Survival tactics in some of life’s tough times
I used to be hypoglycemic. I worked in a very busy environment in DC, and I couldn’t often stop for a decent lunch break. I would get dehydrated and so hungry that I stopped being able to feel hunger.
One day when I went to the doctor, I passed out. He told me that the treatment for hypoglycemia is…food. So I started carrying those orange peanut butter crackers to quickly munch on when lunch was still a far off dream.
They have made periodic reappearances in the past few years.
When hubby was hospitalized, multiple times, and I was able to spend the nights with him on the pull out chair or couch, mealtime would come around and hubby would urge me to share his tray. I know that the nutritionists take note when patients are not eating all of their food so that diets can be adjusted. I didn’t want to mess up that metric by scarfing down his unwanted pudding.
I went to the hospital cafeteria, which in the hospitals involved were not bad at all, and they usually had a reliable supply of chicken soup. I would get a pack of “those crackers” for nighttime noshing. I began to associate that salty/sweet crunch with survival, again.
Fast forward to the covid19 pandemic that is going on now. We are all to stay home unless we need groceries or some other urgent necessities. I planned to stay at home for 14 days and made an appropriate grocery list.
When I arrived at the store just shortly after the President declared a national emergency, someone had already taken all the paper supplies, potato chips, and soups. I saw one man with five 50-pound bags of rice. At that point I realized that the “preppers” were not satisified with basements full of dehydrated food. (Dehydrated food doesn’t make any sense when you think about it — you need clean water to reconstitute it — which in some kinds of crises is going to be in short supply or non-existent). No, a basement full of food is not enough when you are “prepped” but still surprised by a national crisis.
I had already started to buy frozen veggies because as a relatively new widow, I often buy too much fresh food. It spoils before I can eat it. There is a learning curve to being alone. Frozen veggies are always reliable, except for frozen green beans, which often taste like a 1960’s freezer that needs defrosting. I picked up some more frozen veggies, which were not too picked over, surprisingly.
Some fresh oranges to stay nourished with Vitamin C, some potatoes to microwave. I thought I had some bread in the freezer, so I skipped that. Then I thought it would be a good idea to re-start making artisan bread.
Everyone else had the same idea. I was able to get 1.5 lbs of self-rising flour, which I could use to make waffles. Artisan bread doesn’t happen with self-rising flour.
Some yogurt and some butter. Expensive Danish butter. Might as well live it up a little.
I backtracked from the end of the store and retrieved a big pack of those orange crackers. It was the last one. I felt bad about buying it.
