Quarantine Eating during Coronavirus – Week One

Needing some food ideas / tips for this crazy, quarantine time-out?

It just feels strange writing that… But this is our world as of March 2020, I suppose. I’m very fortunate in general – I have a warm house to seclude in, work I do from home, and 3 freezers worth of food to get through before we need to panic in any kind of pandemic.

I made a massive grocery haul at our local market on Granville Island to stock up on wine, fresh veg and some of my fave foodie treats. And wine. Did I mention wine?! Good thing, too – a day later my throat was hurting and the time inside became a little more critical (turned out it was nothing – whew!). To boot my Food Kid had brought home 2 more bags of Peking Duck bones that needed to be stripped and stocked, creating more meals for the week.

So what do you make for a week of breakfast, lunch + dinner for a foodie family of four (as my girls are off quarantining on their own)?!

I started with doing a stock take of the freezers and pantry. I mean, what better time is there than self-initiated seclusion to clean out berries from 2014?! LOL – I wish I could say that was an exaggeration… I may or may not have also slipped down to the local tiny grocery on our corner once or twice, and here are some tips if you’re doing the same:

• Try buying things no one else seems to know about, like Crackerbread or Burrata Cheese – they’re delicious and useful, but not every knows that – yet…
• Look for bigger stocked items that you’ve never used before – provoke your own creativity a bit! Who doesn’t like a challenge once in awhile? It also helps save the more oft-used items for people who really need them
• Buy only a few of regular items that are heavily stocked, versatile and long-lasting, like canned tomatoes or capers. They can flavor a wide variety of dishes

BUT FIRST, the fresh stuff from Granville Island, just in case we can’t get it again for while…

Day One

Grilled Cheeses

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Oysters

Clam Linguine

French Bread

Sunken Grape Almond Cake

DAY ONE

Can we pause for a moment and acknowledge the fact that the sauce I made for the Oysters was AH-MA-ZING?!?! Easy Recipe, too >

Jump to Recipe

Also I had grapes starting to go in the fridge, so Google came up with a recipe for Sunken Grape Almond Cake. My cooking of said cake was a FAIL, but it still tasted good LOL. What can I say? I am NOT a Baker!

I’m already wondering, at this point, when my desire to catch up on decades of sleep loss will win over my energy to cook…

Day Two

Bacon Gruyere Omelette

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Smoked Duck Pho w
Duck Skin Hoisin Wraps

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Kale Caesar Salad

Steamed Artichokes w Trimmings

Farro Risotto w Morels + Asiago

DAY TWO

Once the newest batch of Peking Duck carcasses were sufficiently made into stock, and a few extra packages of Smoked Duck Breast had been procured the day before at the Market, Pho was the obvious next step!

Artichokes, trimmed and steamed, are one of the few vegetables ALL of us enjoy. Dipping them in mayonnaise and parmesan brings up the fat quotient, but OH WELL – they’re delicious!

I’ve been wanting to try Risotto with Farro instead of Arbario rice, hearing that it’s considerably healthier, so now was about as good a time as any to do so. It was Delish! I would definitely make it again, but it has a bite the rest of the fam wasn’t as happy about. They’ll get used to it LOL.

Day Three

Sometimes I’ll purposely cook a few “extras” so that I can make up some deluxe Poached Eggs in the am. Literally anything can go on a piece of toasted, cheesey Crackerbread (which gets far less soggy than actual bread, and is often gluten free if that matters to some). Two extra Artichokes from Day Two became a delicious breaky on Day Three!

We figured social distancing is just as good as quarantining, and my sore throat hadn’t done anything else in awhile, so Food Kid and I spent the morning crabbing at the Pier. SUCCESS – we managed to forage for ONE whole Dungeness Crab! He made a Crab + Prawn Ceviche with it — SOOOO good.

Artichoke + Gruyere Poached Eggs

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Perogies from the Freezer
w Cheese, Green Onions, Bacon + Sour Cream

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Dungeness Crab + Prawn Ceviche
Tomato Lemon + Green Onion Pasta

day three

Naturally all the Oyster, Clam and Crab shells have been saved in the Freezer in case we need a shellfish Bisque sometime soon!

Day Four

I’ve never been happier that I spend all that time canning in the Fall LOOOL!! Also, if you don’t know Crackerbreads yet (similar to THESE), they’re the BEST, especially for end-of-world zombiepocalypses where you need to buy/store long-term pantry items. They pretty much never go stale, and can do lots of things bread can do, like hold a mean Poached Egg or messy Melt!

Spelt Flour Waffles w Okanagan Canned Peaches from the Pantry

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Leftover Ceviche Crab/Prawn Melts on Crackerbreads

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Steaks from the Freezer w Grilled Okra/Green Beans/Onions

Greek Salad Veggies

Kale Caesar Salad

day four

We don’t use a ton of flour, and were completely out of regular AP Flour, but I also love the molasses’y taste of Spelt anyhow. It, obviously, flew off the shelves far slower than it’s whiter cousin. It’s a good time if you’ve been wanting to try different ingredients, to try them now! The more eclectic they are, the more likely they’ll still be on a shelf or online somewhere.

Day Five

It was largely a Leftovers Day. Leftover steak (I had to tear a few pieces away from the hungry teen-boys!) was used with cheese I found in the back of the fridge (?!) for DELISH Portobello Pizzas, and Prawns saved from the other nights’ Ceviche were added to our Sole en Papillote.

We still have quite a bit of fish in the Freezer – will have to think of what else we can do with it… Time to get creative.

Toasted Leftover Waffles + Peaches

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Portobello ‘Pizzas’ with Leftover Steak, Bacon + Cheese

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Freezer Sole en Papillote w Capers, Lemon + Leftover Prawns

Grilled Asparagus w Mushrooms, Parmesan + Poached Quail Eggs

Greek Salad w Feta

day five

Day Six

I made it to our tiny local grocery a block away for Yogurt – much needed, apparently! I tried to only buy a few things there was a LOT of in stock (anti-hoarding?!) AND that would last a long time. I also grabbed Basil and made a quick Pesto at home to go with a Spaghetti Squash that was lying around.

There were also plenty of Russet (baking) Potatoes, but not sure what I’ll do with them yet – haven’t made Mashed Potatoes in forever and I have some whip cream about to expire… They also still had flour, but no one has bread, so I thought it’d be good to get back into making my own again!

Yogurt Bowls w Freezer Straw-Rhubarb ‘Pucks’ + ‘Caddy Goodies’

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Cauli + Leek Soup (w Okra) w Freezer Toulouse Sausage, Kale and Leftovers

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Bruschetta w Burrata on Mary’s Crackers

Pesto on Roasted Spaghetti Squash w Ham cubes

Kale Caesar Salad

day six

Cauli + Leek Soup is a staple Freezer item around here, but I was out and the grocery had PLENTY of both, so I made a big batch for lunch + freezer. It’s such a great base to use w ANY leftovers – such as the rest of the Okra I knew was just going to go bad – and the remaining filling from our Portobello Pizzas. Really, it’s a Kitchen-Sink kind of dish, which is excellent and adaptable these days. I keep Toulouse sausage in the freezer, and it’s perfect for adding a bit of fat + flavor to this otherwise rather bland soup.

When I dipped into the local grocery on my street, NOBODY was buying things like Burrata Cheese, so I grabbed one to satisfy todays cheese cravings – Bruschetta is one of our favorite things!

ALSO, because I know you were all so worried for me, my WINE DELIVERY arrived today! WHEW, that was a close one 😉 Thanks, Marquis Wine!

Day Seven

WELL, Day Seven hasn’t happened yet – it’s TODAY!, but obviously I’m a PLANNER so of course I’ve given it thought! I try to start each day by looking at what’s going bad in the fridge, needs to be eaten first, or I have plenty of to go around.

I usually start with whatever protein/meat I have in the Fridge, but it’s officially cleaned out and we’re onto more Freezer stocks now.

SO, Today will include … leftover Ham + Burrata on Crackerbread w Poached Eggs for Breaky, Freezer Chicken, Green Beans that need to be used soon, probably some Mashed Potatoes and hopefully some fresh Bread (!!).

SO what about YOU?!
Are you having to get experimental? Using up your Pantry? Learning any fabulous new recipes?? I’d love to hear!

I’m anticipating next weeks menus will be quite different, as rations get lower and we’re digging deeper and deeper into the freezers, but that just means MORE creativity, right?!

In the meantime, we can all dream about Oysters with this Dressing Sauce – yummmmmmy.