get right. More so than rolling into a ball.

When you have an excess of Spaghetti Squash just roast it, bag it and freeze it. You also can use lots of squash by making Veggie Stromboli and adding in Mozzarella, Pepperoni, Onions, Mushrooms & Capers.

Do we demand perfection? When I pay for a product I have expectations. In this case, I thought that the Cheese Whales would be just funny shaped Cheese Square Crackers. Pretty much, but the shape they pressed them into causes parts to not have that perfect crispy texture. Toss them in the dumpster? I will not spend my money on them in the future. Dumpster? No. I am eating the entire school. Do whales come in schools?

The Spicy Brown Mustard has such an interesting name and it looks cools, too. Finally I was going to do a complete trial. I would buy a bottle to be clear about my view on it. I never was able to be sure as there are several other Mustards than the Bright Yellow. I bought a bottle. I tasted it. It has a sweetness to it. Kind of like how I find the Balsamic Vinegar too sweet, also. I tried. No matter what I did with it, it always has the oddness for me. So, chuck the rest of the bottle? No. Just keep using it. When it is gone the test will be over. It has taken months. Is this excessive? I just seem to not be able to accept that I should not accept what I have been provided with. Since February, this is the first sandwich with regular Yellow Mustard. It is Tuna/Apple/Cranberry/Pecan/Fresh Chives. Also, it was made with a jar of rather elderly Mayo. Taste and texture, just fine. Color just a bit off. We are blessed with such abundance. It is on a Carrot Chive Yeast Roll. We were given Carrots from Feeding San Diego. I made a test batch in preparation for Sunday's sharing. Seems to be edible.

They had #10 cans of Sausage Gravy marked down for the end of the season. What season is Sausage Gravy in, anyway? I got a number of cases. It was a really good deal. Knowing a ministry that could use it and that there were trips there that would transport it. Things changed. It turns out that it was not like a can of Pork and Beans with finger tip sized piece of pork fat in the can. There is crumbled sausage. Lots of it. The cans turned into the topping for home made Biscuits at most church potlucks for years. Then they where gone. Oops, missed one. One last reprise. There was a little left that did not get taken home. That pastor had moved on. This is from the last frozen bit. Works great on Mashed Potatoes, too. Even though the original purpose fell through, we still productively used it. Sometimes one must persevere.

22 seedlings sprouted. I managed to kill off half of them. Planted three. Have given away seven. I on dropped off the survivors at in front of HCC and they just went away. Cereal bags make handy temporary transportation pots.

Anticipation . . . A full Turkey Breast from the freezer and Butternut Squash from Feed America (FA). Cooking a turkey with with a quarter size convection oven, a two burner stove is done by removing the breast for the later use. Take the legs, wings and roast them in the little oven. Put the rest into a stock pot and make the whole house smell great. This is the freeze the breast for later use step. I thought I had one more oven bag but nope, it was a box of crock pot liners. Crock pots must get real hot on the bottom, so tie the top off and cook in 325F should work and the clean will be easy. The four or five giant Red Potatoes (From FA) chopped and boiling on the stove. Green Beans and topping in small casserole for the oven. Pecans and Dried Cranberries readied with the standard ingredients for the Stuffing/Dressing mix. The Potatoes will get whipped with Butter and Milk in the Kitchen Aid then put in another casserole dish. Those three will heat in the oven when the Turkey comes out, Whole Wheat/Oat Rolls (Oatmeal from FA) on top warming while the Gravy is made. For more robust meals you can tap into crock pot(s) and the microwave. Two burners and a small oven can go a long ways.

Doubling a batch implies that setting aside to double means double doubling. Should have done that calculation before hand. Oat Whole Wheat Rolls for Thanksgiving service eats.

When it was early January and there were candy cane packages 10 for a $1 (not 10 canes, 10 packages), it was hard to pass by. I am not clear as to which January but it seems I may have spent a dollar or so. Some got eaten by the ants. Yesterday I was making some tea and used a bit of one of them in the mug. The June Gloom that made its way up to Julian provoked the electric tea pot to come out of its Spring retirement. She really liked the tea. So I was looking at the package and only then did I notice that they were not peppermint by rather cherry flavored. I then included some in the evening hot chocolate. Pretty good.

Another isolation Sunday dinner. This time Fish Sandwich with a twist, topped with Pesto on a bed of Lettuce & Tartar Sauce . Kind of forgot the photo shoot until most of the way through the bites. Served with BBQ Beans & French Fires.

A bottle of Italian Dressing will not get consumed here, so it becomes #Experimental Italian Dressing Rolls. Like Canned /Cranberry Sauce Bread, this takes a long time to rise. Didn't have the patience to wait any more so they are a bit dense. Also, Hillside tomorrow morning.

Another try at sweet rolls. This time canned Apricots that were too soft for direct eating became a syrupy goo for the filling on Apricot Sweet Rolls. Add Sugar & Butter to blended canned Apricots & thicken. If they were not going into individual plastic bags, they would get topped with glaze. There are a Whole Wheat with Oat Meal blend. Tomorrow morning at Hillside.

I did buy a few extra bags of Pork Rinds knowing that they have a relatively short shelf time, but this was at a point where the virus was just kicking into life plans. There was a non-virus event that disrupted things on top of that. So, I completely forgot about the stash. But, it was found during that days of the shutdown. Yay! BBQ Pork Rinds from a dollar store, and still fresh.

Time to order my normal box of TP, but it is not in stock AGAIN. Does this mean I need to order the case of 4-ply organic quilted bamboo 10,0000 sheet rolls?

There were pounds of Split Peas in the jar. It was going to be a cold, wet, windy day so I decided to try them, as at least a way to warm up the room. Turns out they never did get soft after several hours, but the room was toasty. Then I remembered the old 1950s stove top pressure cooker my mother gave me. The only detail I recall from her instructions was to not cook beans, as there is an increase chance of them clogging the vents and exploding. Scary. I put half of the already 'cooked' peas in the pressure cooker and cooked for 20 minutes. They came out perfect. The second half needed more water. I am glad I tried cooking them. I am glad I pressed on to the pressure cooker. I am sure my wife is glad they came out good. It would have been easier to chuck them in the compost. But instead they have been redeemed.

Half a batch of Rolls is bagged and put in the freezer. Here the used bag is reused with a clothes pin. There is no need to purchase new plastic bags when store bought items come in durable bags that can be reused once to a few times.

We live in a small house but have this habit of inviting more people into our home than most people would try to stuff. We had a birthday bash scheduled in February. Inclement weather delayed it until the Ides of March. We made several fresh changes to our living room space in order to have any chance for the ever increasing guest list to have places to sit. Then out of the blue, due to concerns about packing such a group, inside we very reluctantly canceled -- but not until after having fried the chicken. All to the freezer. This totally unwanted turn of events has given us a wonderful opportunity to enjoy Sunday after church meeting Fried Chicken lunch(es). This is a blessing. When two or more are joined together in His name there He is in the midst of them. Please join us from your living room. 🛐It is for us, a hoard, in our freezer, but thank you.

Peanut Butter. At some point they started selling "natural" Peanut Butter that just had Peanuts & Salt which was edible rather than the sugarfied normal stuff. The best I have found is at WinCo where you fill a tub with Peanut Butter that is ground while you hold the button on the machine. Refrigerating it upon getting home keeps it from separating. It has a slightly coarser texture compared to the smooth stuff in the jars. Having not been to WinCo in a while we where using up backup jars of Trader Joe's. GrandPa had been on a Peanut eating binge and I stocked up when it was on special which was shortly followed by a switch to another binge item like Cottage Cheese or Buttermilk. It turns out there was bunch of Peanuts. Guess what? That food processor from the yard sell will make Peanuts into Peanut Butter. So rather than feeding them to the squirrels we get fresh ground Peanut Butter. WinCo eat your heart out. I am glad she thought of that. Some of it will be Honey Roasted Peanut Butter. Not to my liking but should be a hit with someone here. Also, adding a bit of oil (Olive is what I had) makes it still spreadable when frigerated.

Volunteers ended by a freeze,

Bread Crumbs, Egg & Milk w/ a bit of Flour, sliced Green Tomatoes.

Fried Green Tomatoes.

In the months before the plague (for nearly a year) we had been finding bread in multiple stores that were cheap enough to fit our budget. Such as Aldi which seemed to have an excess frequently so they would mark them down. This reduced our home baked bread consumption. It was a nice change but not going into a store for months has put us back into the homemade bread fraternity. Then our entire bin of Whole Wheat was gone. We were at a yard sale and found that they were disposing of some Y2K Wheat Berries. We bought some which was a first. This was triggered because buying Whole Wheat cheaply always seemed to involve large bags and being able to actually find it. We had settled in on Lakeside Poultry. We had to time our trips just right as they closed at 3PM which meant it could be done but required scheduling. Then they stopped carrying the #25 bags and #50 was way more than we would use for just two people. Thus someone else's Y2K hoard came to our rescue. Also, the gift of an electric mill was a relief vs the hand grinder we picked up at the above mentioned yard sale. A sunny break in the clouds and it was wheat grinding time because indoors fills the kitchen with much dust which I am pretty sure is an explosive fire hazard.

The More-with-Less Cookbook describes the over consumption by North Americans of animal proteins. They point out the kinds of meat that require less resources to produce and the even bigger savings when eating plant proteins. These are not only savings in resources but also $$$. One of the recipes is for Chicken Pineapple Skillet. We have been eating it for decades. Before I made the batch in the photo I looked it up again, just to be careful. I did not want to make any mistakes with limited supplies. I found upon examination that I have just been conjuring up various Sweet & Sour Sauces for years. The recipe actually calls for just Cinnamon, Soy Sauce & Pineapple Juice for the flavoring. So, Cinnamon it was this time again. Good. The actual reason for the entry here today is the Chow Main Noodles that you see on the top. My standard pattern is Chow Mein Noodles, cooked drained Ramen, Rice and whatever saucy veggie and/or meat stuff on top. When there had been a full house, the Chow Mein Noodles had a shelf life that matches the consumption. When the household shrank a couple of people they kept going stale. Only recently has the idea of buying a small can rather than the large bag come to mind while at the store. I have not gotten adjusted to paying nearly the same price for a little can vs a large bag. Better solution is still pending on this topic. Chow Mein Noodles are not an Item to hoard. I have been really slow on picking up on this truth.

Pecan Yam Roll

Layer Yams, Brown Sugar, Butter, Pecans

Neglecting a hoard of Onions leads to sprouting greens. I actually found Onions in my Onion Bin. I wanted to add some to my pot of canned Chili to make it more homemade like. This lead me to spot the well sprouted Onion. I cut the top off. That will be work for a Green Onion. Then split the body in half. The inner rings had that lightly odd look where the greens were sprouting from. Normally in the compost it goes, but in early pandemic times a fresh Onion in any state gets better treatment. I took the inner parts out, chopped and put into the Chili. I assume they will cook up just fine and I won't be able to tell that they were not real crispy to begin with. The happy white rings got chopped for topping. How much waste is generated just because we demand perfection or do not manage what we have because we can afford to toss it when it goes bad?

On the off days when we were down-the-hill and not making food to eat, Polish Dogs at Sam's Club have been my big treat once a week for a good decade and Costco before that. Sometime it might stretch to several maybe even four weeks but I do not think a full month has separated my Polish Dog treats (except for a stint in Kenya). Over time that 32 ounce Dr.Pepper with a refill was replaced by a 30 ounce half and half Tea w & w/o sugar. It has been months since our last visit to Sam's. No Polish w/ Mustard, Onion & Sauerkraut. No Dr.P. No Mtn Dew until a case in September, spread out to one can a week. This has likely been a contributing factor to an actual weight reduction. Enjoying when we have been blessed, both in the before and the after.

After the holiday excess food season Aldi had these cheese packets that I thought were their house brand for the yummy rondelé soft cheese. They were on a clearance. Bought a bunch. Every group meeting that we attended that had snacky food I brought some to. We ate lots at home. This morning I went to the freezer for a jug of home pressed Pear Cider. To my surprise was a packet in there still, calling my name. It turns out they are not soft cream cheese. They are Spinach Artichoke Cheese Sauce you heat up. Great on a cracker. Enjoying our little stash. I am so glad we were able to share some in that other time when we would eat together.

A box Capt'n Christmas cereal. Too sweet for my taste & too soggy just as soon as the milk hits the bowl. Instead make fake Rice Crispy Squares. One box makes two batches. Have a bag of Marshmallows. Need Two. Make Peanut Butter Squares 'cause, it uses Corn Syrup instead of Marshmallows. Only enough for a single batch. Make a half and half double batch. Oh, no Peanut Butter. Food processor turns some neglected Dry Roasted Peanut and a bit of Olive Oil into Peanut Butter.

My wife bought some live Tomato plants one year. I do not know how that got past my filter when little seeds are so much cheaper. I thought the poor things were being neglected. This lead to them being planted in one of the 107 gallon galvanized troughs we had. When the deer started eating them, it lead to a wood framed plastic house, followed later with stronger wood framed one with glass windows and a door. I have come to the conclusion that the 107 gallons is conducive to three Tomato plants at a time. Each year since then I (in my mind) have been compelled to circumventing my wife from buying the expensive live plant solution. Again this year I planted seeds. Last year the acquisition of clearance price grow light from Sam's Club provided a light over our laundry machines for their night time happiness. They seemed to really like it last year. The three varieties I grew last year seemed to mix together and produce odd results. This time all Beefsteak. No little Grape Tomatoes. No Roma. Only Beefsteak. I use an egg carton, two or three seeds in each slot. This time, there are already 20 baby Tomato plants. Never had this many come up. I have just one tomato house with room for just three plants. Excess Tomato plants have a rather limited shelf life. As they grow, I put them into larger containers. I have been able to destroy too many plants, not being a farmer, to risk keeping just three seedlings. Once three of them are happy in the tomato house I make the extras that have survived available to others. Not exactly giving away free food but rather potential food. How will/are you helping out these days? It does not have to be big, I'm talking about a nickel's worth of seeds here. The picture is from April, you can't really see that much The packet of seeds is from 2012.

How to make The BEST Authentic Flour Tortillas From Scratch Recipe + SECRET TIP video has the special details that made them perfect(?). - Warm water - Texture of dough is gooey - Knead until texture is soft and just a little sticky - Rest for 10 minutes. - Make into little balls. - Rest 1/2 hour - Slightly flattens balls and pinch edges - Under cook for storage. They have lots of painful ways to do many of the steps. I just tossed the ingredients in the mixer. I just chopped the dough into 16 (means just halving a few times) and divide the smallest piece amongst the other smaller pieces. This produces 15 which makes for a 3x5 matrix on the pan. Much easier to roll them out than any time I have done it before.

Pre-heated min-Dutch oven with melted Butter and batter ready to spoon in.

Waiting for it to cool enough to cut.

Waiting for it to cool enough to cut.

My wife responded to a need for a one term substitute teacher in Kijabe, Kenya several years ago which invoked my going along. While there we where introduced to Kenyan Tea. This became the regular drink. In the corners of our return baggage we stuffed a bunch of Tea. The space for this came about as when we went to Kenya we had brought a number of "hard to get" items with us. This was a case of hoarding for our and others needs. As intended, we left this excess behind. Back home, we shared the Kenyan Tea with friends and family. Each time we have consumed the Kenyan Tea once back home it reminded us of our time there. It also was a reminder of the needs there, a prayer trigger. In addition the bulk of what we brought back, the Kericho Gold Black Tea, we brought a few special boxes of Vanilla Tea. As part of our using items for the dark back corners of our cabinets, this is now all gone. The empty box may be kept on a shelf for its prayer trigger capabilities.

Price Club used to carry Mama Lina's Meat Sauce/Raviolis. They had a little shop in La Mesa. But I did not dig out a pint of Meat Sauce from 1982 from my freezer (I wish). Rather, a big can, not a #10, but big, 2 1/2 pounds of Mini Raviolis. Acquired as a hand-me-down no doubt. Well maybe a Grocery Outlet special. Sweet tomato saucy stuff is just too sweet such as Tomato Soup and Spaghettios. The Mini Ravioli's image never was able to overcome this barrier, until now. Opening the can revealed a sauce that looked more like real sauce. Turns out it is not one of those sweet ones. Again a blessing in something quick and easy has come to us. We are continuing to use with delight the items from the dark corners.

This idea came up back in the 80's while at some sort of store/gift shop in Yellowstone Park. While hunting for something to take home was a memorial for the trip, a souvenir, I saw a stack for jeans. Ding! Buy the pants in Yellowstone and every time I wear them they will be the flash back trigger just like a souvenir. Instead of buying a trinket that just collects dust, buy something you were going to buy anyway and have it serve the dual purposes of need & souvenir. Applying this idea to our topic here, Curry, we were on little vacation in the beautiful town of Sedona. We were browsing one of the thrift stores, cheaper than the gift shops. One place was having a special where they would give you a $25 gift card for a local grocery store, for spending $25 in their shop. We needed food for the week so an interesting old radio came into my technology museum which a book shelf. So, to the point, we bought a can of Curry Powder from the markdown bin with the "free" gift card. We where able to make an unexpected dish that week. Given I did have enough Curry Powder back home, I am just now cracking open the can for use again. It can be used as kitchen display. It reminds us of the time in Sedona. It reminds us of the provisions and gifts that God supplies. The same God that made beautiful Sednoa made us. Our excess of Curry and canned Peas made the previously posted delicious Pea recipe.

This is not from someone else's stash. Last year, I bought the large jar of Capers because they seemed interesting and were so cheap. Upon looking at the jar that, yes again, was in the back of the fridge I discovered that it contains 174 servings. Breaking out the measuring spoons I soon determined that I have about 4500 of these Capers to use. Being the only one in the house who will eat them I have decided to attack them head on. [The little jar in the photo it the one I keep refilling and have in the door shelf for easy of access.] The loose ones were used as a side to my Tuna Slider.

The outdoor eating option is fine for several seasons of the year in Julian. Even in the Winter there can be outdoor days, especially around a fire pit. Sitting on chair is a bit more to the linking of most than on a dusty spot on the ground. There are many pieces of outdoor furniture that move along the dump path. When like us, Julianites who do not have a garage to store the outdoor furniture, they leave them outside. As such we have acquired a collection which do to their year round outdoor existence get a bit yuckied. On a warm day this week, before the misty winds arrived, I pointed the pressure washer at one of these orphaned chairs. The second one was in a different location so got missed by the spray. Wow! Don't chuck it just because it has aged poorly like these did. Redeem them or let a new owner redeem them.

One pan, 18 servings of Bibingka.

Nearly three dozen helpings of Bibingka ready for protected serving.

Outdoor gapped seating.

Ham & Pineapple and Veggie Pepperoni Pizzas.

Split Peas - Good. Fresh Snap Peas - Good. Bag of Frozen Peas - Eh. Canned Peas - Yuck. Well, guess what got found, again, at the back of a cupboard. A can of Peas - Dread. Found this, Mattar Paneer - Indian Peas with Paneer Cheese. I just happen, never before now, to have some Paneer Cheese. Modified the recipe replacing Frozen with Canned Peas, leaving out the Tomatoes, replacing the spices most of them with a Curry Powder, replacing the Water with some Chicken Stock. Also, I could not find the Paneer Cheese that I thought I had tossed into the freezer. Put on top of some Rice with Butter. Conclusion? Canned Peas can be redeemed. [Update 7Apr'20] The Paneer Cheese was in the freezer, way in the back but I had jammed newly processed stuff in in front of it. It is hard to keep up (inside my mind) with such a rapidly changing inventory.

This was a gift from a friend who needed to change her diet. She would tend to bulk buy having been living in a remote location & hopping to the corner store was not an option. Rather than just tossing several boxes in the trash she kept these for me. As is the case with any above normal collection of inventory there is extra effort involved with keeping the items from getting in the way, finding them when you need to open another package & making sure the contents does not go bad. In this case, the spices seem to have a very long lifetime. If you have some excess, as your needs change, share. Take the extra effort to find someone who will use and pass it on. Don't let your past investment end up in a dumpster. I really like the combination of flavors in it. Having a variety of spices adds an interest in your meals when your choice of the basic becomes limited.

When you get to spend some extra time not going out and about, the clean out that cabinet project finally actually gets to the top of the list. No more evading it. You stumble across that under counter light fixture and need to find a home for it, or another home for it. Then on dark Fall morning, you find the perfect place for it. The summer time bright morning sunshine no longer graces the kitchen. So the space under the convection oven requires supplemental lighting. But like at night the overhead lighting casts too much shadow. Two birds with one stone -- what to do with the light fixture & how to see when chopping. Seemed like a quick job. Get two little zip ties. Attach through mounting holes in the back of the fixture to the underside of the rack. There are plenty of open spots in the wire frame. Found some really nifty re-useable zip ties. They have a little button to press to release it and be able to use again. Trying to balance the light fixture on a tall glass storage jar on one side while feeding the tip through the rack and bending the right way to then go down into the other end of the zip tie requires many attempts as the fixture kept sliding off of the glass jar. Actually there seems to be two or three spots the tip could go into, all while not pressing the release button when feeding it in. Got it. Oh, this one is broken and there is no catchy part inside the slot. Get another one. Check before hand to see if there is any thingy inside the slot. Yep. Repeat same process. Experience did not make the balancing aspect work any better. Finally. And then got both ties attached. Much better. Not only is the under counter light fixture producing light on the counter but it does it by shining the light down from below eye level so there is no direct line from the fixture to my eyes.

The Cwharatine Cafe corona remodel project -- convection oven has been on the counter for about a year, leaving just a few inches in front for counter space. I got the idea of elevating it, so there would be the whole counter for me to work on. The oven being at eye level was just a positive side effect. To accomplish this, I started hunting for racks the correct size. The only ones were custom and cost big bucks. Then I came across a cart from Sam's Club that was the right size. Dump the wheels, don't want it rolling off. Dump the handle, no need to roll it w/o the wheels. Dump the bottom shelf, I want to use the butcher block counter directly. I have gone from the little cutting board on the right for work space to three or four times that. There is plenty of light when the sun is fully up which comes pretty late in the day during the winter given our location nestled in a howller. The bright back lighting is good for cooking and bad for photoing.

I have consumed lots of the stuff in the back of the shelves, in the back of the drawers. The stuff in the door rattles when I close it -- not packed tight any more. As the frig gets emptier the efficiency goes down. When you open the door the cold air flows out. If on the other hand, you replace the empty air space with bottles of water, then when you open the door there is less cold air to escape. The water stays cold while the door is open. Then when you close it there is less to re-cool -- saves energy & money. The same idea goes for the freezer. Since water expands, do not completely fill the bottles. The jugs typically have circular indents in the side. These will serve as freeze expansion points, keeping the jug from breaking as the inside contents expands. A side benefit of frozen jugs of water in your freezer is that in the case of a power outage you can move them to the frig. With enough of these you can actually use the frig for a longer term and the contents will stay cold -- an upright ice chest.

Before breaking into the collection of those Y2K stashes it seemed a good idea to deal with my own hoard caches. Many opened containers with partial contents have collected themselves in corners here and there. I use clothes pins as clips on bags that do not have zip seals. For example, emptied cereal bags can be reused. With a clip they work great. Normally I am looking for just one more clip. Today I noticed that have an abundance of clothes pins ready to use. We have finished off many bags that have been opened for a while, drawing down this typically neglected inventory. Eating stuff that is not on the top of my preferred items list.

This lunch touches upon three different ingredients that have come to us in a special way. Each was part of an excess of inventory in the store. Each was deeply discounted. We normally use these items. We normally do not though, buy food-service sized Tuna nor gallon jugs of Mayo. We considered the deep discount, the shelf life, our consumption rates, then jumped in. The choice of getting the Mayo could have back fired. It turns out that I have mistaken the existing inventory that we already had so it took over a year to open the jug. At $1 for a gallon I could not pass it by. Mayo is one of those things that loses its beauty as it ages. Fortunately when opened, there was just a bit of liquid separation, no loss of color, texture or taste. The Tuna has a long shelf life, there is no issue here. The can is so big, that it cannot just be opened and used from the frig. This is the first attempt at freezing canned Tuna. Open and repackaged into sandwich bags placed into a gallon zip bag. Remember the rule I learned back in 1980 in the break room at work from the signage over the microwave: "DO NOT MICROWAVE FISH". Just let it thaw slowly. Special blessing from this purchase has been that the Tuna is the top-of-the-line White Chunk vs our normal Light Chunk (not in reality there are no chunks just flakes) -- a free upgrade. Last we have Yams. These came in two pounds bags which we got several and shared with Yam lovers in the family. Because it was just after the peak of Yam season we already had an ample supply. They have been kept in our very cool room that has extended their life quite well. They are in excellent condition. It would be great to have a walk-in cellar/pantry that maintained the cool in the summer. We are so blessed.

Normally when I make Bread or Rolls with Whole Wheat I just replace 1 Cup (of the 4Cs) of the Bread Flour with Whole Wheat (of my basic recipe). With the change to stay at home I was having a more limited stock of White Flour & I wanted to increase my use of the Whole Wheat to manage my inventories better. I tried a half size batch. I doubled the ration of Whole Wheat to equal the amount with the White, 1C each. Made great little brick rolls. Too dense. Glad it was 1/2 sized batch. Today I tried again making a 1/2 sized batch, but additionally I upped the Sugar to 1 teaspoon and reduced the Salt to a little under a 1/2 teaspoon. Added a 1 T Gluten. That did it. While the first batch produced only 12 little lumps, the second try produced 15 lovely Rolls. White Bread [Full size 2x#1 loaves] 350F 3T olive oil 1 7/8C water 4C bread flour 1 heaping tsp sugar 1 heaping tsp salt 1 T yeast Mix. Let rise. I use a bread machine for this. Cut into two chunks put into #1 bread pans. I turn on the oven, put them above to catch the warmness & cover with quilted placement mat made for us by a friend. When it is big enough, bake 30 minutes depending upon how you like it. For Pizza crust I use this recipe to make 4 9x13 (1/4 size bun pans) pizzas. My convection oven cooks the pizza at 350F-450F, 10-20 minutes. For rolls I use two 1/4bun pans making 30-36 rolls which are small. This is like serving dinner on a luncheon plate to help remember to eat less. This is a basic recipe. I very seldom follow it exactly. Virtually everything can use some substitution depending upon the current state of the pantry & frig. When trying this iffy stuff make a 1/2 batch as I did with the 50% Whole Wheat Rolls described above.

'Before you open a store-bought or home-canned food, inspect it for contamination. Suspect contamination if the container: Is leaking, has bulges, or is swollen Looks damaged or cracked If you think the food might be contaminated, do not open the container and throw it out! Even containers that look fine on the outside might have contaminated food inside. Suspect contamination if: The container spurts liquid or foam when you open it The food inside is discolored, moldy, or smells bad If your container or the food inside have any of these signs of contamination, throw it out! Follow the instructions below to throw the food out safely. These actions will help you prevent people and animals from accidentally coming into contact with food that may be contaminated.'

Early March in the store there was a significant increase in empty slots at the store compared to the previous week. One of the few items that were ALL gone was the pallet of Hot Pockets in the freezer. The idea of them seems great but they just taste plasticy to me. We had a box of hand-me-downs which got finished off though there were several stray finds in various spots. She likes them. & Thanks mom.

Cracking open some more old stock in the back of your pantry? In general, sealed cans that are past their "BEST IF USED BY" have reduction in the expected texture, color or taste. Here is an example. This can of Tomato Sauce had a little layer of scum on the lid. I will be making Pizza sauce with it. I have friends that love the scum on the top of Butterscotch Pudding. What does this have to due with anything? Redeem your old stuff by not demanding perfect food. If it passes all the safe food tests do not toss it in the dumpster. If you eat this then there is more leftover for yourself and/or others. Have regards for the effect you have on others.

Does your crisper look like this? Is the amount in yours sufficient for your needs? Is there so much that it is going to rot instead of being eaten? Choose to cook the extra (before it goes bad) into dishes you can freeze. OR choose to give it away. Last week you were living in time and place that the dumpster was the easy choice. Today, consider that already you have neighbors in need -- who lost their job or need isolation due to age. I am not saying you are an evil 18,000-bottles-of-hand-sanitizer-hoarder. Under normal circumstances big box stores make it is easy to over stock. This last week the unknown and frantic environment has encouraged one to be more protective in purchasing enough, just in case. Now you can make the wise choices with what you have. Reformed is good. Remember the idea that because the shelf life of perishable items is so short the whole system is set up to produce a lot of turn over/resupply. Also, people should more quickly adjust to not hoarding the perishable vs the shelf stable items.

In the initial shutdown, I can understand the non-perishable consumption hoarding being intense and ongoing but once every frig, freezer, dorm frig & garage frig is full the perishable shelves will have to stabilize, right? Managing the perishable in the hustle and bustle of day-to-day life tends to be a burden handled by the dumpster getting a steady feeding. Cooking with what you have vs getting ingredients based upon the menu you wish to present requires a different skill set. Soup -- turns items that do not look like the glossy weekly grocery store ads into yummy meals. Do a search for the word SOUP and bunch of the ingredients you need to process. You will get many options. I like to do an image search. Even before having AltaVista & Google I would flip through picture cookbooks for inspiration. Expecting your first tries at ad hoc cooking to be perfect is not realistic. Your frig is over full. You are trying to not waste. Try it. You do not need to get an exact match. Close enough will most likely work. If you fail at it and just can't eat it, the dumpster is still there. If you were going to toss the ingredients anyway, no loss.

In years past I always had a bag of Pinto Bean, just in case. On occasion I would try and make Refried Beans from the oldest bag. I was never happy with the results. Then got a new bag at a huge discount. So, I used up all of the old stock as quickly as possible. Could not get the result to meet my expectations. Finally, I opened the new fresh bag of dried Pinto Beans. Instantly I was Refried Bean expert. All batches since then, made with the fresher beans, have met my expectations. So, you really do not want to keep that huge supply of beans around too long. Go ahead,give them away, now. The life span for those tasty Refried Beans is limited. I have seen people says two years old should be trashed 'cause the loose nutrition. I have not gotten any data to back that up. Four year old beans have been cooking up just fine.