TASTY TIP TUESDAY: Lockdown Food Essentials

Hi Foodies,

I hope everyone is doing well during this COVID-19 lockdown. In my country, South Africa, the infections are at their peak and most of us are still in lockdown. Many people are not able to work and earn a consistent income. Times are tough, and many people are strapped for cash. This is when many supermarkets, for some reason, decide to raise food prices, especially the price of meat. Let's not get into that here. Maybe in an opinion piece later? A big maybe. I want to talk about cost effective, essential foods that you can buy and stock up on during the lockdown. They are as follows: dry ingredients, meatless sources of protein, frozen food, canned food fresh fruit and vegetables. 

Dry Ingredients 

I define dry ingredients as uncooked foods that can be used to  prepare a meal, baked goods, or can be added to flavour other foods. Examples of dry ingredients are flour, yeast, sugar, rice, powdered milk, herbs and spices. I have used these five ingredients to make bread, amagwinya (South African fried bread), have used the powdered milk as a substitute for cow’s milk, among other things. These are what I call my staple ingredients. They are affordable and, if bought in bulk, can last for months when stored properly. Always seal your dry ingredients and store them in a cool place. Not cold, not hot, not warm, but cool. 😎

Meatless Sources of Protein 

The price of meat has skyrocketed in the past few months. Since that is South Africa’s main source of protein (even though I think we eat way too much meat), people still make the sacrifice of spending a lot of money to satisfy their meat dependency. We don’t educate ourselves on meat alternatives, because we still believe that meat has the highest amount of protein. There are plenty of meat alternatives that are healthier and are packed with protein. Some even have more protein than meat itself. They are also cheaper. Examples of these are:

Beans, such as garbanzo beans, black beans or sugar beans

Green leafy vegetables such as Swiss chard and spinach, which are easy to grow in your backyard 

Eggs

Oatmeal

Any type of nut butter such as peanut or almond butters, among others.

Frozen food 

I buy frozen vegetables, in particular, quite often. I like the fact that they can be stored for long periods of time, meaning less trips to the supermarket, and more money saved. 

I usually use them to make stews, soups, or will make a quick and easy stir-fry when I am not motivated to cook or don’t have the time. They are easy to prepare as they have already been washed and cut up for your convenience. Other types of frozen food that are great to buy are frozen fruit, wraps, ready made meals, and frozen pizza. The latter would be great to buy if you have children. Having your little ones make pizzas with their parents may be a great idea to keep them busy during the lockdown.

Canned Food

I have eaten more canned food in the past few months than I ever have in my life as an adult. I did a bit of panic buying at the beginning of the lockdown, so I ended up with plenty of canned food. They have been so helpful and have forced me to be creative with my cooking. I’ve bought canned tuna, beans, pilchards, canned sauces, chakalaka, you name it.  I’m not saying go and clean up the canned food aisle in the supermarket (that’s not even allowed anymore), but make sure that you have a few cans available. 

Fresh Fruit and Vegetables 

And last, but not least, always have fresh fruit and vegetables available. They are inexpensive depending on where you buy them. In South Africa, we have street stalls that sell fruit and vegetables for cheap. I bought a big bag of tangerines from a street seller that cost me R10. That’s not even a dollar, not even a pound, not even a euro. Fruit and vegetables are the healthiest food, filled with the immune boosting, disease fighting vitamins and minerals that we all need. 

And that's all, folks. As always…

Take care of yourselves, and eat well.