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I feel like I have reverted to my cattle ranch roots - figuring out how to use what is available rather than depending on recipes. No more prowling ethnic stores or green markets for unusual ingredients. If it isn't common enough for delivery, I have to treat it as unavailable. I won't embarass myself by admitting how many meals look like a Ploughman's lunch or an antipasto plate. Spring is just beginning to break but I actually have sorrel from my garden and I've found a recipe that uses lillac syrup so I'm starting to feel hopeful.

Also note I live in the county of the first US Covid-19 case.  I've spent more time quarantined than most of you.

I am actually in the grocery store more now, because I have chosen to shop for older friends and be their delivery service.  With restrictions on some purchases, I may have to go several times in a week to be sure everyone is getting a share of the harder to find options.  Some are cooks and some are not, some have restrictive dietary needs, which also has its challenges (if I can't find honey nut cheerios, would honey bunches of oats be ok?  Is spinach for cooking or for a salad?  Does the yogurt have to be blended?).  And then there is knowing that for many of these friends, food may be the true highlight of a day and I really want them to have the things they like. Having watched some of the personal shoppers in the store, I would much rather shop for my friends.  Food will arrive in clean bags, kept cool as needed, in a cooler so they can take their time putting it away.  One of my employees will be losing her significant other to deployment this weekend and may need a shopper as well, so she doesn't need to take her toddler to the store.

I am tremendously proud of my college age sons, who are stepping up and cooking when they never have before.  Not a word of complaint when they can't get favorite items, or have to eat around some ingredient they aren't fond of because I insist on using it up.  I won't let them go shopping-they aren't good enough at it to make me happy.

Other than paper products, my local store is pretty stocked.  The missing flour makes me laugh -I don't think most people are suddenly baking, I think they might just have bought flour!  On the other hand, maybe they are making lots and lots of brownies.

I suspect that there is plenty of flour about as there's absolutely no shortage of bread and flour based products at least here in London, UK.

I'm thinking its more of a supply issue into the retailers. Bakeries buy flour in 55kg per sacks. For retailers to sell that amount its 37/55 individual packets. Combine maybe a 20% up tick in flour sales with maybe a 20% decrease in supply because of employees calling in sick/self isolating and that's what's giving us empty shelves.

Just my thoughts anyway!

BTW its really good to read how other people are making do in other parts of the world.

#StaySafeEveryone

We have not gone out since 3/7 (doctor appt).

 Our county put shelter in on 3/16.  Had 4 grocery deliveries so far.  Very hard to get the slots for deliveries.  I have to check throughout the day for slots.  The shoppers really try, but it has been hit and miss with vegetables, snacks, and bread items.  Right now, my frig is jam packed because just received one big order which is mostly vegetables and dairy products.  

I did not know about flour shortages, but I was able to get a big bag of flour through a costco delivery shopper 2 wks ago.    I was curious and checked flour availability since then, and none available here.

Twice in one week, Fedex destroyed my orders.  Just now big order of canned cat food destroyed and earlier a case of marinara sauce destroyed.  I think they are working so fast due to demand and many boxes are damaged.  I feel badly because these are now wasted.  

Yesterday was my best grocery day of the pandemic so far. We've been mostly relying on weekly grocery store delivery through Instacart and my husband goes to Whole Foods every two weeks for the bakery bread he likes.
But yesterday's grocery endeavor was the best.  I was able to pick up an oversized bag of restaurant quality produce from a local eatery that has opened a market. You order online, schedule a date and time, and pick up with contactless delivery. I was able to buy bunches of fresh basil, thyme, rosemary, and mint as well as strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and vegetables for cooking and great salads. The restaurant also sells meat, and in-house made pasta.

I'm posting the experience here in case members aren't aware of the restaurant market  option. This one's new service wasn't publicized in the newspaper, radio, TV  or Yelp. A friend discovered it when she went on their website to donate to the employee pandemic compensation fund. It looks like restaurants are getting creative and adapting to the current situation - which is great for their employees and customers. 

Have you tried ebay?  

If you have some room in your freezer, you can store yeast for a long time.  How long I don't know, but the big bag of yeast in my freezer is at least 15 years old. I check every time I use it to make sure it is still ok.  

It looks like Amazon still has 1 lb bags of SAF instant yeast.  It's an excellent brand.  Instant yeast is a bit different from traditional active dry yeast.  If you haven't used it before, King Arthur has some good information on their website about it: https://www.kingarthurfl...om/learn/resources/yeast

Like Rinshin, I keep my SAF instant yeast in the freezer - it's been there 2+ years, tightly wrapped, and is still going strong!

mharriman, I also live in Northern Va and had read about restaurant suppliers selling retail but all the links were for NY etc. I have not been able to find anything in this area and would love a source so my husband can stay out of the grocery store. I'm somewhat appalled by the lack of precautions at our local Whole Foods!

Not a lot in NoVA, though quite a bit in D.C., see: DC Eater.

Supermarkets here have been more or less back to normal for about three weeks now so luckily I don't have much trouble getting hold of what I need. I've actually been really enjoying using this time to try lots of new recipes and do more cooking. I've achieved my goal of making at least three recipes from each cookbook I own, which feels good. But there remain 1,260 recipes that I've bookmarked as "want to make" on EatYourBooks. It'll take me quite a while to whittle that number down, but lockdown is a great opportunity to make a good dent in it!

Groceries are rather sparse from reading nextdoor.com, news, and my own online orders in Silicon Valley.  Problems with covid19 cases at produce facility for Safeway in central valley.  Still have not ventured out to shop for 6 wks tomorrow.  

Doing my best to delay the next grocery run- currently 12 days, hoping to stretch to 2+ weeks. Tonight's dinner came entirely from the freezer and garden with some very long lived herbs from the crisper drawer. Poached cod fillets on minted pea puree with salsa verde; and french fries (a stand in for the parsleyed new potatoes of my fantasy). 

Thanks to everyone who is weighing in on the yeast issue. I do have partial jars of both traditional and instant yeast in the fridge. In an effort to conserve my traditional yeast, last night I made a pizza dough with the instant (instead of my favorite Barefoot Contessa dough). I'm never sure what to expect with the instant and I don't seem to have good luck with it - it never looks right before OR after the rise time and simply doesn't taste the same which explains my reluctance to order a full pound. It did the job for calzones but I'm going to check out the King Arthur article today - thanks for the link!