Yesterday was devoted to food. My reserves of tomatoes cans and artichokes jar were low. Dairy and fresh vegetables supplies were decimated. I started prepping in the first week of March, so I needed to do another big shop. (That was a humble brag, BTW. I saw this coming earlier than a lot of y’all.)

Meanwhile, local leaders urged us to avoid supermarkets for two weeks as we’re expected to hit our peak in New Jersey very soon. So, like sherpas on the Himalayas, we prepped for a foray into a pit of germs.

I don’t have a working sewing machine, so we fashioned our own facemarks. Mine was made from a cut up gym sock. Steve made his out of a manly blue bandana, safety pins, and my hair ties. I’ve since bought some on Etsy — the crafty website appears to be entirely devoted to adorable face masks now. The ones that I purchased (mint green kitten fabric) are out of stock, but there are plenty of alternatives.

After Steve’s morning meeting, we headed out at around 10. We figured that the workers would have had time to restock shelves by that time, but that the supplies wouldn’t be scooped up. I put together a shopping list, but it was more of a guideline. The plan was to fill up two shopping carts with as much as we thought could fit in the fridge.

We spent two hours out there. We hit two supermarkets, the post office, and pharmacy. When we got home, Steve ran back to the computer for work, so Jonah helped me unload the car.

It took almost all day to slowly put things in the right place. I divided the family sized meat packages into meal sized portions, labeled the freezer bags, and froze ’em. I planned out the next few days of meals. I started a secondary pantry in the basement.

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Yes, some valuable real estate in the freezer is devoted to ice cream. I’ve been running various social media campaigns for my buddy who owns the local ice cream shop. She pays me in pints. Which is lovely. I need a friend who owns a liquor store.

Between cleaning off the back patio to prepare for dinners outside, making chimichurri sauce from herbs in the garden that never quite died over the winter, and making dinner, the entire day was devoted to our new lifestyle.

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I’ll be back in a bit. I want to talk about schools and the unequal impact of this virus.